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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35513-8.txt b/35513-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a36e87 --- /dev/null +++ b/35513-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5407 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Ledge on Bald Face, by Charles G. D. Roberts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ledge on Bald Face + +Author: Charles G. D. Roberts + +Release Date: March 7, 2011 [EBook #35513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "The great dog shook his victim as a terrier shakes a +rat." (Page 253.)] + + + + + +THE LEDGE ON + +BALD FACE + + +By + +CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS + + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + + +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + +LONDON AND MELBOURNE + +1918 + + + + +_Copyright in the United States of America_ + +_by Charles G. D. Roberts_ + + + + +Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London + + + + + POPULAR NATURE STORIES + BY + CHAS. G. D. ROBERTS + + PUBLISHED BY + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + + THE HOUSE IN THE WATER + KINGS IN EXILE + THE SECRET TRAILS + THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + II THE EAGLE + III COCK-CROW + IV THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST + V JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG + + PART I HOW WOOLLY BILLY CAME TO BRINE'S RIP + " II THE BOOK AGENT AND THE BUCKSKIN BELT + " III THE HOLE IN THE TREE + " IV THE TRAIL OF THE BEAR + " V THE FIRE AT BRINE'S RIP MILLS + " VI THE MAN WITH THE DANCING BEAR + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"The great dog shook his victim like a terrier shakes a rat" . . . +_Frontispiece_ + +"He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over the brink" + +"Then he spread his wings wide and let go" + +"He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the +wet fur" + +"'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel" + +"The door was flung open, and Black Dan with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight" + +"He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe" + +"In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could +not hope to rival, had come to the right spot" + + + + +I + +THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + + + + +The Ledge on Bald Face + +That one stark naked side of the mountain which gave it its name of Old +Bald Face fronted full south. Scorched by sun and scourged by storm +throughout the centuries, it was bleached to an ashen pallor that +gleamed startlingly across the leagues of sombre, green-purple +wilderness outspread below. From the base of the tremendous bald steep +stretched off the interminable leagues of cedar swamp, only to be +traversed in dry weather or in frost. All the region behind the +mountain face was an impenetrable jumble of gorges, pinnacles, and +chasms, with black woods clinging in crevice and ravine and struggling +up desperately towards the light. + +In the time of spring and autumn floods, when the cedar swamps were +impenetrable to all save mink, otter, and musk-rat, the only way from +the western plateau to the group of lakes that formed the source of the +Ottanoonsis, on the east, was by a high, nerve-testing trail across the +wind-swept brow of Old Bald Face. The trail followed a curious ledge, +sometimes wide enough to have accommodated an ox-wagon, at other times +so narrow and so perilous that even the sure-eyed caribou went warily +in traversing it. + +The only inhabitants of Bald Face were the eagles, three pairs of them, +who had their nests, widely separated from each other in haughty +isolation, on jutting shoulders and pinnacles accessible to no one +without wings. Though the ledge-path at its highest point was far +above the nests, and commanded a clear view of one of them, the eagles +had learned to know that those who traversed the pass were not +troubling themselves about eagles' nests. They had also observed +another thing--of interest to them only because their keen eyes and +suspicious brains were wont to note and consider everything that came +within their purview--and that was that the scanty traffic by the pass +had its more or less regular times and seasons. In seasons of drought +or hard frost it vanished altogether. In seasons of flood it increased +the longer the floods lasted. And whenever there was any passing at +all, the movement was from east to west in the morning, from west to +east in the afternoon. This fact may have been due to some sort of +dimly recognized convention among the wild kindreds, arrived at in some +subtle way to avoid unnecessary--and necessarily +deadly--misunderstanding and struggle. For the creatures of the wild +seldom fight for fighting's sake. They fight for food, or, in the +mating season, they fight in order that the best and strongest may +carry off the prizes. But mere purposeless risk and slaughter they +instinctively strive to avoid. The airy ledge across Bald Face was not +a place where the boldest of the wild kindred--the bear or the +bull-moose, to say nothing of lesser champions--would wilfully invite +the doubtful combat. If, therefore, it had been somehow arrived at +that there should be no disastrous meetings, no face-to-face struggles +for the right of way, at a spot where dreadful death was inevitable for +one or both of the combatants, that would have been in no way +inconsistent with the accepted laws and customs of the wilderness. On +the other hand, it is possible that this alternate easterly and +westerly drift of the wild creatures--a scanty affair enough at best of +times--across the front of Bald Face was determined in the first place, +on clear days, by their desire not to have the sun in their eyes in +making the difficult passage, and afterwards hardened into custom. It +was certainly better to have the sun behind one in treading the +knife-edge pass above the eagles. Joe Peddler found it troublesome +enough, that strong, searching glare from the unclouded sun of early +morning full in his eyes, as he worked over toward the Ottanoonsis +lakes. He had never attempted the crossing of Old Bald Face before, +and he had always regarded with some scorn the stories told by Indians +of the perils of that passage. But already, though he had accomplished +but a small portion of his journey and was still far from the worst of +the pass, he had been forced to the conclusion that report had not +exaggerated the difficulties of his venture. However, he was steady of +head and sure of foot, and the higher he went in that exquisitely +clear, crisp air, the more pleased he felt with himself. His great +lungs drank deep of the tonic wind which surged against him +rhythmically, and seemed to him to come unbroken from the outermost +edges of the world. His eyes widened and filled themselves, even as +his lungs, with the ample panorama that unfolded before them. He +imagined--for the woodsman, dwelling so much alone, is apt to indulge +some strange imaginings--that he could feel his very spirit enlarging, +as if to take full measure of these splendid breadths of sunlit, +wind-washed space. + +Presently, with a pleasant thrill, he observed that just ahead of him +the ledge went round an abrupt shoulder of the rockface at a point +where there was a practically sheer drop of many hundreds of feet into +what appeared a feather-soft carpet of treetops. He looked shrewdly to +the security of his footing as he approached, and also to the +roughnesses of the rock above the ledge, in case a sudden violent gust +should chance to assail him just at the turn. He felt that at such a +spot it would be so easy--indeed, quite natural--to be whisked off by +the sportive wind, whirled out into space, and dropped into that green +carpet so far below. In his flexible oil-tanned "larrigans" of thick +cow-hide, Peddler moved noiselessly as a wild-cat, even over the bare +stone of the ledge. He was like a grey shadow drifting slowly across +the bleached face of the precipice. As he drew near the bend of the +trail, of which not more than eight or ten paces were now visible to +him, he felt every nerve grow tense with exhilarating expectation. +Yet, even so, what happened was the utterly unexpected. + +Around the bend before him, stepping daintily on her fine hooves, came +a young doe. She completely blocked the trail just on that dizzy edge. + +Peddler stopped short, tried to squeeze himself to the rock like a +limpet, and clutched with fingers of iron at a tiny projection. + +The doe, for one second, seemed petrified with amazement. It was +contrary to all tradition that she should be confronted on that trail. +Then, her amazement instantly dissolving into sheer madness of panic, +she wheeled about violently to flee. But there was no room for even +her lithe body to make the turn. The inexorable rock-face bounced her +off, and with an agonized bleat, legs sprawling and great eyes starting +from their sockets, she went sailing down into the abyss. + +With a heart thumping in sympathy, Peddler leaned outward and followed +that dreadful flight, till she reached that treacherously soft-looking +carpet of treetops and was engulfed by it. A muffled crash came up to +Peddler's ears. + +"Poor leetle beggar!" he muttered. "I wish't I hadn't scared her so. +But I'd a sight rather it was her than me!" + +Peddler's exhilaration was now considerably damped. He crept +cautiously to the dizzy turn of the ledge and peered around. The +thought upon which his brain dwelt with unpleasant insistence was that +if it had been a surly old bull-moose or a bear which had confronted +him so unexpectedly, instead of that nervous little doe, he might now +be lying beneath that deceitful green carpet in a state of dilapidation +which he did not care to contemplate. + +Beyond the turn the trail was clear to his view for perhaps a couple of +hundred yards. It climbed steeply through a deep re-entrant, a mighty +perpendicular corrugation of the rock-face, and then disappeared again +around another jutting bastion. He hurried on rather feverishly, not +liking that second interruption to his view, and regretting, for the +first time, that he had no weapon with him but his long hunting-knife. +He had left his rifle behind him as a useless burden to his climbing. +No game was now in season, no skins in condition to be worth the +shooting, and he had food enough for the journey in his light pack. He +had not contemplated the possibility of any beast, even bear or +bull-moose, daring to face him, because he knew that, except in +mating-time, the boldest of them would give a man wide berth. But, as +he now reflected, here on this narrow ledge even a buck or a lynx would +become dangerous, finding itself suddenly at bay. + +The steepness of the rise in the trail at this point almost drove +Peddler to helping himself with his hands. As he neared the next turn, +he was surprised to note, far out to his right, a soaring eagle, +perhaps a hundred feet below him. He was surprised, too, by the fact +that the eagle was paying no attention to him whatever, in spite of his +invasion of the great bird's aerial domain. Instinctively he inferred +that the eagle's nest must be in some quite inaccessible spot at safe +distance from the ledge. He paused to observe from above, and thus +fairly near at hand, the slow flapping of those wide wings, as they +employed the wind to serve the majesty of their flight. While he was +studying this, another deduction from the bird's indifference to his +presence flashed upon his mind. There must be a fairly abundant +traffic of the wild creatures across this pass, or the eagle would not +be so indifferent to his presence. At this thought he lost his +interest in problems of flight, and hurried forward again, anxious to +see what might be beyond the next turn of the trail. + +His curiosity was gratified all too abruptly for his satisfaction. He +reached the turn, craned his head around it, and came face to face with +an immense black bear. + +The bear was not a dozen feet away. At sight of Peddler's gaunt dark +face and sharp blue eyes appearing thus abruptly and without visible +support around the rock, he shrank back upon his haunches with a +startled "Woof!" + +As for Peddler, he was equally startled, but he had too much discretion +and self-control to show it. Never moving a muscle, and keeping his +body out of sight so that his face seemed to be suspended in mid-air, +he held the great beast's eyes with a calm, unwinking gaze. + +The bear was plainly disconcerted. After a few seconds he glanced back +over his shoulder, and seemed to contemplate a strategic movement to +the rear. As the ledge at this point was sufficiently wide for him to +turn with due care, Peddler expected now to see him do so. But what +Peddler did not know was that dim but cogent "law of the ledge," which +forbade all those who travelled by it to turn and retrace their steps, +or to pass in the wrong direction at the wrong time. He did not know +what the bear knew--namely, that if that perturbed beast should turn, +he was sure to be met and opposed by other wayfarers, and thus to find +himself caught between two fires. + +Watching steadily, Peddler was unpleasantly surprised to see the +perturbation in the bear's eyes slowly change into a savage +resentment--resentment at being baulked in his inalienable right to an +unopposed passage over the ledge. To the bear's mind that grim, +confronting face was a violation of the law which he himself obeyed +loyally and without question. To be sure, it was the face of man, and +therefore to be dreaded. It was also mysterious, and therefore still +more to be dreaded. But the sense of bitter injustice, with the +realization that he was at bay and taken at a disadvantage, filled him +with a frightened rage which swamped all other emotion. Then he came +on. + +His advance was slow and cautious by reason of the difficulty of the +path and his dread lest that staring, motionless face should pounce +upon him just at the perilous turn and hurl him over the brink. But +Peddler knew that his bluff was called, and that his only chance was to +avoid the encounter. He might have fled by the way he had come, +knowing that he would have every advantage in speed on that narrow +trail. But before venturing up to the turn he had noted a number of +little projections and crevices in the perpendicular wall above him. +Clutching at them with fingers of steel and unerring toes, he swarmed +upwards as nimbly as a climbing cat. He was a dozen feet up before the +bear came crawling and peering around the turn. + +Elated at having so well extricated himself from so dubious a +situation, Peddler gazed down upon his opponent and laughed mockingly. +The sound of that confident laughter from straight above his head +seemed to daunt the bear and thoroughly damp his rage. He crouched +low, and scurried past growling. As he hurried along the trail at a +rash pace, he kept casting anxious glances over his shoulder, as if he +feared the man were going to chase him. Peddler lowered himself from +his friendly perch and continued his journey, cursing himself more than +ever for having been such a fool as not to bring his rifle. + +In the course of the next half-hour he gained the highest point of the +ledge, which here was so broken and precarious that he had little +attention to spare for the unparalleled sweep and splendour of the +view. He was conscious, however, all the time, of the whirling eagles, +now far below him, and his veins thrilled with intense exhilaration. +His apprehensions had all vanished under the stimulus of that tonic +atmosphere. He was on the constant watch, however, scanning not only +the trail ahead--which was now never visible for more than a hundred +yards or so at a time--and also the face of the rock above him, to see +if it could be scaled in an emergency. + +He had no expectation of an emergency, because he knew nothing of the +law of the ledge. Having already met a doe and a bear, he naturally +inferred that he would not be likely to meet any other of the elusive +kindreds of the wild, even in a whole week of forest faring. The shy +and wary beasts are not given to thrusting themselves upon man's +dangerous notice, and it was hard enough to find them, with all his +woodcraft, even when he was out to look for them. He was, therefore, +so surprised that he could hardly believe his eyes when, on rounding +another corrugation of the rock-face, he saw another bear coming to +meet him. + +"Gee!" muttered Peddler to himself. "Who's been lettin' loose the +menagerie? Or hev I got the nightmare, mebbe?" + +The bear was about fifty yards distant--a smaller one than its +predecessor, and much younger also, as was obvious to Peddler's +initiated eye by the trim glossiness of its coat. It halted the +instant it caught sight of Peddler. But Peddler, for his part, kept +right on, without showing the least sign of hesitation or surprise. +This bear, surely, would give way before him. The beast hesitated, +however. It was manifestly afraid of the man. It backed a few paces, +whimpering in a worried fashion, then stopped, staring up the rock-wall +above it, as if seeking escape in that impossible direction. + +"If ye're so skeered o' me as ye look," demanded Peddler, in a crisp +voice, "why don't ye turn an' vamoose, 'stead o' backin' an' fillin' +that way? Ye can't git up that there rock, 'less ye're a fly!" + +The ledge at that point was a comparatively wide and easy path, and the +bear at length, as if decided by the easy confidence of Peddler's +tones, turned and retreated. But it went off with such reluctance, +whimpering anxiously the while, that Peddler was forced to the +conclusion there must be something coming up the trail which it was +dreading to meet. At this idea Peddler was delighted, and hurried on +as closely as possible at the retreating animal's heels. The bear, he +reflected, would serve him as an excellent advance guard, protecting +him perfectly from surprise, and perhaps, if necessary, clearing the +way for him. He chuckled to himself as he realized the situation, and +the bear, catching the incomprehensible sound, glanced nervously over +its shoulder and hastened its retreat as well as the difficulties of +the path would allow. + +The trail was now descending rapidly, though irregularly, towards the +eastern plateau. The descent was broken by here and there a stretch of +comparatively level going, here and there a sharp though brief rise, +and at one point the ledge was cut across by a crevice some four feet +in width. As a jump, of course, it was nothing to Peddler; but in +spite of himself he took it with some trepidation, for the chasm looked +infinitely deep, and the footing on the other side narrow and +precarious. The bear, however, had seemed to take it quite carelessly, +almost in its stride, and Peddler, not to be outdone, assumed a similar +indifference. + +It was not long, however, before the enigma of the bear's reluctance to +retrace its steps was solved. The bear, with Peddler some forty or +fifty paces behind, was approaching one of those short steep rises +which broke the general descent. From the other side of the rise came +a series of heavy breathings and windy grunts. + +"Moose, by gum!" exclaimed Peddler. "Now, I'd like to know if all the +critters hev took it into their heads to cross Old Bald Face to-day!" + +The bear heard the gruntings also, and halted unhappily, glancing back +at Peddler. + +"Git on with it!" ordered Peddler sharply. And the bear, dreading man +more than moose, got on. + +The next moment a long, dark, ominous head, with massive, overhanging +lip and small angry eyes, appeared over the rise. Behind this +formidable head laboured up the mighty humped shoulders and then the +whole towering form of a moose-bull. Close behind him followed two +young cows and a yearling calf. + +"Huh! I guess there's goin' to be some row!" muttered Peddler, and +cast his eyes up the rock-face, to look for a point of refuge in case +his champion should get the worst of it. + +At sight of the bear the two cows and the yearling halted, and stood +staring, with big ears thrust forward anxiously, at the foe that barred +their path. But the arrogant old bull kept straight on, though slowly, +and with the wariness of the practised duellist. At this season of the +year his forehead wore no antlers, indeed, but in his great knife-edged +fore-hooves he possessed terrible weapons which he could wield with +deadly dexterity. Marking the confidence of his advance, Peddler grew +solicitous for his own champion, and stood motionless, dreading to +distract the bear's attention. + +But the bear, though frankly afraid to face man, whom he did not +understand, had no such misgivings in regard to moose. He knew how to +fight moose, and he had made more than one good meal, in his day, on +moose calf. He was game for the encounter. Reassured to see that the +man was not coming any nearer, and possibly even sensing instinctively +that the man was on his side in this matter, he crouched close against +the rock and waited, with one huge paw upraised, like a boxer on guard, +for the advancing bull to attack. + +He had not long to wait. + +The bull drew near very slowly, and with his head held high as if +intending to ignore his opponent. Peddler, watching intently, felt +some surprise at this attitude, even though he knew that the deadliest +weapon of a moose was its fore-hooves. He was wondering, indeed, if +the majestic beast expected to press past the bear without a battle, +and if the bear, on his part, would consent to this highly reasonable +arrangement. Then like a flash, without the slightest warning, the +bull whipped up one great hoof to the height of his shoulder and struck +at his crouching adversary. + +The blow was lightning swift, and with such power behind it that, had +it reached its mark, it would have settled the whole matter then and +there. But the bear's parry was equally swift. His mighty forearm +fended the stroke so that it hissed down harmlessly past his head and +clattered on the stone floor of the trail. At the same instant, before +the bull could recover himself for another such pile-driving blow, the +bear, who had been gathered up like a coiled spring, elongated his body +with all the force of his gigantic hindquarters, thrusting himself +irresistibly between his adversary and the face of the rock, and +heaving outwards. + +These were tactics for which the great bull had no precedent in all his +previous battles. He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean +over the brink. By a terrific effort he turned, captured a footing +upon the edge with his fore-hooves, and struggled frantically to drag +himself up again upon the ledge. But the bear's paw struck him a +crashing buffet straight between the wildly staring eyes. He fell +backwards, turning clean over, and went bouncing, in tremendous +sprawling curves, down into the abyss. + +[Illustration: "He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over +the brink."] + +Upon the defeat of their leader the two cows and the calf turned +instantly--which the ledge at their point was wide enough to +permit--and fled back down the trail at a pace which seemed to threaten +their own destruction. The bear followed more prudently, with no +apparent thought of trying to overtake them. And Pedler kept on behind +him, taking care, however, after this exhibition of his champion's +prowess, not to press him too closely. + +The fleeing herd soon disappeared from view. It seemed to have +effectually cleared the trail before it, for the curious procession of +the bear and Peddler encountered no further obstacles. + +After about an hour the lower slopes of the mountain were reached. The +ledge widened and presently broke up, with trails leading off here and +there among the foothills. At the first of these that appeared to +offer concealment the bear turned aside and vanished into a dense grove +of spruce with a haste which seemed to Peddler highly amusing in a +beast of such capacity and courage. He was well content, however, to +be so easily quit of his dangerous advance guard. + +"A durn good thing for me," he mused, "that that there b'ar never got +up the nerve to call my bluff, or I might 'a' been layin' now where +that onlucky old bull-moose is layin', with a lot o' flies crawlin' +over me!" + +And as he trudged along the now easy and ordinary trail, he registered +two discreet resolutions--first, that never again would he cross Old +Bald Face without his gun and his axe; and, second, that never again +would he cross Old Bald Face at all, unless he jolly well had to. + + + + +II + +THE EAGLE + + + + +The Eagle + +He sat upon the very topmost perch under the open-work dome of his +spacious and lofty cage. This perch was one of three or four lopped +limbs jutting from a dead tree-trunk erected in the centre of the +cage--a perch far other than that great branch of thunder-blasted pine, +out-thrust from the seaward-facing cliff, whereon he had been wont to +sit in his own land across the ocean. + +He sat with his snowy, gleaming, flat-crowned head drawn back between +the dark shoulders of his slightly uplifted wings. His black and +yellow eyes, unwinking, bright and hard like glass, stared out from +under his overhanging brows with a kind of darting and defiant inquiry +quite unlike their customary expression of tameless despair. That dull +world outside the bars of his cage, that hated, gaping, inquisitive +world which he had ever tried to ignore by staring at the sun or gazing +into the deeps of sky overhead, how it had changed since yesterday! +The curious crowds, the gabbling voices were gone. Even the high +buildings of red brick or whitish-grey stone, beyond the iron palings +of the park, were going, toppling down with a slow, dizzy lurch, or +leaping suddenly into the air with a roar and a huge belch of brown and +orange smoke and scarlet flame. Here and there he saw men running +wildly. Here and there he saw other men lying quite still--sprawling, +inert shapes an the close-cropped grass, or the white asphalted walks, +or the tossed pavement of the street. He knew that these inert, +sprawling shapes were men, and that the men were dead; and the sight +filled his exile heart with triumph. Men were his enemies, his +gaolers, his opponents, and now at last--he knew not how--he was +tasting vengeance. The once smooth green turf around his cage was +becoming pitted with strange yellow-brown holes. These holes, he had +noticed, always appeared after a burst of terrific noise, and livid +flame, and coloured smoke, followed by a shower of clods and pebbles, +and hard fragments which sometimes flew right through his cage with a +vicious hum. There was a deadly force in these humming fragments. He +knew it, for his partner in captivity, a golden eagle of the Alps, had +been hit by one of them, and now lay dead on the littered floor below +him, a mere heap of bloody feathers. Certain of the iron bars of the +cage, too, had been struck and cut through, as neatly as his own hooked +beak would sever the paw of a rabbit. + +The air was full of tremendous crashing, buffeting sounds and sudden +fierce gusts, which forced him to tighten the iron grip of his talons +upon the perch. In the centre of the little park pond, some fifty feet +from his cage, clustered a panic-stricken knot of eight or ten fancy +ducks and two pairs of red-billed coot, all that remained of the flock +of water-birds which had formerly screamed and gabbled over the pool. +This little cluster was in a state of perpetual ferment, those on the +outside struggling to get into the centre, those on the inside striving +to keep their places. From time to time one or two on the outer ring +would dive under and force their way up in the middle of the press, +where they imagined themselves more secure. But presently they would +find themselves on the outside again, whereupon, in frantic haste, they +would repeat the manoeuvre. The piercing glance of the eagle took in +and dismissed this futile panic with immeasurable scorn. With like +scorn, too, he noted the three gaunt cranes which had been wont to +stalk so arrogantly among the lesser fowl and drive them from their +meals. These once domineering birds were now standing huddled, their +drooped heads close together, beneath a dense laurel thicket just +behind the cage, their long legs quaking at every explosion. + +Amid all this destroying tumult and flying death the eagle had no fear. +He was merely excited by it. If a fragment of shell sang past his +head, he never flinched, his level stare never even filmed or wavered. +The roar and crash, indeed, and the monstrous buffetings of tormented +air, seemed to assuage the long ache of his home-sickness. They +reminded him of the hurricane racing past his ancient pine, of the +giant waves shattering themselves with thunderous jar upon the cliff +below. From time to time, as if his nerves were straining with +irresistible exultation, he would lift himself to his full height, half +spread his wings, stretch forward his gleaming white neck, and give +utterance to a short, strident, yelping cry. Then he would settle back +upon his perch again, and resume his fierce contemplation of the ruin +that was falling on the city. + +Suddenly an eleven-inch shell dropped straight in the centre of the +pool and exploded on the concrete bottom which underlay the mud. Half +the pool went up in the colossal eruption of blown flame and steam and +smoke. Even here on his perch the eagle found himself spattered and +drenched. When the shrunken surface of the pool had closed again over +the awful vortex, and the smoke had drifted off to join itself to the +dark cloud which hung over the city, the little flock of ducks and coot +was nowhere to be seen. It simply was not. But a bleeding fragment of +flesh, with some purple-and-chestnut feathers clinging to it, lay upon +the bottom of the cage. This morsel caught the eagle's eye. He had +been forgotten for the past two days--the old one-legged keeper of the +cages having vanished--and he was ravenous with hunger. He hopped down +briskly to the floor, grabbed the morsel, and gulped it. Then he +looked around hopefully for more. There were no more such opportune +tit-bits within the cage, but just outside he saw the half of a big +carp, which had been torn in twain by a caprice of the explosion and +tossed up here upon the grass. This was just such a morsel as he was +craving. He thrust one great talon out between the bars and clutched +at the prize. But it was beyond his reach. Disappointed, he tried the +other claw, balancing himself on one leg with widespread wings. +Stretch and struggle as he would, it was all in vain. The fish lay too +far off. Then he tried reaching through the bars with his head. He +elongated his neck till he almost thought he was a heron, and till his +great beak was snapping hungrily within an inch or two of the prize. +But not a hair's-breadth closer could he get. At last, in a cold fury, +he gave it up, and drew back, and shook himself to rearrange the much +dishevelled feathers of his neck. + +Just at this moment, while he was still on the floor of the cage, a +high-velocity shell came by. With its flat trajectory it passed just +overhead, swept the dome of the cage clean out of existence, and +whizzed onwards to explode, with a curious grunting crash, some +hundreds of yards beyond. The eagle looked up and gazed for some +seconds before realizing that his prison was no longer a prison. The +path was clear above him to the free spaces of the air. But he was in +no unseemly haste. His eye measured accurately the width of the exit, +and saw that it was awkwardly narrow for his great spread of wing. He +could not essay it directly from the ground, his quarters being too +straitened for free flight. Hopping upwards from limb to limb of the +roosting-tree, he regained the topmost perch, and found that, though +split by a stray splinter of the cage, it was still able to bear his +weight. From this point he sprang straight upwards, with one beat of +his wings. But the wing-tips struck violently against each side of the +opening, and he was thrown back with such force that only by a furious +flopping and struggle could he regain his footing on the perch. + +After this unexpected rebuff he sat quiet for perhaps half a minute, +staring fixedly at the exit. He was not going to fail again through +misjudgment. The straight top of the roosting-tree extended for about +three feet above his perch, but this extension being of no use to him, +he had never paid any heed to it hitherto. Now, however, he marked it +with new interest. It was close below the hole in the roof. He +flopped up to it, balanced himself for a second, and once more sprang +for the opening, but this time with a short, convulsive beat of wings +only half spread. The leap carried him almost through, but not far +enough for him to get another stroke of his wings. Clutching out +wildly with stretched talons, he succeeded in catching the end of a +broken bar. Desperately he clung to it, resisting the natural impulse +to help himself by flapping his wings. Reaching out with his beak, he +gripped another bar, and so steadied himself till he could gain a +foothold with both talons. Then slowly, like a dog getting over a +wall, he dragged himself forth, and stood at last free on the outer +side of the bars which had been so long his prison. + +But the first thing he thought of was not freedom. It was fish. For +perhaps a dozen seconds he gazed about him majestically, and scanned +with calm the toppling and crashing world. Then spreading his splendid +wings to their fullest extent, with no longer any fear of them striking +against iron bars, he dropped down to the grass beside the cage and +clutched the body of the slain carp. He was no more than just in time, +for a second later a pair of mink, released from their captivity in +perhaps the same way as he had been, came gliding furtively around the +base of the cage, intent upon the same booty. He turned his head over +his shoulder and gave them one look, then fell to tearing and gulping +his meal as unconcernedly as if the two savage little beasts had been +field mice. The mink stopped short, flashed white fangs at him in a +soundless snarl of hate, and whipped about to forage in some more +auspicious direction. + +When the eagle had finished his meal--which took him, indeed, scarcely +more time than takes to tell of it--he wiped his great beak +meticulously on the turf. While he was doing so, a shell burst so near +him that he was half smothered in dry earth. Indignantly he shook +himself, hopped a pace or two aside, ruffled up his feathers, and +proceeded to make his toilet as scrupulously as if no shells or sudden +death were within a thousand miles of him. + +The toilet completed to his satisfaction, he took a little flapping run +and rose into the air. He flew straight for the highest point within +his view, which chanced to be the slender, soaring spire of a church +somewhere about the centre of the city. As he mounted on a long slant, +he came into the level where most of the shells were travelling, for +their objective was not the little park with its "Zoo," but a line of +fortifications some distance beyond. Above, below, around him streamed +the terrible projectiles, whinnying or whistling, shrieking or roaring, +each according to its calibre and its type. It seemed a miracle that +he should come through that zone unscathed; but his vision was so +powerful and all-embracing, his judgment of speed and distance so +instantaneous and unerring, that he was able to avoid, without apparent +effort, all but the smallest and least visible shells, and these +latter, by the favour of Fate, did not come his way. He was more +annoyed, indeed, by certain volleys of debris which occasionally +spouted up at him with a disagreeable noise, and by the evil-smelling +smoke clouds, which came volleying about him without any reason that he +could discern. He flapped up to a higher level to escape these +annoyances, and so found himself above the track of the shells. Then +he made for the church spire, and perched himself upon the tip of the +great weather-vane. It was exactly what he wanted--a lofty observation +post from which to view the country round about before deciding in +which direction he would journey. + +From this high post he noticed that, while he was well above one zone +of shells, there was still another zone of them screaming far overhead. +These projectiles of the upper strata of air were travelling in the +opposite direction. He marked that they came from a crowded line of +smoke-bursts and blinding flashes just beyond the boundary of the city. +He decided that, upon resuming his journey, he would fly at the present +level, and so avoid traversing again either of the zones of death. + +Much to his disappointment, he found that his present observation post +did not give him as wide a view as he had hoped for. The city of his +captivity, he now saw, was set upon the loop of a silver stream in the +centre of a saucer-like valley. In every direction his view was +limited by low, encircling hills. Along one sector of this +circuit--that from which the shells of the lower stratum seemed to him +to be issuing--the hill-rim and the slopes below it were fringed with +vomiting smoke-clouds and biting spurts of fire. This did not, +however, influence in the least his choice of the direction in which to +journey. Instinct, little by little, as he sat there on the slowly +veering vane, was deciding that point for him. His gaze was fixing +itself more and more towards the north, or, rather, the north-west; for +something seemed to whisper in his heart that there was where he would +find the wild solitudes which he longed for. The rugged and +mist-wreathed peaks of Scotland or North Wales, though he knew them +not, were calling to him in his new-found freedom. + +The call, however, was not yet strong enough to be determining, so, +having well fed and being beyond measure content with his liberty, he +lingered on his skyey perch and watched the crash of the opposing +bombardments. The quarter of the town immediately beneath him had so +far suffered little from the shells, and the church showed no signs of +damage except for one gaping hole in the roof. But along the line of +the fortifications there seemed to be but one gigantic boiling of smoke +and flames, with continual spouting fountains of debris. This +inexplicable turmoil held his interest for a few moments. Then, while +he was wondering what it all meant, an eleven-inch shell struck the +church spire squarely about thirty feet below him. + +The explosion almost stunned him. The tip of the spire--with the +weather-cock, and the eagle still clinging to it--went rocketing +straight up into the air amid a stifling cloud of black smoke, while +the rest of the structure, down to a dozen feet below the point of +impact, was blown to the four winds. Half stunned though he was, the +amazed bird kept his wits about him, and clutched firmly to his flying +perch till it reached the end of its flight and turned to fall. Then +he spread his wings wide and let go. The erratic mass of wood and +metal dropped away, and left him floating, half-blinded, in the heart +of the smoke-cloud. A couple of violent wing-beats, however, carried +him clear of the cloud; and at once he shaped his course upwards, as +steeply as he could mount, smitten with a sudden desire for the calm +and the solitude which were associated in his memory with the uppermost +deeps of air. + +[Illustration: "Then he spread his wings wide and let go."] + +The fire from the city batteries had just now slackened for a little, +and the great bird's progress carried him through the higher shell zone +without mishap. In a minute or two he was far above those strange +flocks which flew so straight and swift, and made such incomprehensible +noises in their flight. Presently, too, he was above the smoke, the +very last wisps of it having thinned off into the clear, dry air. He +now began to find that he had come once more into his own peculiar +realm, the realm of the upper sky, so high that, as he thought, no +other living creature could approach him. He arrested his ascent, and +began to circle slowly on still wings, surveying the earth. + +But now he received, for the first time, a shock. Hitherto the most +astounding happenings had failed to startle him, but now a pang of +something very like fear shot through his stout heart. A little to +southward of the city he saw a vast pale-yellow elongated form rising +swiftly, without any visible effort, straight into the sky. Had he +ever seen a sausage, he would have thought that this yellow monster was +shaped like one. Certain fine cords descended from it, reaching all +the way to the earth, and below its middle hung a basket, with a man in +it. It rose to a height some hundreds of feet beyond the level on +which the eagle had been feeling himself supreme. Then it came to +rest, and hung there, swaying slowly in the mild wind. + +His apprehension speedily giving way to injured pride, the eagle flew +upwards, in short, steep spirals, as fast as his wings could drive him. +Not till he could once more look down upon the fat back of the +glistening yellow monster did he regain his mood of unruffled calm. +But he regained it only to have it stripped from him, a minute later, +with tenfold lack of ceremony. For far above him--so high that even +his undaunted wings would never venture thither--he heard a fierce and +terrible humming sound. He saw something like a colossal bird--or +rather, it was more suggestive of a dragonfly than a bird--speeding +towards him with never a single beat of its vast, pale wings. Its +speed was appalling. The eagle was afraid, but not with any foolish +panic. He knew that even as a sparrow would be to him, so would he be +to this unheard-of sovereign of the skies. Therefore it was possible +the sovereign of the skies would ignore him and seek a more worthy +opponent. Yes, it was heading towards the giant sausage. And the +sausage, plainly, had no stomach for the encounter. It seemed to +shrink suddenly; and with sickening lurches it began to descend, as if +strong hands were tugging upon the cords which anchored it to earth. +The eagle winged off modestly to one side, but not far enough to miss +anything of the stupendous encounter which he felt was coming. Here, +at last, were events of a strangeness and a terror to move even his +cool spirit out of its indifference. + +Now the giant insect was near enough for the eagle to mark that it had +eyes on the under-sides of its wings--immense, round, coloured eyes of +red and white and blue. Its shattering hum shook the eagle's nerves, +steady and seasoned though they were. Slanting slightly downwards, it +darted straight toward the sausage, which was now wallowing fatly in +its convulsive efforts to descend. At the same time the eagle caught +sight of another of the giant birds, or insects, somewhat different in +shape and colour from the first, darting up from the opposite +direction. Was it, too, he wondered, coming to attack the terrified +sausage, or to defend it? + +Before he could find an answer to this exciting question, the first +monster had arrived directly above the sausage and was circling over it +at some height, glaring down upon it with those great staring eyes of +its wings. Something struck the sausage fairly in the back. +Instantly, with a tremendous windy roar, the sausage vanished in a +sheet of flame. The monster far above it rocked and plunged in the +uprush of tormented air, the waves of which reached even to where the +eagle hung poised, and forced him to flap violently in order to keep +his balance against them. + +A few moments later the second monster arrived. The eagle saw at once +that the two were enemies. The first dived headlong at the second, +spitting fire, with a loud and dreadful rap-rap-rapping noise, from its +strange blunt muzzle. The two circled around each other, and over and +under each other, at a speed which made even the eagle dizzy with +amazement; and he saw that it was something more deadly than fire which +spurted from their blunt snouts; for every now and then small things, +which travelled too fast for him to see, twanged past him with a +vicious note which he knew for the voice of death. He edged discreetly +farther away. Evidently this battle of the giants was dangerous to +spectators. His curiosity was beginning to get sated. He was on the +point of leaving the danger area altogether, when the dreadful duel +came suddenly to an end. He saw the second monster plunge drunkenly, +in wild, ungoverned lurches, and then drop head first, down, down, +down, straight as a stone, till it crashed into the earth and instantly +burst into flame. He saw the great still eyes of the victor staring +down inscrutably upon the wreck of its foe. Then he saw it whirl +sharply--tilting its rigid wings at so steep an angle that it almost +seemed about to overturn--and dart away again in the direction from +which it had come. He saw the reason for this swift departure. A +flock of six more monsters, of the breed of the one just slain, came +sweeping up from the south to take vengeance for their comrade's defeat. + +The eagle had no mind to await them. He had had enough of wonders, and +the call in his heart had suddenly grown clear and intelligible. +Mounting still upward till he felt the air growing thin beneath his +wing-beats, he headed northwards as fast as he could fly. He had no +more interest now in the amazing panorama which unrolled beneath him, +in the thundering and screaming flights of shell which sped past in the +lower strata of the air. He was intent only upon gaining the wild +solitudes of which he dreamed. He marked others of the monsters which +he so dreaded, journeying sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks, but +always with the same implacable directness of flight, always with that +angry and menacing hum which, of all the sounds he had ever heard, +alone had power to shake his bold heart. He noticed that sometimes the +sky all about these monsters would be filled with sudden bursts of +fleecy cloud, looking soft as wool; and once he saw one of these +apparently harmless clouds burst full on the nose of one of the +monsters, which instantly flew apart and went hurtling down to earth in +revolving fragments. But he was no longer curious. He gave them all +as wide a berth as possible, and sped on, without delaying to note +their triumphs or their defeats. + +At last the earth grew green again below him. The monsters, the smoke, +the shells, the flames, the thunders, were gradually left behind, and +far ahead at last he saw the sea, flashing gold and sapphire beneath +the summer sun. Soon--for he flew swiftly--it was almost beneath him. +His heart exulted at the sight. Then across that stretch of gleaming +tide he saw a dim line of cliffs--white cliffs, such cliffs as he +desired. + +But at this point, when he was so near his goal, that Fate which had +always loved to juggle with him decided to show him a new one of her +tricks. Two more monsters appeared, diving steeply from the blue above +him. One was pursuing the other. Quite near him the pursuer overtook +its quarry, and the two spat fire at each other with that strident +rap-rap-rapping sound which he so disliked. He swerved as wide as +possible from the path of their terrible combat, and paid no heed to +its outcome. But, as he fled, something struck him near the tip of his +left wing. + +The shock went through him like a needle of ice or fire, and he +dropped, leaving a little cloud of feathers in the air above to settle +slowly after him. He turned once completely over as he fell. But +presently; with terrific effort, he succeeded in regaining a partial +balance. He could no longer fully support himself, still less continue +his direct flight; but he managed to keep on an even keel and to delay +his fall. He knew that to drop into the sea below him was certain +death. But he had marked that the sea was dotted with peculiar-looking +ships--long, narrow, dark ships--which travelled furiously, vomiting +black smoke and carrying a white mass of foam in their teeth, +Supporting himself, with the last ounce of his strength, till one of +these rushing ships was just about to pass below him, he let himself +drop, and landed sprawling on the deck. + +Half stunned though he was, he recovered himself almost instantly, +clawed up to his feet, steadied himself with one outstretched wing +against the pitching of the deck, and defied, with hard, undaunted eye +and threatening beak, a tall figure in blue, white-capped and +gold-braided, which stood smiling down upon him. + + * * * * * + +"By Jove," exclaimed Sub-Lieutenant James Smith, "here's luck: Uncle +Sam's own chicken, which he's sent us as a mascot till his ships can +get over and take a hand in the game with us: Delighted to see you, old +bird: You've come to the right spot, you have, and we'll do the best we +can to make you comfortable." + + + + +III + +COCK-CROW + + + + +Cock-Crow + +He was a splendid bird, a thoroughbred "Black-breasted Red" game-cock, +his gorgeous plumage hard as mail, silken with perfect condition, and +glowing like a flame against the darkness of the spruce forest. His +snaky head--the comb and wattles had been trimmed close, after the mode +laid down for his aristocratic kind--was sharp and keen, like a living +spearpoint. His eyes were fierce and piercing, ready ever to meet the +gaze of bird, or beast, or man himself with the unwinking challenge of +their full, arrogant stare. Perched upon a stump a few yards from the +railway line, he turned that bold stare now, with an air of unperturbed +superciliousness, upon the wreck of the big freight-car from which he +had just escaped. He had escaped by a miracle, but little effect had +that upon his bold and confident spirit. The ramshackle, overladen +freight train, labouring up the too-steep gradient, had broken in two, +thanks to a defective coupler, near the top of the incline a mile and a +half away. The rear cars--heavy box-cars--had, of course, run back, +gathering a terrific momentum as they went. The rear brakeman, his +brakes failing to hold, had discreetly jumped before the speed became +too great. At the foot of the incline a sharp curve had proved too +much for the runaways to negotiate. With a screech of tortured metal +they had jumped the track and gone crashing down the high embankment. +One car, landing on a granite boulder, had split apart like a cleft +melon. The light crate in which our game-cock, a pedigree bird, was +being carried to a fancier in the nearest town, some three score miles +away, had survived by its very lightness. But its door had been +snapped open. The cock walked out deliberately, uttered a long, low +_krr-rr-ee_ of ironic comment upon the disturbance, hopped delicately +over the tangle of boxes and crates and agricultural implements, and +flew to the top of the nearest stump. There he shook himself, his +plumage being disarrayed, though his spirit was not. He flapped his +wings. Then, eyeing the wreckage keenly, he gave a shrill, triumphant +crow, which rang through the early morning stillness of the forest like +a challenge. He felt that the smashed car, so lately his prison, was a +foe which he had vanquished by his own unaided prowess. His pride was +not altogether unnatural. + +The place where he stood, preening the red glory of his plumage, was in +the very heart of the wilderness. The only human habitation within a +dozen miles in either direction was a section-man's shanty, guarding a +siding and a rusty water tank. The woods--mostly spruce in that +region, with patches of birch and poplar--had been gone over by the +lumbermen some five years before, and still showed the ravages of the +insatiable axe. Their narrow "tote-roads," now deeply mossed and +partly overgrown by small scrub, traversed the lonely spaces in every +direction. One of these roads led straight back into the wilderness +from the railway--almost from the stump whereon the red cock had his +perch. + +The cock had no particular liking for the neighbourhood of the +accident, and when his fierce, inquiring eye fell upon this road, he +decided to investigate, hoping it might lead him to some flock of his +own kind, over whom he would, as a matter of course, promptly establish +his domination. That there would be other cocks there, already in +charge, only added to his zest for the adventure. He was raising his +wings to hop down from his perch, when a wide-winged shadow passed over +him, and he checked himself, glancing upwards sharply. + +A foraging hawk had just flown overhead. The hawk had never before +seen a bird like the bright figure standing on the stump, and he paused +in his flight, hanging for a moment on motionless wing to scrutinize +the strange apparition. But he was hungry, and he considered himself +more than a match for anything in feathers except the eagle, the +goshawk, and the great horned owl. His hesitation was but for a +second, and, with a sudden mighty thrust of his wide wings, he swooped +down upon this novel victim. + +The big hawk was accustomed to seeing every quarry he stooped at cower +paralysed with terror or scurry for shelter in wild panic. But, to his +surprise, this infatuated bird on the stump stood awaiting him, with +wings half lifted, neck feathers raised in defiant ruff, and one eye +cocked upwards warily. He was so surprised, in fact, that at a +distance of some dozen or fifteen feet he wavered and paused in his +downward rush. But it was surprise only, fear having small place in +his wild, marauding heart. In the next second he swooped again and +struck downwards at his quarry with savage, steel-hard talons. + +He struck but empty air. At exactly the right fraction of the instant +the cock had leapt upwards on his powerful wings, lightly as a +thistle-seed, but swift as if shot from a catapult. He passed straight +over his terrible assailant's back. In passing he struck downwards +with his spurs, which were nearly three inches long, straight, and +tapered almost to a needle-point. One of these deadly weapons found +its mark, as luck would have it, fair in the joint of the hawk's +shoulder, putting the wing clean out of action. + +The marauder turned completely over and fell in a wild flutter to the +ground, the cock, at the same time, alighting gracefully six or eight +feet away and wheeling like a flash to meet a second attack. The hawk, +recovering with splendid nerve from the amazing shock of his overthrow, +braced himself upright on his tail by the aid of the one sound +wing--the other wing trailing helplessly--and faced his strange +adversary with open beak and one clutching talon uplifted. + +The cock, fighting after the manner of his kind, rushed in to within a +couple of feet of his foe and there paused, balanced for the next +stroke or parry, legs slightly apart, wings lightly raised, neck +feathers ruffed straight out, beak lowered and presented like a rapier +point. Seeing that his opponent made no demonstration, but simply +waited, watching him with eyes as hard and bright and dauntless as his +own, he tried to provoke him to a second attack. With scornful +insolence he dropped his guard and pecked at a twig or a grass blade, +jerking the unconsidered morsel aside and presenting his point again +with lightning swiftness. + +The insult, however, was lost upon the hawk, who had no knowledge of +the cock's duelling code. He simply waited, motionless as the stump +beside him. + +The cock, perceiving that taunt and insolence were wasted, now began to +circle warily toward the left, as if to take his opponent in the flank. +The hawk at once shifted front to face him. But this was the side of +his disabled wing. The sprawling member would not move, would not get +out of the way. In the effort to manage it, he partly lost his +precarious balance. The cock saw his advantage instantly. He dashed +in like a feathered and flaming thunderbolt, leaping upwards and +striking downwards with his destroying heels. The hawk was hurled over +backwards, with one spur through his throat, the other through his +lungs. As he fell he dragged his conqueror down with him, and one +convulsive but blindly-clutching talon ripped away a strip of flesh and +feathers from the victor's thigh. There was a moment's flapping, a few +delicate red feathers floated off upon the morning air, then the hawk +lay quite still, and the red cock, stepping haughtily off the body of +his foe, crowed long and shrill, three times, as if challenging any +other champions of the wilderness to come and dare a like fate. + +For a few minutes he stood waiting and listening for an answer to his +challenge. As no answer came, he turned, without deigning to glance at +his slain foe, and stalked off, stepping daintily, up the old wood-road +and into the depths of the forest. To the raw, red gash in his thigh +he paid no heed whatever. + +Having no inkling of the fact that the wilderness, silent and deserted +though it seemed, was full of hostile eyes and unknown perils, he took +no care at all for the secrecy of his going. Indeed, had he striven +for concealment, his brilliant colouring, so out of key with the forest +gloom, would have made it almost impossible. Nevertheless, his +keenness of sight and hearing, his practised and unsleeping vigilance +as protector of his flock, stood him in good stead, and made up for his +lack of wilderness lore. It was with an intense interest and +curiosity, rather than with any apprehension, that his bold eyes +questioned everything on either side of his path through the dark +spruce woods. Sometimes he would stop to peck the bright vermilion +bunches of the pigeon-berry, which here and there starred the hillocks +beside the road. But no matter how interesting he found the novel and +delicious fare, his vigilance never relaxed. It was, indeed, almost +automatic. The idea lurking in his subconscious processes was probably +that he might at any moment be seen by some doughty rival of his own +kind, and challenged to the great game of mortal combat. But whatever +the object of his watchfulness, it served him as well against the +unknown as it could have done against expected foes. + +Presently he came to a spot where an old, half-rotted stump had been +torn apart by a bear hunting for wood-ants. The raw earth about the +up-torn roots tempted the wanderer to scratch for grubs. Finding a fat +white morsel, much too dainty to be devoured alone, he stood over it +and began to call _kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt,_ in his most alluring +tones, hoping that some coy young hen would come stealing out of the +underbrush in response to his gallant invitation. There was no such +response; but as he peered about hopefully, he caught sight of a +sinister, reddish-yellow shape creeping towards him behind the shelter +of a withe-wood bush. He gulped down the fat grub, and stood warily +eyeing the approach of this new foe. + +It looked to him like a sharp-nosed, bushy-tailed yellow dog--a very +savage and active one. He was not afraid, but he knew himself no match +for a thoroughly ferocious dog of that size. This one, it was clear, +had evil designs upon him. He half crouched, with wings loosed and +every muscle tense for the spring. + +The next instant the fox pounced at him, darting through the green +edges of the withe-wood bush with most disconcerting suddenness. The +cock sprang into the air, but only just in time, for the fox, leaping +up nimbly at him with snapping jaws, captured a mouthful of glossy fail +feathers. The cock alighted on a branch overhead, some seven or eight +feet from the ground, whipped around, stretched his neck downwards, and +eyed his assailant with a glassy stare. "_Kr-rr-rr-eee?_" he murmured +softly, as if in sarcastic interrogation. The fox, exasperated at his +failure, and hating, above all beasts, to be made a fool of, glanced +around to see if there were any spectators. Then, with an air of +elaborate indifference, he pawed a feather from the corner of his mouth +and trotted away as if he had just remembered something. + +He had not gone above thirty yards or so, when the cock flew down again +to the exact spot where he had been scratching. He pretended to pick +up another grub, all the time keeping an eye on the retiring foe. He +crowed with studied insolence; but the fox, although that long and +shrill defiance must have seemed a startling novelty, gave no sign of +having heard it. The cock crowed again, with the same lack of result. +He kept on crowing until the fox was out of sight. Then he returned +coolly to his scratching. When he had satisfied his appetite for fat +white grubs, he flew up again to his safe perch and fell to preening +his feathers. Five minutes later the fox reappeared, creeping up with +infinite stealth from quite another direction. The cock, however, +detected his approach at once, and proclaimed the fact with another +mocking crow. Disgusted and abashed, the fox turned in his tracks and +crept away to stalk some less sophisticated quarry. + +The wanderer, for all his fearlessness, was wise. He suspected that +the vicious yellow dog with the bushy tail might return yet again to +the charge. For a time, therefore, he sat on his perch, digesting his +meal and studying with keen, inquisitive eyes his strange surroundings. +After ten minutes or so of stillness and emptiness, the forest began to +come alive. He saw a pair of black-and-white woodpeckers running up +and down the trunk of a half-dead tree, and listened with tense +interest to their loud rat-tat-tattings. He watched the shy wood-mice +come out from their snug holes under the tree-roots, and play about +with timorous gaiety and light rustlings among the dead leaves. He +scrutinized with appraising care a big brown rabbit which came bounding +in a leisurely fashion down the tote-road and sat up on its +hindquarters near the stump, staring about with its mild, bulging eyes, +and waving its long ears this way and that, to question every minutest +wilderness sound; and he decided that the rabbit, for all its bulk and +apparent vigour of limb, would not be a dangerous opponent. In fact, +he thought of hopping down from his perch and putting the big innocent +to flight, just to compensate himself for having had to flee from the +fox. + +But while he was meditating this venture, the rabbit went suddenly +leaping off at a tremendous pace, evidently in great alarm. A few +seconds later a slim little light-brownish creature, with short legs, +long, sinuous body, short, triangular head, and cruel eyes that glowed +like fire, came into view, following hard upon the rabbit's trail. It +was nothing like half the rabbit's size, but the interested watcher on +the branch overhead understood at once the rabbit's terror. He had +never seen a weasel before, but he knew that the sinuous little beast +with the eyes of death would be as dangerous almost as the fox. He +noted that here was another enemy to look out for--to be avoided, if +possible, to be fought with the utmost wariness if fighting should be +forced upon him. + +Not long after the weasel had vanished, the cock grew tired of waiting, +and restless to renew the quest for the flock on which his dreams were +set. He started by flying from tree to tree, still keeping along the +course of the tote-road. But after he had covered perhaps a half-mile +in this laborious fashion, he gave it up and hopped down again into the +road. Here he went now with new caution, but with the same old +arrogance of eye and bearing. He went quickly, however, for the gloom +of the spruce wood had grown oppressive to him, and he wanted open +fields and the unrestricted sun. + +He had not gone far when he caught sight of a curious-looking animal +advancing slowly down the path to meet him. It was nearly as big as +the rabbit, but low on the legs; and instead of leaping along, it +crawled with a certain heavy deliberation. Its colour was a dingy, +greyish black-and-white, and its short black head was crowned with what +looked like a heavy iron-grey pompadour brushed well back. The cock +stood still, eyeing its approach suspiciously. It did not look capable +of any very swift demonstration, but he was on his guard. + +When it had come within three or four yards of him, he said +"_Kr-rr-rr-eee!_" sharply, just to see what it would do, at the same +time lowering his snaky head and ruffing out his neck feathers in +challenge. The stranger seemed then to notice him for the first time, +and instantly, to the cock's vast surprise, it enlarged itself to fully +twice its previous size. Its fur, which was now seen to be quills +rather than fur, stood up straight on end all over its head and body, +and the quills were two or three inches in length. At this amazing +spectacle the cock involuntarily backed away several paces. The +stranger came straight on, however, without hastening his deliberate +steps one jot. The cock waited, maintaining his attitude of challenge, +till not more than three or four feet separated him from the +incomprehensible apparition. Then he sprang lightly over it and turned +in a flash, expecting the stranger to turn also and again confront him. +The stranger, however, did nothing of the kind, but simply continued +stolidly on his way, not even troubling to look round. Such stolidity +was more than the cock could understand, having never encountered a +porcupine before. He stared after it for some moments. Then he crowed +scornfully, turned about, and resumed his lonely quest. + +A little farther on, to his great delight, he came out into a small +clearing with a log cabin in the centre of it. A house! It was +associated in his mind with an admiring, devoted flock of hens, and +rivals to be ignominiously routed, and harmless necessary humans whose +business it was to supply unlimited food. He rushed forward eagerly, +careless as to whether he should encounter love or war. + +Alas, the cabin was deserted! Even to his inexperienced eye it was +long deserted. The door hung on one hinge, half open; the one small +window had no glass in it. Untrodden weeds grew among the rotting +chips up to and across the threshold. The roof--a rough affair of +poles and bark--sagged in the middle, just ready to fall in at the +smallest provocation. A red squirrel, his tail carried jauntily over +his back, sat on the topmost peak of it and shrilled high derision at +the wanderer as he approached. + +The cock was acquainted with squirrels, and thought less than nothing +of them. Ignoring the loud chatter, he tip-toed around the cabin, +dejected but still inquisitive. Returning at length to the doorway, he +peered in, craning his neck and uttering a low _kr-rr_. Finally, with +head held high, he stalked in. The place was empty, save for a long +bench with a broken leg and a joint of rust-eaten stove-pipe. Along +two of the walls ran a double tier of bunks, in which the lumbermen had +formerly slept. The cock stalked all around the place, prying in every +corner and murmuring softly to himself. At last he flew up to the +highest bunk, perched upon the edge of it, flapped his wings, and +crowed repeatedly, as if announcing to the wilderness at large that he +had taken possession. This ceremony accomplished, he flew down again, +stalked out into the sunlight, and fell to scratching among the chips +with an air of assured possession. And all the while the red squirrel +kept on hurling shrill, unheeded abuse at him, resenting him as an +intruder in the wilds. + +Whenever the cock found a particularly choice grub or worm or beetle, +he would hold it aloft in his beak, then lay it down and call loudly +_kt-kt-kt-kt-kt-kt_, as if hoping thus to lure some flock of hens to +the fair domain which he had seized. He had now dropped his quest, and +was trusting that his subjects would come to him. That afternoon his +valiant calls caught the ear of a weasel--possibly the very one which +he had seen in the morning trailing the panic-stricken rabbit. The +weasel came rushing upon him at once, too ferocious in its blood-lust +for any such emotions as surprise or curiosity, and expecting an easy +conquest. The cock saw it coming, and knew well the danger. But he +was now on his own ground, responsible for the protection of an +imaginary flock. He faced the peril unwavering. Fortunately for him, +the weasel had no idea whatever of a fighting-cock's method of warfare. +When the cock evaded the deadly rush by leaping straight at it and over +it, instead of dodging aside or turning tail, the weasel was nonplussed +for just a fraction of a second, and stood snarling. In that instant +of hesitation the cock's keen spur struck it fairly behind the ear, and +drove clean into the brain. The murderous little beast stiffened out, +rolled gently over upon its side, and lay there with the soundless +snarl fixed upon its half-opened jaws. Surprised at such an easy +victory, the cock spurred the carcase again, just to make sure of it. +Then he kicked it to one side, crowed, of course, and stared around +wistfully for some appreciation of his triumph. He could not know with +what changed eyes the squirrel--who feared weasels more than anything +else on earth--was now regarding him. + +The killing of so redoubtable an adversary as the weasel must have +become known, in some mysterious fashion, for thenceforward no more of +the small marauders of the forest ventured to challenge the new +lordship of the clearing. For a week the cock ruled his solitude +unquestioned, very lonely, but sleeplessly alert, and ever hoping that +followers of his own kind would come to him from somewhere. In time, +doubtless, his loneliness would have driven him forth again upon his +quest; but Fate had other things in store for him. + +Late one afternoon a grizzled woodsman in grey homespun, and carrying a +bundle swung from the axe over his shoulder, came striding up to the +cabin. The cock, pleased to see a human being once more, stalked forth +from the cabin door to meet him. The woodsman was surprised at the +sight of what he called a "reel barn-yard rooster" away off here in the +wilds, but he was too tired and hungry to consider the question +carefully. His first thought was that there would be a pleasant +addition to his supper of bacon and biscuits. He dropped his axe and +bundle, and made a swift grab at the unsuspecting bird. The latter +dodged cleverly, ruffed his neck feathers with an angry _kr-rr-rr_, +hopped up, and spurred the offending hand severely. + +The woodsman straightened himself up, taken by surprise, and sheepishly +shook the blood from his hand. + +"Well, I'll be durned!" he muttered, eyeing the intrepid cock with +admiration. "You're some rooster, you are! I guess you're all right. +Guess I deserved that, for thinkin' of wringin' the neck o' sech a +handsome an' gritty bird as you, an' me with plenty o' good bacon in me +pack. Guess we'll call it square, eh?" + +He felt in his pocket for some scraps of biscuits, and tossed them to +the cock, who picked them up greedily and then strutted around him, +plainly begging for more. The biscuit was a delightful change after an +unvarying diet of grubs and grass. Thereafter he followed his visitor +about like his shadow, not with servility, of course, but with a +certain condescending arrogance which the woodsman found hugely amusing. + +Just outside the cabin door the woodsman lit a fire to cook his evening +rasher and brew his tin of tea. The cock supped with him, striding +with dignity to pick up the scraps which were thrown to him, and then +resuming his place at the other side of the fire. By the time the man +was done, dusk had fallen; and the cock, chuckling contentedly in his +throat, tip-toed into the cabin, flew up to the top bunk, and settled +himself on his perch for the night. He had always been taught to +expect benefits from men, and he felt that this big stranger who had +fed him so generously would find him a flock to preside over on the +morrow. + +After a long smoke beside his dying fire, till the moon came up above +the ghostly solitude, the woodsman turned in to sleep in one of the +lower bunks, opposite to where the cock was roosting. He had heaped an +armful of bracken and spruce branches into the bunk before spreading +his blanket. And he slept very soundly. + +Even the most experienced of woodsmen may make a slip at times. This +one, this time, had forgotten to make quite sure that his fire was out. +There was no wind when he went to bed, but soon afterwards a wind +arose, blowing steadily toward the cabin. It blew the darkened embers +to a glow, and little, harmless-looking flames began eating their way +over the top layer of tinder-dry chips to the equally dry wall of the +cabin. + + * * * * * + +The cock was awakened by a bright light in his eyes. A fiery glow, +beyond the reddest of sunrises, was flooding the cabin. Long tongues +of flame were licking about the doorway. He crowed valiantly, to greet +this splendid, blazing dawn. He crowed again and yet again, because he +was anxious and disturbed. As a sunrise, this one did not act at all +according to precedent. + +The piercing notes aroused the man, who was sleeping heavily. In one +instant he was out of his bunk and grabbing up his blanket and his +pack. In the next he had plunged out through the flaming doorway, and +thrown down his armful at a safe distance, cursing acidly at such a +disturbance to the most comfortable rest he had enjoyed for a week. + +From within the doomed cabin came once more the crow of the cock, +shrilling dauntlessly above the crackle and venomous hiss of the flames. + +"Gee whizz!" muttered the woodsman, or, rather, that may be taken as +the polite equivalent of his untrammelled backwoods expletive. "That +there red rooster's game. Ye can't leave a pardner like that to roast!" + +With one arm shielding his face, he dashed in again, grabbed the cock +by the legs, and darted forth once more into the sweet, chill air, none +the worse except for frizzled eyelashes and an unceremonious trimming +of hair and beard. The cock, highly insulted, was flapping and pecking +savagely, but the man soon reduced him to impotence, if not submission, +holding him under one elbow while he tied his armed heels together, and +then swaddling him securely in his coat. + +"There," said he, "I guess we'll travel together from this out, +pardner. Ye've sure saved my life; an' to think I had the notion, for +a minnit, o' makin' a meal offen ye! I'll give ye a good home, +anyways, an' I guess ye'll lick the socks offen every other rooster in +the whole blame Settlement!" + + + + +IV + +THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST + + + + +The Morning of the Silver Frost + +All night the big buck rabbit--he was really a hare, but the +backwoodsmen called him a rabbit--had been squatting on his form under +the dense branches of a young fir tree. The branches grew so low that +their tips touched the snow all round him, giving him almost perfect +shelter from the drift of the storm. The storm was one of icy rain, +which everywhere froze instantly as it fell. All night it had been +busy encasing the whole wilderness--every tree and bush and stump, and +the snow in every open meadow or patch of forest glade--in an armour of +ice, thick and hard and glassy clear. And the rabbit, crouching +motionless, save for an occasional forward thrust of his long, +sensitive ears, had slept in unwonted security, knowing that none of +his night-prowling foes would venture forth from their lairs on such a +night. + +At dawn the rain stopped. The cold deepened to a still intensity. The +clouds lifted along the eastern horizon, and a thin, icy flood of +saffron and palest rose washed down across the glittering desolation. +The wilderness was ablaze on the instant with elusive tongues and +points of coloured light--jewelled flames, not of fire, but of frost. +The world had become a palace of crystal and opal, a dream-palace that +would vanish at a touch, a breath. And indeed, had a wind arisen then +to breathe upon it roughly, the immeasurable crystal would have +shattered as swiftly as a dream, the too-rigid twigs and branches would +have snapped and clattered down in ruin. + +The rabbit came out from under his little ice-clad fir tree, and, for +all his caution, the brittle twigs broke about him as he emerged, and +tinkled round him sharply. The thin, light sound was so loud upon the +stillness that he gave a startled leap into the air, landing many feet +away from his refuge. He slipped and sprawled, recovered his foothold, +and stood quivering, his great, prominent eyes trying to look in every +direction at once, his ears questioning anxiously to and fro, his +nostrils twitching for any hint of danger. + +There was no sight, sound, or scent, however, to justify his alarm, and +in a few seconds, growing bolder, he remembered that he was hungry. +Close by he noticed the tips of a little birch sapling sticking up +above the snow. These birch-tips, in winter, were his favourite food. +He hopped toward them, going circumspectly over the slippery surface, +and sat up on his hindquarters to nibble at them. To his intense +surprise and disappointment, each twig and aromatic bud was sealed +away, inaccessible, though clearly visible, under a quarter inch of +ice. Twig after twig he investigated with his inquiring, sensitive +cleft nostrils, which met everywhere the same chill reception. Round +and round the tantalizing branch he hopped, unable to make out the +situation. At last, thoroughly disgusted, he turned his back on the +treacherous birch bush and made for another, some fifty yards down the +glade. + +As he reached it he stopped short, suddenly rigid, his head half turned +over his shoulder, every muscle gathered like a spring wound up to +extreme tension. His bulging eyes had caught a movement somewhere +behind him, beyond the clump of twigs which he had just left. Only for +a second did he remain thus rigid. Then the spring was loosed. With a +frantic bound he went over and through the top of the bush. The +shattered and scattered crystals rang sharply on the shining +snow-crust. And he sped away in panic terror among the silent trees. + +From behind the glassy twigs emerged another form, snow-white like the +fleeting rabbit, and sped in pursuit--not so swiftly, indeed, as the +rabbit, but with an air of implacable purpose that made the quarry seem +already doomed. The pursuer was much smaller than his intended victim, +very low on the legs, long-bodied, slender, and sinuous, and he moved +as if all compacted of whipcord muscle. The grace of his long, +deliberate bounds was indescribable. His head was triangular in shape, +the ears small and close-set, the black-tipped muzzle sharply pointed, +with the thin, black lips upcurled to show the white fangs; and the +eyes glowed red with blood-lust. Small as it was, there was something +terrible about the tiny beast, and its pursuit seemed as inevitable as +Fate. At each bound its steel-hard claws scratched sharply on the +crystal casing of the snow, and here and there an icicle from a snapped +twig went ringing silverly across the gleaming surface. + +For perhaps fifty yards the weasel followed straight upon the rabbit's +track. Then he swerved to the right. He had lost sight of his quarry. +But he knew its habits in flight. He knew it would run in a circle, +and he took a chord of that circle, so as to head the fugitive off. He +knew he might have to repeat this manoeuvre several times, but he had +no doubts as to the result. In a second or two he also had disappeared +among the azure shadows and pink-and-saffron gleams of the ice-clad +forest. + +For several minutes the glade was empty, still as death, with the +bitter but delicate glories of the winter dawn flooding ever more +radiantly across it. On a sudden the rabbit appeared again, this time +at the opposite side of the glade. He was running irresolutely now, +with little aimless leaps to this side and to that, and his leaps were +short and lifeless, as if his nerve-power were getting paralysed. +About the middle of the glade he seemed to give up altogether, as if +conquered by sheer panic. He stopped, hesitated, wheeled round, and +crouched flat upon the naked snow, trembling violently, and staring, +with eyes that started from his head, at the point in the woods which +he had just emerged from. + +A second later the grim pursuer appeared. He saw his victim awaiting +him, but he did not hurry his pace by a hair's-breadth. With the same +terrible deliberation he approached. Only his jaws opened, his long +fangs glistened bare; a blood-red globule of light glowed redder at the +back of his eyes. + +One more of those inexorable bounds, and he would have been at his +victim's throat. The rabbit screamed. + +At that instant, with a hissing sound, a dark shadow dropped out of the +air. It struck the rabbit. He was enveloped in a dreadful flapping of +wings. Iron talons, that clutched and bit like the jaws of a trap, +seized him by the back. He felt himself partly lifted from the snow. +He screamed again. But now he struggled convulsively, no longer +submissive to his doom, the hypnotic spell cast upon him by the weasel +being broken by the shock of the great hawk's unexpected attack. + +But the weasel was not of the stuff or temper to let his prey be +snatched thus from his jaws. Cruel and wanton assassin though he was, +ever rejoicing to kill for the lust of killing long after his hunger +was satisfied, he had the courage of a wounded buffalo. A mere darting +silver of white, he sprang straight into the blinding confusion of +those great wings. + +He secured a hold just under one wing, where the armour of feathers was +thinnest, and began to gnaw inwards with his keen fangs. With a +startled cry, the hawk freed her talons from the rabbit's back and +clutched frantically at her assailant. The rabbit, writhing out from +under the struggle, went leaping off into cover, bleeding copiously, +but carrying no fatal hurt. He had recovered his wits, and had no idle +curiosity as to how the battle between his enemies would turn out. + +The hawk, for all her great strength and the crushing superiority of +her weapons, had a serious disadvantage of position. The weasel, +maintaining his deadly grip and working inwards like a bull-dog, had +hunched up his lithe little body so that she could not reach it with +her talons. She tore furiously at his back with her rending beak, but +the amazingly tough, rubbery muscles resisted even that weapon to a +certain degree. At last, securing a grip with her beak upon her +adversary's thigh, she managed to pull the curled-up body out almost +straight, and so secured a grip upon it with one set of talons. + +That grip was crushing, irresistible, but it was too far back to be +immediately fatal. The weasel's lithe body lengthened out under the +agonizing stress of it, but it could not pull his jaws from their grip. +They continued inexorably their task of gnawing inwards, ever inwards, +seeking a vital spot. + +The struggle went on in silence, as far as the voices of both +combatants were concerned. But the beating of the hawk's wings +resounded on the glassy-hard surface of the snow. As the struggle +shifted ground, those flapping wings came suddenly in contact with a +bush, whose iced twigs were brittle as glass and glittering like the +prisms of a great crystal candelabrum. There was a shrill crash and a +thin, ringing clatter as the twigs shattered off and spun flying across +the crust. + +The sound carried far through the still iridescent spaces of the +wilderness. It reached the ears of a foraging fox, who was tiptoeing +with dainty care over the slippery crust. He turned hopefully to +investigate, trusting to get a needed breakfast out of some +fellow-marauder's difficulties. At the edge of the glade he paused, +peering through a bush of crystal fire to size up the situation before +committing himself to the venture. + +Desperately preoccupied though she was, the hawk's all-seeing eyes +detected the red outlines of the fox through the bush. With a frantic +beating of her wings she lifted herself from the snow. The fox darted +upon her with a lightning rush and a shattering of icicles. He was +just too late. The great bird was already in the air, carrying her +deadly burden with her. The fox leapt straight upwards, hoping to pull +her down, but his clashing jaws just failed to reach her talons. +Labouring heavily in her flight, she made off, striving to gain a +tree-top, where she might perch and once more give her attention to the +gnawing torment which clung beneath her wing. + +The fox, being wise, and seeing that the hawk was in extremest straits, +ran on beneath her as she flew, gazing upwards expectantly. + +The weasel, meanwhile, with that deadly concentration of purpose which +characterizes his tribe, paid no heed to the fact that he was +journeying through the air. And he knew nothing of what was going on +below. His flaming eyes were buried in his foe's feathers, his jaws +were steadily working inwards toward her vitals. + +Just at the edge of the glade, immediately over the top of a branchy +young paper-birch which shot a million coloured points of light in the +sunrise, the end came. The fangs of the weasel met in the hawk's +wildly throbbing heart. With a choking burst of scarlet blood it +stopped. + +Stone dead, the great marauder of the air crashed down through the slim +birch-top, with a great scattering of gleams and crystals. With +wide-sprawled wings she thudded down upon the snow-crust, almost under +the fox's complacent jaws. The weasel's venomous head, covered with +blood, emerged triumphant from the mass of feathers. + +As the victor writhed free, the fox, pouncing upon him with a careless +air, seized him by the neck, snapped it neatly, and tossed the long, +limp body, aside upon the snow. He had no use for the rank, stringy +meat of the weasel when better fare was at hand. Then he drew the hawk +close to the trunk of the young birch, and lay down to make a leisurely +breakfast. + + + + +V + +JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG + + + + +How Woolly Billy Came to Brine's Rip + +I + +Jim's mother was a big cross-bred bitch, half Newfoundland and half +bloodhound, belonging to Black Saunders, one of the hands at the +Brine's Rip Mills. As the mills were always busy, Saunders was always +busy, and it was no place for a dog to be around, among the screeching +saws, the thumping, wet logs, and the spurting sawdust. So the big +bitch, with fiery energy thrilling her veins and sinews and the +restraint of a master's hand seldom exercised upon her, practically ran +wild. + +Hunting on her own account in the deep wilderness which surrounded +Brine's Rip Settlement, she became a deadly menace to every wild thing +less formidable than a bear or a bull moose, till at last, in the early +prime of her adventurous career, she was shot by an angry game warden +for her depredations among the deer and the young caribou. + +Jim's father was a splendid and pedigreed specimen of the old English +sheep-dog. From a litter of puppies of this uncommon parentage, Tug +Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, chose out the one +that seemed to him the likeliest, paid Black Saunders a sovereign for +him, and named him Jim. To Tug Blackstock, for some unfathomed reason, +the name of "Jim" stood for self-contained efficiency. + +It was efficiency, in chief, that Tug Blackstock, as Deputy Sheriff, +was after. He had been reading, in a stray magazine with torn cover +and much-thumbed pages, an account of the wonderful doings of the +trained police-dogs of Paris. The story had fired his imagination and +excited his envy. + +There was a lawless element in some of the outlying corners of +Nipsiwaska County, with a larger element of yet more audacious +lawlessness beyond the county line from which to recruit. Throughout +the wide and mostly wilderness expanse of Nipsiwaska County the +responsibility for law and order rested almost solely upon the +shoulders of Tug Blackstock. His chief, the Sheriff, a prosperous +shopkeeper who owed his appointment to his political pull, knew little +and thought less of the duties of his office. + +As soon as Jim was old enough to have an interest beyond his breakfast +and the worrying of his rag ball, Tug Blackstock set about his +training. It was a matter that could not be hurried. Tug had much +work to do and Jim, as behoved a growing puppy, had a deal of play to +get through in the course of each twenty-four hours. Then so hard was +the learning, so easy, alas! the forgetting. Tug Blackstock was kind +to all creatures but timber thieves and other evil-doers of like +kidney. He was patient, with the long patience of the forest. But he +had a will like the granite of old Bald Face. + +Jim was quick of wit, willing to learn, intent to please his master. +But it was hard for him to concentrate. It was hard to keep his mind +off cats, and squirrels, the worrying of old boots, and other doggish +frivolities. Hence, at times, some painful misunderstandings between +teacher and pupil. In the main, however, the education of Jim +progressed to a marvel. + +They were a pair, indeed, to strike the most stolid imagination, let +alone the sensitive, brooding, watchful imagination of the backwoods. +Tug Blackstock was a tall, spare figure of a man, narrow of hip, deep +of chest, with something of a stoop to his mighty shoulders, and his +head thrust forward as if in ceaseless scrutiny of the unseen. His +hair, worn somewhat short and pushed straight back, was faintly +grizzled. His face, tanned and lean, was markedly wide at the eyes, +with a big, well-modelled nose, a long, obstinate jaw, and a wide mouth +whimsically uptwisted at one corner. + +Except on the trail--and even then he usually carried a razor in his +pack--he was always clean-shaven, just because he didn't like the curl +of his beard. His jacket, shirt, and trousers were of browny-grey +homespun, of much the same hue as his soft slouch hat, all as +inconspicuous as possible. But at his throat, loosely knotted under +his wide-rolling shirt collar, he wore usually an ample silk +handkerchief of vivid green spattered with big yellow spots, like +dandelions in a young June meadow. + +As for Jim, at first glance he might almost have been taken for a slim, +young black bear rather than a dog. The shaggy coat bequeathed to him +by his sheep-dog sire gave to his legs and to his hindquarters an +appearance of massiveness that was almost clumsy. But under this dense +black fleece his lines were fine and clean-drawn as a bull-terrier's. + +The hair about his eyes grew so long and thick that, if left to itself, +it would have seriously interfered with his vision. This his master +could not think of permitting, so the riotous hair was trimmed down +severely, till Jim's large, sagacious eyes gazed out unimpeded from +ferocious, brush-like rims of stubby fur about half an inch in length. + + +II + +For some ten miles above the long, white, furrowed race of Brine's Rip, +where Blue Forks Brook flows in, the main stream of the Ottanoonsis is +a succession of mad rapids and toothed ledges and treacherous, +channel-splitting shoals. These ten miles are a trial of nerve and +water-craft for the best canoists on the river. In the spring, when +the river was in freshet and the freed logs were racing, battering, and +jamming, the whole reach was such a death-trap for the stream-drivers +that it had come to be known as Dead Man's Run. + +Now, in high summer, when the stream was shrunken in its channel and +the sunshine lay golden over the roaring, creamy chutes and the dancing +shallows, the place looked less perilous. But it was full of snares +and hidden teeth. It was no place for the canoist, however expert with +pole and paddle, unless he knew how to read the water unerringly for +many yards ahead. It is this reading of the water, this instantaneous +solving of the hieroglyphics of foam and surge and swirl and glassy +lunge, that makes the skilled runner of the rapids. + +A light birch-bark canoe, with a man in the stern and a small child in +the bow, was approaching the head of the rapids, which were hidden from +the paddler's view by a high, densely-wooded bend of the shore. The +canoe leapt forward swiftly on the smooth, quiet current, under the +strong drive of the paddle. + +The paddler was a tall, big-limbed man, with fair hair fringing out +under his tweed cap, and a face burnt red rather than tanned by the +weather. He was dressed roughly but well, and not as a woodsman, and +he had a subtle air of being foreign to the backwoods. He knew how to +handle his paddle, however, the prow of his craft keeping true though +his strokes were slow and powerful. + +The child who sat facing him on a cushion in the bow was a little boy +of four or five years, in a short scarlet jacket and blue knickers. +His fat, bare legs were covered with fly-bites and scratches, his baby +face of the tenderest cream and pink, his round, interested eyes as +blue as periwinkle blossoms. But the most conspicuous thing about him +was his hair. He was bareheaded--his little cap lying in the bottom of +the canoe among the luggage--and the hair, as white as tow, stood out +like a fleece all over his head, enmeshing the sunlight in its silken +tangle. + +When the canoe shot round the bend, the roar of the rapids smote +suddenly upon the voyagers' ears. The child turned his bright head +inquiringly, but from his low place could see nothing to explain the +noise. His father, however, sitting up on the hinder bar of the canoe, +could see a menacing white line of tossing crests, aflash in the +sunlight, stretching from shore to shore. Backing water vigorously to +check his headway, he stood up to get a better view and choose his way +through the surge. + +The stranger was master of his paddle, but he had had no adequate +experience in running rapids. Such light and unobstructed rips as he +had gone through had merely sufficed to make him regard lightly the +menace confronting him. He had heard of the perils of Dead Man's Run, +but that, of course, meant in time of freshet, when even the mildest +streams are liable to go mad and run amuck. This was the season of +dead low water, and it was hard for him to imagine there could be +anything really to fear from this lively but shrunken stream. He was +strong, clear-eyed, steady of nerve, and he anticipated no great +trouble in getting through. + +As the light craft dipped into the turmoil; jumping as if buffeted from +below, and the wave-tops slapped in on either side of the bow, the +little lad gave a cry of fear. + +"Sit tight, boy. Don't be afraid," said the father, peering ahead with +intent, narrowed eyes and surging fiercely on his blade to avoid a +boiling rock just below the first chute. As he swept past in safety he +laughed in triumph, for the passage had been close and exciting, and +the conquest of a mad rapid is one of the thrilling things in life, and +worth going far for. His laugh reassured the child, who laughed also, +but cowered low in the canoe and stared over the gunwale with wide eyes +of awe. + +But already the canoe was darting down toward a line of black rocks +smothered in foam. The man paddled desperately to gain the other +shore, where there seemed to be a clear passage. Slanting sharply +across the great current, surging with short terrific strokes upon his +sturdy maple blade, his teeth set and his breath coming in grunts, he +was swept on downward, sideways toward the rocks, with appalling speed. +But he made the passage, swept the bow around, and raced through, +shaving the rock so narrowly that his heart paused and the sweat jumped +out suddenly cold on his forehead. + +Immediately afterwards the current swept him to mid-stream. Just here +the channel was straight and clear of rocks, and though the rips were +heavy the man had a few minutes' respite, with little to do but hold +his course. + +With a stab at the heart he realized now into what peril he had brought +his baby. Eagerly he looked for a chance to land, but on neither side +could he make shore with any chance of escaping shipwreck. A woodsman, +expert with the canoe-pole, might have managed it, but the stranger had +neither pole nor skill to handle one. He was in the grip of the wild +current and could only race on, trusting to master each new emergency +as it should hurl itself upon him. + +Presently the little one took alarm again at his father's stern-set +mouth and preoccupied eyes. The man had just time to shout once more, +"Don't be afraid, son. Dad'll take care of you," when the canoe was +once more in a yelling chaos of chutes and ledges. And now there was +no respite. Unable to read the signs of the water, he was full upon +each new peril before he recognized it, and only his great muscular +strength and instant decision saved them. + +Again and again they barely, by a hair's-breadth, slipped through the +jaws of death, and it seemed to the man that the gnashing ledges raved +and yelled behind him at each miracle of escape. Then hissing +wave-crests cut themselves off and leapt over the racing gunwale, till +he feared the canoe would be swamped. Once they scraped so savagely +that he thought the bottom was surely ripped from the canoe. But still +he won onward, mile after roaring mile, his will fighting doggedly to +keep his eyesight from growing hopelessly confused with the hellish, +sliding dazzle and riot of waters. + +But at last the fiend of the flood, having played with its prey long +enough, laid bare its claws and struck. The bow of the canoe, in +swerving from one foam-curtained rock, grounded heavily upon another. +In an instant the little craft was swung broadside on, and hung there. +The waves piled upon her in a yelling pack. She was smothered down, +and rolled over helplessly. + +As they shot out into the torrent the man, with a terrible cry, sprang +toward the bow, striving to reach his son. He succeeded in catching +the little one, with one hand, by the back of the scarlet jacket. The +next moment he went under and the jacket came off over the child's +head. A whimsical cross-current dragged the little boy twenty feet off +to one side, and shot him into a shallow side channel. + +When the man came to the surface again his eyes were shut, his face +stark white, his legs and arms flung about aimlessly as weeds; but fast +in his unconscious grip he held the little red jacket. The canoe, its +side stove in, and full of water, was hurrying off down the rapid amid +a fleet of paddles, cushions, blankets, boxes, and bundles. The body +of the man, heavy and inert and sprawling, followed more slowly. The +waves rolled it over and trampled it down, shouldered it up again, and +snatched it away viciously whenever it showed an inclination to hang +itself up on some projecting ledge. It was long since they had had +such a victim on whom to glut their rancour. + +The child, meanwhile, after being rolled through the laughing shallows +of the side channel and playfully buffeted into a half-drowned +unconsciousness, was stranded on a sand spit some eight or ten yards +from the right-hand shore. There he lay, half in the water, half out +of it, the silken white floss of his hair all plastered down to his +head, the rippled current tugging at his scratched and bitten legs. + +The unclouded sun shone down warmly upon his face, slowly bringing back +the rose to his baby lips, and a small, paper-blue butterfly hovered +over his head for a few seconds, as if puzzled to make out what kind of +being he was. + +The sand spit which had given the helpless little one refuge was close +to the shore, but separated from it by a deep and turbulent current. A +few minutes after the blue butterfly had flickered away across the +foam, a large black bear came noiselessly forth from the fir woods and +down to the water's edge. He gazed searchingly up and down the river +to see if there were any other human creatures in sight, then stretched +his savage black muzzle out over the water toward the sand spit, eyeing +and sniffing at the little unconscious figure there in the sun. He +could not make out whether it was dead or only asleep. In either case +he wanted it. He stepped into the foaming edge of the sluice, and +stood there whimpering with disappointed appetite, daunted by the snaky +vehemence of the current. + +Presently, as the warmth of the flooding sun crept into his veins, the +child stirred, and opened his blue eyes. He sat up, noticed he was +sitting in the water, crawled to a dry spot, and snuggled down into the +hot sand. For the moment he was too dazed to realize where he was. +Then, as the life pulsed back into his veins, he remembered how his +father's hand had caught him by the jacket just as he went plunging +into the awful waves. Now, the jacket was gone. His father was gone, +too. + +"Daddy! Daddee-ee!" he wailed. And at the sound of that wailing cry, +so unmistakably the cry of a youngling for its parent, the bear drew +back discreetly behind a bush, and glanced uneasily up and down the +stream to see if the parent would come in answer to the appeal. He had +a wholesome respect for the grown-up man creature of either sex, and +was ready to retire on the approach of one. + +But no one came. The child began to sob softly, in a lonesome, +frightened, suppressed way. In a minute or two, however, he stopped +this, and rose to his feet, and began repeating over and over the +shrill wail of "Daddy, Daddee-ee, Daddee-ee!" At the same time he +peered about him in every direction, almost hopefully, as if he thought +his father must be hiding somewhere near, to jump out presently for a +game of bo-peep with him. + +His baby eyes were keen. They did not find his father, but they found +the bear, its great black head staring at him from behind a bush. + +His cries stopped on the instant, in the middle of a syllable, frozen +in his throat with terror. He cowered down again upon the sand, and +stared, speechless, at the awful apparition. The bear, realizing that +the little one's cries had brought no succour, came out from its hiding +confidently, and down to the shore, and straight out into the water +till the current began to drag too savagely at its legs. Here it +stopped, grumbling and baffled. + +The little one, unable any longer to endure the dreadful sight, backed +to the extreme edge of the sand, covered his face with his hands, and +fell to whimpering piteously, an unceasing, hopeless, monotonous little +cry, as vague and inarticulate as the wind. + +The bear, convinced at length that the sluice just here was too strong +for to cross, drew back to the shore reluctantly, It moved slowly +up-stream some forty or fifty yards, looking for a feasible crossing. +Disappointed in this direction, it then explored the water's edge for a +little distance down stream, but with a like result. But it would not +give up. Up and down, up and down, it continued to patrol the shore +with hungry obstinacy. And the piteous whimpering of the little figure +that cowered, with hidden face upon the sand spit, gradually died away. +That white fleece of silken locks, dried in the sun and blown by the +warm breeze, stood out once more in its radiance on the lonely little +slumbering head. + + +III + +Tug Blackstock sat on a log, smoking and musing, on the shore of that +wide, eddying pool, full of slow swirls and spent foam clusters, in +which the tumbling riot of Brine's Rip came to a rest. From the mills +behind him screeched the untiring saws. Outstretched at his feet lay +Jim, indolently snapping at flies. The men of the village were busy in +the mills, the women in their cottages, the children in their schools; +and the stretch of rough shore gave Tug Blackstock the solitude which +he loved. + +Down through the last race of the rapids came a canoe paddle, and began +revolving slowly in the eddies. Blackstock pointed it out to Jim, and +sent him in after it. The dog swam for it gaily, grabbed it by the top +so that it could trail at his side, and brought it to his master's +feet. It was a good paddle, of clean bird's-eye maple and Melicite +pattern, and Tug Blackstock wondered who could have been so careless as +to lose it. Carelessness is a vice regarded with small leniency in the +backwoods. + +A few minutes later down the rapids came wallowing a water-logged +birch-canoe. The other things which had started out with it, the +cushions and blankets and bundles, had got themselves tangled in the +rocks and left behind. + +At sight of the wrecked canoe, Tug Blackstock rose to his feet. He +began to suspect another of the tragedies of Dead Man's Run. But what +river-man would come to grief in the Run at this stage of the water? +Blackstock turned to an old dug-out which lay hauled up on the shore, +ran it down into the water and paddled out to salvage the wrecked +canoe. He towed it to shore, emptied it, and scrutinized it. He +thought he knew every canoe on the river, but this one was a stranger +to him. It had evidently been brought across the Portage from the east +coast. Then he found, burnt into the inside of the gunwale near the +bow, the letters J.C.M.W. + +"The Englishman," he muttered. "He's let the canoe git away from him +at the head of the Run, likely, when he's gone ashore. He'd never have +tried to shoot the Run alone, an' him with no experience of rapids." + +But he was uneasy. He decided that he would get his own canoe and pole +up through the rapids, just to satisfy himself. + +Tug Blackstock's canoe, a strong and swift "Fredericton" of polished +canvas, built on the lines of a racing birch, was kept under cover in +his wood shed at the end of the village street. He shouldered it, +carrying it over his head with the mid bar across his shoulders, and +bore it down to the water's edge. Then he went back and fetched his +two canoe poles and his paddles. + +Waving Jim into the bow, he was just about to push off when his +narrowed eyes caught sight of something else rolling and threshing +helplessly down the rapid. Only too well he saw what it was. His face +pale with concern, he thrust the canoe violently up into the tail of +the rapid, just in time to catch the blindly sprawling shape before it +could sink to the depths of the pool. Tenderly he lifted it out upon +the shore. It was battered almost out of recognition, but he knew it. + +"Poor devil! Poor devil!" he muttered sorrowfully. "He was a man all +right, but he didn't understand rapids for shucks!" + +Then he noticed that in the dead man's right hand was clutched a tiny +child's jacket. He understood--he saw the whole scene, and he swore +compassionately under his breath, as he unloosed the rigid fingers. +Alive or dead, the little one must be found at once. + +He called Jim sharply, and showed him the soaked red jacket. Jim +sniffed at it, but the wearer's scent was long ago soaked out of it. +He looked it over, and pawed it, wagging his tail doubtfully. He could +see it was a small child's jacket, but what was he expected to do with +it? + +After a few moments, Tug Blackstock patted the jacket vigorously, and +then waved his arm up-stream. + +"Go, find him, Jim!" he ordered. Jim, hanging upon each word and +gesture, comprehended instantly. He was to find the owner of the +little jacket--a child--somewhere up the river. With a series of eager +yelps--which meant that he would do all that living dog could do--he +started up the shore, on the full run. + +By this time the mill whistles had blown, the screaming of the saws had +stopped, the men, powdered with yellow sawdust, were streaming out from +the wide doors. They flocked down to the water. + +In hurried words Blackstock explained the situation. Then he stepped +once more into his canoe, snatched his long, steel-shod pole, and +thrust his prow up into the wild current, leaving the dead man to the +care of the coroner and the village authorities. Before he had battled +his way more than a few hundred yards upwards through the raging +smother, two more canoes, with expert polers standing poised in them +like statues, had pushed out to follow him in his search. + +The rest of the crowd picked up the body and bore it away reverently to +the court-room, with sympathetic women weeping beside it. + +Racing along the open edge of the river where it was possible, tearing +fiercely through thicket and underbrush where rapids or rocks made the +river's edge impassable, the great black dog panted onwards with the +sweat dripping from jaws and tongue. Whenever he was forced away from +the river, he would return to it at every fifty yards or so, and scan +each rock, shoal or sand spit with keen, sagacious eyes. He had been +told to search the river--that was the plain interpretation of the wet +jacket and of Tug Blackstock's gesture--so he wasted no time upon the +woods and the undergrowth. + +At last he caught sight of the little fluffy-headed figure huddled upon +the sand spit far across the river. He stopped, stared intently, and +then burst into loud, ecstatic barkings as an announcement that his +search had been successful. But the noise did not carry across the +tumult of the ledge, and the little one slept on, exhausted by his +terror and his grief. + +It was not only the sleeping child that Jim saw. He saw the bear, and +his barking broke into shrill yelps of alarm and appeal. He could not +see that the sluice between the sand spit and the bank was an effective +barrier, and he was frantic with anxiety lest the bear should attack +the little one before he could come to the rescue. + +His experienced eye told him in a moment that the river was impassable +for him at this point. He dashed on up-stream for another couple of +hundred yards, and then, where a breadth of comparatively slack water +beneath a long ledge extended more than half-way across, he plunged in, +undaunted by the clamour and the jumping, boiling foam. + +Swimming mightily, he gained a point directly above the sand spit. +Then, fighting every inch of the way to get across the terrific draft +of the main current, he was swept downward at a tremendous speed. But +he had carried out his plan. He gained the shallow side channel, +splashed down it, and darted up the sand spit with a menacing growl at +the bear across the sluice. + +At the sound of that harsh growl close to his ears the little one woke +up and raised his head. Seeing Jim, big and black and dripping, he +thought it was the bear. With a piercing scream he once more hid his +face in his hands, rigid with horror. Puzzled at this reception, Jim +fell to licking his hands and his ears extravagantly, and whining and +thrusting a coaxing wet nose under his arms. + +At last the little fellow began to realize that these were not the +actions of a foe. Timidly he lowered his hands from his face, and +looked around. Why, there was the bear, on the other side of the +water, tremendous and terrible, but just where he had been this ever so +long. This creature that was making such a fuss over him was plainly a +dog--a kind, good dog, who was fond of little boys. + +With a sigh of inexpressible relief his terror slipped from him. He +flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the wet +fur. And Jim, his heart swelling with pride, stood up and barked +furiously across at the bear. + +[Illustration: "He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried +his face in the wet fur."] + +Tug Blackstock, standing in the stern of his canoe, plied his pole with +renewed effort. Reaching the spit he strode forward, snatched the +child up in his arms, and passed his great hand tenderly through that +wonderful shock of whitey-gold silken curls. His eyes were moist, but +his voice was hearty and gay, as if this meeting were the most ordinary +thing in the world. + +"Hullo, Woolly Billy!" he cried. "What are you doin' here?" + +"Daddy left me here," answered the child, his lip beginning to quiver. +"Where's he gone to?" + +"Oh," replied Tug Blackstock hurriedly, "yer dad was called away rather +sudden, an' he sent me an' Jim, here, to look after you till he gits +back. An' we'll do it, too, Woolly Billy; don't you fret." + +"My name's George Harold Manners Watson," explained the child politely. + +"But we'll just call you Woolly Billy for short," said Tug Blackstock. + + + + +II. The Book Agent and the Buckskin Belt + +I + +A big-framed, jaunty man with black side-whiskers, a long black frock +coat, and a square, flat case of shiny black leather strapped upon his +back, stepped into the Corner Store at Brine's Rip Mills. + +He said: "Hullo, boys! Hot day!" in a big voice that was intentionally +hearty, ran his bulging eyes appraisingly over every one present, then +took off his wide-brimmed felt hat and mopped his glistening forehead +with a big red and white handkerchief. Receiving a more or less +hospitable chorus of grunts and "hullos" in response, he seated himself +on a keg of nails, removed the leather case from his back, and asked +for ginger beer, which he drank noisily from the bottle. + +"Name of Byles," said he at length, introducing himself with a sweeping +nod. "Hot tramp in from Cribb's Ridge. Thirsty, you bet. Never drink +nothing stronger'n ginger pop or soft cider. Have a round o' pop on +me, boys. A1 pop this o' yours, mister. A dozen more bottles, please, +for these gentlemen." + +He looked around the circle with an air at once assured and persuasive. +And the taciturn woodsmen, not wholly at ease under such sudden +cordiality from a stranger, but too polite to rebuff him, muttered +"Thank ye, kindly," or "Here's how," as they threw back their heads and +poured the weak stuff down their gaunt and hairy throats. + +It was a slack time at Brine's Rip, the mills having shut down that +morning because the river was so low that there were no more logs +running. The shrieking saws being silent for a little, there was +nothing for the mill hands to do but loaf and smoke. The hot air was +heavily scented with the smell of fresh sawdust mixed with the strong +honey-perfume of the flowering buckwheat fields beyond the village. +The buzzing of flies in the windows of the store was like a fine +arabesque of sound against the ceaseless, muffled thunder of the rapids. + +The dozen men gathered here at Zeb Smith's store--which was, in effect, +the village club--found it hard to rouse themselves to a conversational +effort in any way worthy the advances of the confident stranger. They +all smoked a little harder than usual, and looked on with courteous but +noncommittal interest while he proceeded to unstrap his shiny black +leather case. + +In his stiff and sombre garb, so unsuited to the backwoods trails, the +stranger had much the look of one of those itinerant preachers who +sometimes busy themselves with the cure of souls in the remoter +backwoods settlements. But his eye and his address were rather those +of a shrewd and pushing commercial traveller. + +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, felt a vague +antagonism toward him, chiefly on the ground that his speech and +bearing did not seem to consort with his habiliments. He rather liked +a man to look what he was or be what he looked, and he did not like +black side whiskers and long hair. This antagonism, however, he felt +to be unreasonable. The man had evidently had a long and tiring tramp, +and was entitled to a somewhat friendlier reception than he was getting. + +Swinging his long legs against the counter, on which he sat between a +pile of printed calicoes and a box of bright pink fancy soap, Tug +Blackstock reached behind him and possessed himself of a box of long, +black cigars. Having selected one critically for himself, he proffered +the box to the stranger. + +"Have a weed?" said he cordially. "They ain't half bad." + +But the stranger waved the box aside with an air at once grand and +gracious. + +"I never touch the weed, thank you kindly just the same," said he. +"But I've nothing agin it. It goes agin my system, that's all. If +it's all the same to you, I'll take a bite o' cheese an' a cracker +'stead o' the cigar." + +"Sartain," agreed Blackstock, jumping down to fetch the edibles from +behind the counter. Like most of the regular customers, he knew the +store and its contents almost as well as Zeb Smith himself. + +During the last few minutes an immense, rough-haired black dog had been +sniffing the stranger over with suspicious minuteness. The stranger at +first paid no attention whatever, though it was an ordeal that many +might have shrunk from. At last, seeming to notice the animal for the +first time, he recognized his presence by indifferently laying his hand +upon his neck. Instead of instantly drawing off with a resentful +growl, after his manner with strangers, the dog acknowledged the casual +caress by a slight wag of the tail, and then, after a few moments, +turned away amicably and lay down. + +"If Jim finds him all right," thought Blackstock to himself, "ther' +can't be much wrong with him, though I can't say I take to him myself." +And he weighed off a much bigger piece of cheese than he had at first +intended to offer, marking down his indebtedness on a slate which +served the proprietor as a sort of day-book. The stranger fell to +devouring it with an eagerness which showed that his lunch must have +been of the lightest. + +"Ye was sayin' as how ye'd jest come up from Cribb's Ridge?" put in a +long-legged, heavy-shouldered man who was sprawling on a cracker box +behind the door. He had short sandy hair, rapidly thinning, eyes of a +cold grey, set rather close together, and a face that suggested a cross +between a fox and a fish-hawk. He was somewhat conspicuous among his +fellows by the trimness of his dress, his shirt being of dark blue +flannel with a rolled-up collar and a scarlet knotted kerchief, while +the rest of the mill hands wore collarless shirts of grey homespun, +with no thought of neckerchiefs. + +His trousers were of brown corduroy, and were held up by a broad belt +of white dressed buckskin, elaborately decorated with Navajo designs in +black and red. He stuck to this adornment tenaciously as a sort of +inoffensive proclamation of the fact that he was not an ordinary +backwoods mill hand, but a wanderer, one who had travelled far, and +tried his wits at many ventures in the wilder West. + +"Right you are," assented the stranger, brushing some white cracker +crumbs out of his black whiskers. + +"I was jest a-wonderin'," went on Hawker, giving a hitch to the +elaborate belt and leaning forward a little to spit out through the +doorway, "if ye've seed anything o' Jake Sanderson on the road." + +The stranger, having his mouth full of cheese, did not answer for a +moment. + +"The boys are lookin' for him rather anxious," explained Blackstock +with a grin. "He brings the leetle fat roll that pays their wages here +at the mill, an' he's due some time to day." + +"I seen him at Cribb's Ridge this morning," answered the stranger at +last. "Said he'd hurt his foot, or strained his knee, or something, +an' would have to come on a bit slow. He'll be along some time +to-night, I guess. Didn't seem to me to have much wrong with him. No, +ye can't have none o' that cheese. Go 'way an' lay down," he added +suddenly to the great black dog, who had returned to his side and laid +his head on the stranger's knee. + +With a disappointed air the dog obeyed. + +"'Tain't often Jim's so civil to a stranger," muttered Blackstock to +himself. + +A little boy in a scarlet jacket, with round eyes of china blue, and an +immense mop of curly, fluffy, silky hair so palely flaxen as to be +almost white, came hopping and skipping into the store. He was greeted +with friendly grins, while several voices drawled, "Hullo, Woolly +Billy!" He beamed cheerfully upon the whole company, with a special +gleam of intimate confidence for Tug Blackstock and the big black dog. +Then he stepped up to the stranger's knee, and stood staring with +respectful admiration at those flowing jet-black side-whiskers. + +The stranger in return looked with a cold curiosity at the child's +singular hair. Neither children nor dogs had any particular appeal for +him, but that hair was certainly queer. + +"Most an albino, ain't he?" he suggested. + +"No, he ain't," replied Tug Blackstock curtly. The dog, detecting a +note of resentment in his master's voice, got up and stood beside the +child, and gazed about the circle with an air of anxious interrogation. +Had any one been disagreeable to Woolly Billy? And if so, who? + +But the little one was not in the least rebuffed by the stranger's +unresponsiveness. + +"What's that?" he inquired, patting admiringly the stranger's shiny +leather case. + +The stranger grew cordial to him at once. + +"Ah, now ye're talkin'," said he enthusiastically, undoing the flap of +the case. "It's a book, sonny. The greatest book, the most +_interestin'_ book, the most useful book--and next to the Bible the +most high-toned, uplifting book that was ever written. Ye can't read +yet, sonny, but this book has the loveliest pictures ye ever seen, and +the greatest lot of 'em for the money." + +He drew reverently forth from the case a large, fat volume, bound +sumptuously in embossed sky-blue imitation leather, lavishly gilt, and +opened it upon his knees with a spacious gesture. + +"There," he continued proudly. "It's called 'Mother, Home, and +Heaven!' Ain't that a title for ye? Don't it show ye right off the +kind of book it is? With this book by ye, ye don't need any other book +in the house at all, except maybe the almanack an' the Bible--an' this +book has lots o' the best bits out of the Bible in it, scattered +through among the receipts an' things to keep it all wholesome an' +upliftin'. + +"It'll tell ye such useful things as how to get a cork out of a bottle +without breakin' the bottle, when he haven't got a corkscrew, or what +to do when the baby's got croup, and there ain't a doctor this side of +Tourdulac. An' it'll tell ye how to live, so as when things happen +that no medicines an' no doctors and no receipts--not even such great +receipts as these here ones" (and he slapped his hand on the counter) +"can help ye through--such as when a tree falls on to ye, or you trip +and stumble on to the saws, or git drawn down under half-a-mile o' +raft--then ye'll be ready to go right up aloft, an' no questions asked +ye at the Great White Gate. + +"An' it has po'try in it, too, reel heart po'try, such as'll take ye +back to the time when ye was all white an' innocent o' sin at yer +mother's knee, an' make ye wish ye was like that now. In fact, boys, +this book I'm goin' to show ye, with your kind permission, is handier +than a pocket in a shirt, an' at the same time the blessed fragrance of +it is like a rose o' Sharon in the household. It's in three styles o' +bindin', all _reel_ handsome, but----" + +"I want to look at another picture now," protested Woolly Billy. "I'm +tired of this one of the angels sayin' their prayers." + +His amazing shock of silver-gold curls was bent intently over the book +in the stranger's lap. The woodsmen, on the other hand, kept on +smoking with a far-off look, as if they heard not a word of the fluent +harangue. They had a deep distrust and dread of this black-whiskered +stranger, now that he stood revealed as the +Man-Wanting-to-Sell-Something. The majority of them would not even +glance in the direction of the gaudy book, lest by doing so they should +find themselves involved in some expensive and complicated obligation. + +The stranger responded to Woolly Billy's appeal by shutting the book +firmly. "There's lots more pictures purtier than that one, sonny," +said he. "But ye must ask yer dad to buy it fer ye. He won't regret +it." And he passed the volume on to Hawker, who, having no dread of +book-agents, began to turn over the leaves with a superior smile. + +"Dad's gone away ever so far," answered Woolly Billy sadly. "It's an +awfully pretty book." And he looked at Tug Blackstock appealingly. + +"Look here, mister," drawled Blackstock, "I don't take much stock +myself in those kind of books, an' moreover (not meanin' no offence to +you), any man that's sellin' 'em has got to larn to do a sight o' +lyin'. But as Woolly Billy here wants it so bad I'll take a copy, if +'tain't too dear. All the same, it's only fair to warn ye that ye'll +not do much business in Brine's Rip, for there was a book agent here +last year as got about ha'f the folks in the village to sign a crooked +contract, and we was all stung bad. I'd advise ye to move on, an' not +really tackle Brine's Rip fer another year or so. Now, what's the +price?" + +The stranger's face had fallen during this speech, but it brightened at +the concluding question. + +"Six dollars, four dollars, an' two dollars an' a half, accordin' to +style of bindin'," he answered, bringing out a handful of leaflets and +order forms and passing them round briskly. "An' ye don't need to pay +more'n fifty cents down, an' sign this order, an' ye pay the balance in +a month's time, when the books are delivered. I'll give ye my receipt +for the fifty cents, an' ye jest fill in this order accordin' to the +bindin' ye choose. Let me advise ye, as a friend, to take the six +dollar one. It's the best value." + +"Thanks jest the same," said Blackstock drily, pulling out his wallet, +"but I guess Woolly Billy'd jest as soon have the two-fifty one. An' +I'll pay ye the cash right now. No signin' orders fer me. Here's my +name an' address." + +"Right ye are," agreed the stranger cordially, pocketing the money and +signing the receipt. "Cash payments for me every time, if I could have +my way. Now, if some o' you other gentlemen will follow Mr. +Blackstock's fine example, ye'll never regret it--an' neither will I." + +"Come on, Woolly Billy. Come on, Jim," said Blackstock, stepping out +into the street with the child and the dog at his heels. "We'll be +gittin' along home, an' leave this gentleman to argy with the boys." + + +II + +Jake Sanderson, with the pay for the mill-hands, did not arrive that +night, nor yet the following morning. Along toward noon, however, +there arrived a breathless stripling, white-faced and wild-eyed, with +news of him. The boy was young Stephens, son of Andy Stephens, the +game-warden. He and his father, coming up from Cribb's Ridge, had +found the body of Sanderson lying half in a pool beside the road, +covered with blood. Near at hand lay the bag, empty, slashed open with +a bloody knife. Stephens had sent his boy on into the Settlement for +help, while he himself had remained by the body, guarding it lest some +possible clue should be interfered with. + +Swift as a grass fire, the shocking news spread through the village. +An excited crowd gathered in front of the store, every one talking at +once, trying to question young Stephens. The Sheriff was away, down at +Fredericton for a holiday from his arduous duties. But nobody lamented +his absence. It was his deputy they all turned to in such an emergency. + +"Where's Tug Blackstock?" demanded half a dozen awed voices. And, as +if in answer, the tall, lean figure of the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska +County came striding in haste up the sawdusty road, with the big, black +dog crowding eagerly upon his heels. + +The clamour of the crowd was hushed as Blackstock put a few questions, +terse and pertinent, to the excited boy. The people of Nipsiwaska +County in general had the profoundest confidence in their Deputy +Sheriff. They believed that his shrewd brain and keen eye could find a +clue to the most baffling of mysteries. Just now, however, his face +was like a mask of marble, and his eyes, sunk back into his head, were +like points of steel. The murdered man had been one of his best +friends, a comrade and helper in many a hard enterprise. + +"Come," said he to the lad, "we'll go an' see." And he started off +down the road at that long loose stride of his, which was swifter than +a trot and much less tiring. + +"Hold on a minute, Tug," drawled a rasping nasal voice. + +"What is it, Hawker?" demanded Blackstock, turning impatiently on his +heel. + +"Ye hain't asked no thin' yet about the Book Agent, Mister Byles, him +as sold ye 'Mother, Home, an' Heaven.' Mebbe he could give us some +information. He said as how he'd had some talk with poor old Jake." + +Blackstock's lips curled slightly. He had not read the voluble +stranger as a likely highwayman in any circumstances, still less as one +to try issues with a man like Jake Sanderson. But the crowd, eager to +give tongue on any kind of a scent, and instinctively hostile to a book +agent, seized greedily upon the suggestion. + +"Where is he?" "Send for him." "Did anybody see him this mornin'?" +"Rout him out!" "Fetch him along!" The babel of voices started afresh. + +"He's cleared out," cried a woman's shrill voice. It was the voice of +Mrs. Stukeley, who kept the boarding-house. Every one else was silent +to hear what she had to say. + +"He quit my place jest about daylight this morning," continued the +woman virulently. She had not liked the stranger's black whiskers, nor +his ministerial garb, nor his efforts to get a subscription out of her, +and she was therefore ready to believe him guilty without further +proof. "He seemed in a powerful hurry to git away, sayin' as how the +Archangel Gabriel himself couldn't do business in this town." + +Seeing the effect her words produced, and that even the usually +imperturbable and disdainful Deputy Sheriff was impressed by them, she +could not refrain from embroidering her statement a little. + +"Now ez I come to think of it," she went on, "I did notice as how he +seemed kind of excited an' nervous like, so's he could hardly stop to +finish his breakfus'. But he took time to make me knock half-a-dollar +off his bill." + +"Mac," said Blackstock sharply, turning to Red Angus MacDonald, the +village constable, "you take two of the boys an' go after the Book +Agent. Find him, an' fetch him back. But no funny business with him, +mind you. We hain't got a spark of evidence agin him. We jest want +him as a witness, mind." + +The crowd's excitement was somewhat damped by this pronouncement, and +Hawker's exasperating voice was heard to drawl: + +"No _evidence_, hey? Ef that ain't _evidence_, him skinnin' out that +way afore sun-up, I'd like to know what is!" + +But to this and similar comments Tug Blackstock paid no heed whatever. +He hurried on down the road toward the scene of the tragedy, his lean +jaws working grimly upon a huge chew of tobacco, the big, black dog not +now at his heels but trotting a little way ahead and casting from one +side of the road to the other, nose to earth. The crowd came on +behind, but Blackstock waved them back. + +"I don't want none o' ye to come within fifty paces of me, afore I tell +ye to," he announced with decision. "Keep well back, all of ye, or +ye'll mess up the tracks." + +But this proved a decree too hard to be enforced for any length of time. + +When he arrived at the place where the game-warden kept watch beside +the murdered man, Blackstock stood for a few moments in silence, +looking down upon the body of his friend with stony face and brooding +eyes. In spite of his grief, his practised observation took in the +whole scene to the minutest detail, and photographed it upon his memory +for reference. + +The body lay with face and shoulder and one leg and arm in a deep, +stagnant pool by the roadside. The head was covered with black, +clotted blood from a knife-wound in the neck. Close by, in the middle +of the road, lay a stout leather satchel, gaping open, and quite empty. +Two small memorandum books, one shut and the other with white leaves +fluttering, lay near the bag. Though the roadway at this point was dry +and hard, it bore some signs of a struggle, and toward the edge of the +water there were several little, dark, caked lumps of puddled dust. + +Blackstock first examined the road minutely, all about the body, but +the examination, even to such a practised eye as his, yielded little +result. The ground was too hard and dusty to receive any legible +trail, and, moreover, it had been carelessly over-trodden by the +game-warden and his son. But whether he found anything of interest or +not, Blackstock's grim, impassive face gave no sign. + +At length he went over to the body, and lifted it gently. The coat and +shirt were soaked with blood, and showed marks of a fierce struggle. +Blackstock opened the shirt, and found the fatal wound, a knife-thrust +which had been driven upwards between the ribs. He laid the body down +again, and at the same time picked up a piece of paper, crumpled and +blood-stained, which had lain beneath it. He spread it open, and for a +moment his brows contracted as if in surprise and doubt. It was one of +the order forms for "Mother, Home and Heaven." + +He folded it up and put it carefully between the leaves of the +note-book which he always carried in his pocket. + +Stephens, who was close beside him, had caught a glimpse of the paper, +and recognized it. + +"Say!" he exclaimed, under his breath. "I never thought o' _him_!" + +But Blackstock only shook his head slowly, and called the big black +dog, which had been waiting all this time in an attitude of keen +expectancy, with mouth open and tail gently wagging. + +"Take a good look at him, Jim," said Blackstock. + +The dog sniffed the body all over, and then looked up at his master as +if for further directions. + +"An' now take a sniff at this." And he pointed to the rifled bag. + +"What do you make of it?" he inquired when the dog had smelt it all +over minutely. + +Jim stood motionless, with ears and tail drooping, the picture of +irresolution and bewilderment. + +Blackstock took out again the paper which he had just put away, and +offered it to the clog, who nosed it carefully, then looked at the dead +body beside the pool, and growled softly. + +"Seek him, Jim," said Blackstock. + +At once the dog ran up again to the body, and back to the open book. +Then he fell to circling about the bag, nose to earth, seeking to pick +up the elusive trail. + +At this point the crowd from the village, unable longer to restrain +their eagerness, surged forward, led by Hawker, and closed in, +effectually obliterating all trails. Jim growled angrily, showing his +long white teeth, and drew back beside the body as if to guard it. +Blackstock stood watching his action with a brooding scrutiny. + +"What's that bit o' paper ye found under him, Tug?" demanded Hawker +vehemently. + +"None o' yer business, Sam," replied the deputy, putting the +blood-stained paper back into his pocket. + +"I seen what it was," shouted Hawker to the rest of the crowd. "It was +one o' them there dokyments that the book agent had, up to the store. +I always _said_ as how 'twas him." + +"We'll ketch him!" "We'll string him up!" yelled the crowd, starting +back along the road at a run. + +"Don't be sech fools!" shouted Blackstock. "Hold on! Come back I tell +ye!" + +But he might as well have shouted to a flock of wild geese on their +clamorous voyage through the sky. Fired by Sam Hawker's exhortations, +they were ready to lynch the black-whiskered stranger on sight. + +Blackstock cursed them in a cold fury. + +"I'll hev to go after them, Andy," said he, "or there'll be trouble +when they find that there book agent." + +"Better give 'em their head, Tug," protested the warden. "Guess he +done it all right. He'll git no more'n's good for him." + +"_Maybe_ he did it, an' then agin, maybe he didn't," retorted the +Deputy, "an' anyways, they're jest plumb looney now. You stay here, +an' I'll follow them up. Send Bob back to the Ridge to fetch the +coroner." + +He turned and started on the run in pursuit of the shouting crowd, +whistling at the same time for the dog to follow him. But to his +surprise Jim did not obey instantly. He was very busy digging under a +big whitish stone at the other side of the pool. Blackstock halted. + +"Jim," he commanded angrily, "git out o' that! What d'ye mean by +foolin' about after woodchucks a time like this? Come here!" + +Jim lifted his head, his muzzle and paws loaded with fresh earth, and +gazed at his master for a moment. Then, with evident reluctance, he +obeyed. But he kept looking back over his shoulder at the big white +stone, as if he hated to leave it. + +"There's a lot o' ordinary pup left in that there dawg yet," explained +Blackstock apologetically to the game-warden. + +"There ain't a dawg ever lived that wouldn't want to dig out a +woodchuck," answered Stephens. + + +III + +The black-whiskered stranger had been overtaken by his pursuers about +ten miles beyond Brine's Rip, sleeping away the heat of the day under a +spreading birch tree a few paces off the road. He was sleeping +soundly--too soundly indeed, as thought the experienced constable, for +a man with murder on his soul. + +But when he was roughly aroused and seized, he seemed so terrified that +his captors were all the more convinced of his guilt. He made no +resistance as he was being hurried along the road, only clinging firmly +to his black leather case, and glancing with wild eyes from side to +side as if nerving himself to a desperate dash for liberty. + +When he had gathered, however, a notion of what he was wanted for, to +the astonishment of his captors, his terror seemed to subside--a fact +which the constable noted narrowly. He steadied his voice enough to +ask several questions about the murder--questions to which reply was +curtly refused. Then he walked on in a stolid silence, the ruddy +colour gradually returning to his face. + +A couple of miles before reaching Brine's Rip, the second search party +came in sight, the Deputy Sheriff at the head of it and the shaggy +black form of Jim close at his heels. With a savage curse Hawker +sprang forward, and about half the party with him, as if to snatch the +prisoner from his captors and take instant vengeance upon him. + +But Blackstock was too quick for them. The swiftest sprinter in the +county, he got to the other party ahead of the mob and whipped around +to face them, with one hand on the big revolver at his hip and Jim +showing his teeth beside him. The constable and his party, hugely +astonished, but confident that Blackstock's side was the right one to +be on, closed protectingly around the prisoner, whose eyes now almost +bulged from his head. + +"You keep right back, boys," commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel. +"The law will look after this here prisoner, if he's the guilty one." + +[Illustration: "'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a +voice of steel."] + +"Fur as we kin see, there ain't no 'if' about it," shouted Hawker, +almost frothing at the mouth. "That's the man as done it, an' we're +agoin' to string 'im up fer it right now, for fear he might git off +some way atween the jedges an' the lawyers. You keep out of it now, +Tug." + +About half the crowd surged forward with Hawker in front. Up came +Blackstock's gun. + +"Ye know me, boys," said he. "Keep back." + +They kept back. They all fell back, indeed, some paces, except Hawker, +who held his ground, half crouching, his lips distorted in a snarl of +rage. + +"Aw now, quit it, Sam," urged one of his followers. "'Tain't worth it. +An' Tug's right, anyways. The law's good enough, with Tug to the back +of it." And putting forth a long arm he dragged Hawker back into the +crowd. + +"Put away yer gun, Tug," expostulated another. "Seein's ye feel that +way about it, we won't interfere." + +Blackstock stuck the revolver back into his belt with a grin. + +"Glad ye've come back to yer senses, boys," said he, perceiving that +the crisis was over. "But keep an eye on Hawker for a bit yet. Seems +to 'ave gone clean off his head." + +"Don't fret, Tug. We'll look after him," agreed several of his +comrades from the mill, laying firmly persuasive hands upon the excited +man, who cursed them for cowards till they began to chaff him roughly. + +"What's makin' you so sore, Sam?" demanded one. "Did the book agent +try to make up to Sis Hopkins?" + +"No, it's Tug that Sis is making eyes at now," suggested another. +"That's what's puttin' Sam so off his nut." + +"Leave the lady's name out of it, boys," interrupted Blackstock, in a +tone that carried conviction. + +"Quit that jaw now, Sam," interposed another, changing the subject, +"an' tell us what ye've done with that fancy belt o' yourn 'at ye're so +proud of. We hain't never seen ye without it afore." + +"That's so," chimed in the constable. "That accounts for his +foolishness. Sam ain't himself without that fancy belt." + +Hawker stopped his cursing and pulled himself together with an effort, +as if only now realizing that his followers had gone over completely to +the side of the law and Tug Blackstock. + +"Busted the buckle," he explained quickly. "Mend it when I git time." + +"Now, boys," said Blackstock presently, "we'll git right back along to +where poor Jake's still layin', and there we'll ask this here stranger +what he knows about it. It's there, if anywheres, where we're most +likely to git some light on the subject. I've sent over to the Ridge +fer the coroner, an' poor Jake can't be moved till he comes." + +The book agent, his confidence apparently restored by the attitude of +Blackstock, now let loose a torrent of eloquence to explain how glad he +would be to tell all he knew, and how sorry he was that he knew +nothing, having merely had a brief conversation with poor Mr. Sanderson +on the morning of the previous day. + +"Ye'll hev lots o' time to tell us all that when we're askin' ye," +answered Blackstock. "Now, take my advice an' keep yer mouth shet." + +As Blackstock was speaking, Jim slipped in alongside the prisoner and +rubbed against him with a friendly wag of the tail as if to say: + +"Sorry to see you in such a hole, old chap." + +Some of the men laughed, and one who was more or less a friend of +Hawker's, remarked sarcastically: + +"Jim don't seem quite so discriminatin' as usual, Tug." + +"Oh, I don't know," replied the Deputy drily, noting the dog's attitude +with evident interest. "Time will show. Ye must remember a man ain't +_necessarily_ a murderer jest because he wears black side-lights an' +tries to sell ye a book that ain't no good." + +"No good!" burst out the prisoner, reddening with indignation. "You +show me another book that's half as good, at double the price, an' I'll +give you----" + +"Shet up, you!" ordered the Deputy, with a curious look. "This ain't +no picnic ye're on, remember." + +Then some one, as if for the first time, thought of the money for which +Sanderson had been murdered. + +"Why don't ye search him, Tug?" he demanded. "Let's hev a look in that +there black knapsack." + +"Ye bloomin' fool," shouted Hawker, again growing excited, "ye don't +s'pose he'd be carryin' it on him, do ye? He'd hev it buried +somewheres in the woods, where he could git it later." + +"Right ye are, Sam," agreed the Deputy. "The man as done the deed +ain't likely to carry the evidence around on him. But all the same, +we'll search the prisoner bime-by." + +By the time the strange procession had got back to the scene of the +tragedy it had been swelled by half the population of the village. At +Blackstock's request, Zeb Smith, the proprietor of the store, who was +also a magistrate, swore in a score of special constables to keep back +the crowd while awaiting the arrival of the coroner. Under the +magistrate's orders--which satisfied Blackstock's demand for strict +formality of procedure--the prisoner was searched, and could not +refrain from showing a childish triumph when nothing was found upon him. + +Passing from abject terror to a ridiculous over-confidence, he with +difficulty restrained himself from seizing the opportunity to harangue +the crowd on the merits of "Mother, Home, and Heaven." His face was +wreathed in fatuous smiles as he saw the precious book snatched from +its case and passed around mockingly from hand to hand. He certainly +did not look like a murderer, and several of the crowd, including +Stephens, the game-warden, began to wonder if they had not been barking +up the wrong tree. + +"I've got the idee," remarked Stephens, "it'd take a baker's dozen o' +that chap to do in Jake Sanderson that way. The skate as killed Jake +was some man, anyways." + +"I'd like to know," sneered Hawker, "how ye're going to account for +that piece o' paper, the book-agent's paper, 'at Tug Blackstock found +there under the body." + +"Aw, shucks!" answered the game-warden, "that's easy. He's been +a-sowin' 'em round the country so's anybody could git hold of 'em, +same's you er me, Sam!" + +This harmless, if ill-timed pleasantry appeared to Hawker, in his +excitement, a wanton insult. His lean face went black as thunder, and +his lips worked with some savage retort that would not out. But at +that instant came a strange diversion. The dog Jim, who under +Blackstock's direction had been sniffing long and minutely at the +clothes of the murdered man, at the rifled leather bag, and at the +ground all about, came suddenly up to Hawker and stood staring at him +with a deep, menacing growl, while the thick hair rose stiffly along +his back. + +For a moment there was dead silence save for that strange accusing +growl. Hawker's face went white to the lips. Then, in a blaze, of +fury he yelled! + +"Git out o' that! I'll teach ye to come showin' yer teeth at me!" And +he launched a savage kick at the animal. + +"JIM!! Come here!" rapped out the command of Tug Blackstock, sharp as +a rifle shot. And Jim, who had eluded the kick, trotted back, still +growling, to his master. + +"Whatever ye been doin' to Jim, Sam?" demanded one of the mill hands. +"I ain't never seen him act like that afore." + +"He's _always_ had a grudge agin me," panted Hawker, "coz I had to give +him a lickin' once." + +"Now ye're lyin', Sam Hawker," said Blackstock quietly. "Ye know right +well as how you an' Jim were good friends only yesterday at the store, +where I saw ye feedin' him. An' I don't think likely ye've ever given +Jim a lickin'. It don't sound probable." + +"Seems to me there's a lot of us has gone a bit off their nut over this +thing, an' not much wonder, neither," commented the game-warden. +"Looks like Sam Hawker has gone plumb crazy. An' now there's Jim, the +sensiblest dog in the world, with lots more brains than most men-kind, +foolin' away his time like a year-old pup a-tryin' dig out a darn old +woodchuck hole." + +Such, in fact, seemed to be Jim's object. He was digging furiously +with both forepaws beneath the big white stone on the opposite side of +the pool. + +"He's bit me. I'll kill him," screamed Hawker, his face distorted and +foam at the corners of his lips. He plucked his hunting-knife from its +sheath, and leapt forward wildly, with the evident intention of darting +around the pool and knifing the dog. + +But Blackstock, who had been watching him intently, was too quick for +him. + +"No, ye don't, Sam!" he snapped, catching him by the wrist with such a +wrench that the bright blade fell to the ground. With a scream, Hawker +struck at his face, but Blackstock parried the blow, tripped him +neatly, and fell on him. + +"Hold him fast, boys," he ordered. "Seems like he's gone mad. Don't +let him hurt himself." + +In five seconds the raving man was trussed up helpless as a chicken, +his hands tied behind his back, his legs lashed together at the knees, +so that he could neither run nor kick. Then he was lifted to his feet, +and held thus, inexorably but with commiseration. + +"Sorry to be rough with ye, Sam," said one of the constables, "but +ye've gone crazy as a bed-bug." + +"Never knowed Sam was such a friend o' Jake's!" muttered another, with +deepest pity. + +But Blackstock stood close beside the body of the murdered man, and +watched with a face of granite the efforts of Jim to dig under the big +white stone. His absorption in such an apparently frivolous matter +attracted the notice of the crowd. A hush fell upon them all, broken +only by the hoarse, half-smothered ravings of Sam Hawker. + +"'Tain't no woodchuck Jim's diggin' for, you see!" muttered one of the +constables to the puzzled Stephens. + +"Tug don't seem to think so, neither," agreed Stephens. + +"Angus," said Blackstock in a low, strained voice to the constable who +had just spoken, "would ye mind stepping round an' givin' Jim a lift +with that there stone!" + +The constable hastened to obey. As he approached, Jim looked up, his +face covered thickly with earth, wagged his tail in greeting, then fell +to work again with redoubled energy. + +The constable set both hands under the stone, and with a huge heave +turned it over. With a yelp of delight Jim plunged his head into the +hole, grabbed something in his mouth, and tore around the pool with it. +The something was long and whitish, and trailed as he ran. He laid it +at Blackstock's feet. + +Blackstock held it up so that all might see it. It was a painted +Indian belt, and it was stained and smeared with blood. The constable +picked out of the hole a package of bills. + +For some moments no one spoke, and even the ravings of Hawker were +stilled. + +Then Tug Blackstock spoke, while every one, as if with one consent, +turned his eyes away from the face of Sam Hawker, unwilling to see a +comrade's shame and horror. + +"This is a matter now for jedge and jury, boys," said he in a voice +that was grave and stern. "But I think you'll all agree that we hain't +no call to detain this gentleman, who's been put to so much +inconvenience all on account of our little mistake." + +"Don't mention it, don't mention it," protested the book agent, as his +guards, with profuse apologies, released him. "That's a mighty +intelligent dawg o' yours, Mr. Blackstock." + +"He's sure done _you_ a good turn this day, mister," replied the Deputy +grimly. + + + + +III. The Hole in the Tree + +I + +It was Woolly Billy who discovered the pile--notes and silver, with a +few stray gold pieces--so snugly hidden under the fishhawk's nest. + +The fish-hawk's nest was in the crotch of the old, half-dead rock-maple +on the shore of the desolate little lake which lay basking in the +flat-lands about a mile back, behind Brine's Rip Mills. + +As the fish-hawk is one of the most estimable of all the wilderness +folk, both brave and inoffensive, troubling no one except the fat and +lazy fish that swarmed in the lake below, and as he is protected by a +superstition of the backwoodsmen, who say it brings ill-luck to disturb +the domestic arrangements of a fish-hawk, the big nest, conspicuous for +miles about, was never disturbed by even the most amiable curiosity. + +But Woolly Billy, not fully acclimatized to the backwoods tradition and +superstition, and uninformed as to the firmness and decision with which +the fish-hawks are apt to resent any intrusion, had long hankered to +explore the mysteries of that great nest. One morning he made up his +mind to try it. + +Tug Blackstock, Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, was away for a day +or two, and old Mrs. Amos, his housekeeper, was too deaf and rheumatic +to "fuss herself" greatly about the "goings-on" of so fantastic a child +as Woolly Billy, so long as she knew he had Jim to look after him. +This serves to explain how a small boy like Woolly Billy, his +seven-years-and-nine-months resting lightly on his amazingly fluffy +shock of pale flaxen curls, could be trotting off down the lonely +backwoods trail with no companion or guardian but a big, black dog. + +Woolly Billy was familiar with the mossy old trail to the lake, and did +not linger upon it. Reaching the shore, he wasted no time throwing +sticks in for Jim to retrieve, but, in spite of the dog's eager +invitations to this pastime, made his way along the dry edge between +undergrowth and water till he came to the bluff. Pushing laboriously +through the hot, aromatic-scented tangle of bushes, he climbed to the +foot of the old maple, which looked dwarfed by the burden of the huge +nest carried in its crotch. + +Woolly Billy was an expert tree-climber, but this great trunk presented +new problems. Twice he went round it, finding no likely spot to begin. +Then, certain roughnesses tempted him, and he succeeded in drawing +himself up several feet. Serene in the consciousness of his good +intentions, he struggled on. He gained perhaps another foot. Then he +stuck. He pulled hard upon a ragged edge of bark, trying to work his +way further around the trunk. A patch of bark came away suddenly in +his grip and he fell backwards with a startled cry. + +He fell plump on Jim, rolled off into the bushes, picked himself up, +shook the hair out of his eyes and stood staring up at a round hole in +the trunk where the patch of bark had been. + +A hole in a tree is always interesting. It suggests such +possibilities. Forgetting his scratches, Woolly Billy made haste to +climb up again, in spite of Jim's protests. He peered eagerly into the +hole. But he could see nothing. And he was cautious--for one could +never tell what lived in a hole like that--or what the occupant, if +there happened to be any, might have to say to an intruder. He would +not venture his hand into the unknown. He slipped down, got a bit of +stick, and thrust that into the hole. There was no result, but he +learnt that the hole was shallow. He stirred the stick about. There +came a slight jingling sound in return. + +Woolly Billy withdrew the stick and thought for a moment. He reasoned +that a thing that jingled was not at all likely to bite. He dropped +the stick and cautiously inserted his hand to the full length of his +little arm. His fingers grasped something which felt more or less +familiar, and he drew forth a bank-note and several silver coins. + +Woolly Billy's eyes grew very round and large as he stared at his +handful. He was sure that money did not grow in hollow trees. Tug +Blackstock kept his money in an old black wallet. Woolly Billy liked +money because it bought peppermints, and molasses candy, and gingerpop. +But this money was plainly not his. He reluctantly put it back into +the hole. + +Thoughtfully he climbed down. He knew that money was such a desirable +thing that it led some people--bad people whom Tug Blackstock hated--to +steal what did not belong to them. He picked up the patch of bark and +laboriously fitted it back into its place over the hole, lest some of +these bad people should find the money and appropriate it. + +"Not a word, now, not one single word," he admonished Jim, "till Tug +comes home. We'll tell him all about it." + + +II + +It was five o'clock in the sleepy summer afternoon, and the flies +buzzed drowsily among the miscellaneous articles that graced the +windows of the Corner Store. The mills had shut down early, because +the supply of logs was running low in the boom, and no more could be +expected until there should be a rise of water. Some half-dozen of the +mill hands were sitting about the store on nail-kegs and soap-boxes, +while Zeb Smith, the proprietor, swung his long legs lazily from the +edge of the littered counter. + +Woolly Billy came in with a piece of silver in his little fist to buy a +packet of tea for Mrs. Amos. Jim, not liking the smoke, stayed outside +on the plank sidewalk, and snapped at flies. The child, who was +regarded as the mascot of Brine's Rip Mills, was greeted with a fire of +solemn chaff, which he received with an impartial urbanity. + +"Oh, quit coddin' the kiddie, an' don't try to be so smart," growled +Long Jackson, the Magadavy river-man, lifting his gaunt length from a +pile of axe-handles, and thrusting his fist deep into his trousers' +pocket. "Here, Zeb, give me a box of peppermints for Woolly Billy. He +hain't been in to see us this long while." + +He pulled out a handful of coins and dollar bills, and proceeded to +select a silver bit from the collection. The sight was too much for +Woolly Billy, bursting with his secret. + +"I know where there's lots more money like that," he blurted out +proudly, "in a hole in a tree." + +During the past twelve months or more there had been thefts of money, +usually of petty sums, in Brine's Rip Mills and the neighbourhood, and +all Tug Blackstock's detective skill had failed to gain the faintest +clue to the perpetrator. Suspicions there had been, but all had +vanished into thin air at the touch of investigation. Woolly Billy's +amazing statement, therefore, was like a little bombshell in the shop. + +Every one of his audience stiffened up with intense interest. + +One swarthy, keen-featured, slim-waisted, half-Indian-looking fellow, +with the shapely hands and feet that mark so many of the Indian +mixed-bloods, was sitting on a bale of homespun behind Long Jackson, +and smoking solemnly with half-closed lids. His eyes opened wide for a +fraction of a second, and darted one searching glance at the child's +face. Then he dropped his lids slowly once more till the eyes were all +but closed. The others all stared eagerly at Woolly Billy. + +Pleased with the interest he had excited, Woolly Billy glanced about +him, and shook back his mop of pale curls self-consciously. + +"Lots more!" he repeated. "Big handfuls." + +Then he remembered his discretion, his resolve to tell no one but Tug +Blackstock about his discovery. Seeking to change the subject, he +beamed upon Long Jackson. + +"Thank you, Long," he said politely. "I _love_ peppermints. An' Jim +loves them, too." + +"_Where_ did you say that hole in the tree was?" asked Long Jackson, +reaching for the box that held the peppermints, and ostentatiously +filling a generous paper-bag. + +Woolly Billy looked apologetic and deprecating. + +"Please, Long, if you don't mind very much, I can't tell anybody but +Tug Blackstock _that_." + +Jackson laid the bag of peppermints a little to one side, as if to +convey that their transfer was contingent upon Woolly Billy's behaviour. + +The child looked wistfully at the coveted sweets; then his red lips +compressed themselves with decision and resentment. + +"I won't tell anybody but Tug Blackstock, _of course_," said he. "An' +I don't want any peppermints, thank you, Long." + +He picked up his package of tea and turned to leave the shop, angry at +himself for having spoken of the secret and angry at Jackson for trying +to get ahead of Tug Blackstock. Jackson, looking annoyed at the +rebuff, extended his leg and closed the door. Woolly Billy's blue eyes +blazed. One of the other men strove to propitiate him. + +"Oh, come on, Woolly Billy," he urged coaxingly, "don't git riled at +Long. You an' him's pals, ye know. We're all pals o' yourn, an' of +Tug's. An' there ain't no harm _at all_, at all, in yer showin' us +this 'ere traysure what you've lit on to. Besides, you know there's +likely some o' that there traysure belongs to us 'uns here. Come on +now, an' take us to yer hole in the tree." + +"Ye ain't agoin' to git out o' this here store, Woolly Billy, I tell ye +that, till ye promise to take us to it right off," said Long Jackson +sharply. + +Woolly Billy was not alarmed in the least by this threat. But he was +so furious that for a moment he could not speak. He could do nothing +but stand glaring up at Long Jackson with such fiery defiance that the +good-natured mill-hand almost relented. But it chanced that he was one +of the sufferers, and he was in a hurry to get his money back. At this +point the swarthy woodsman on the bale of homespun opened his narrow +eyes once again, took the pipe from his mouth, and spoke up. + +"Quit plaguin' the kid, Long," he drawled. "The cash'll be all there +when Tug Blackstock gits back, an' it'll save a lot of trouble an' +misunderstandin', havin' him to see to dividin' it up fair an' square. +Let Woolly Billy out." + +Long Jackson shook his head obstinately, and opened his mouth to reply, +but at this moment Woolly Billy found his voice. + +"Let me out! Let me out! _Let me out!_" he screamed shrilly, stamping +his feet and clenching his little fists. + +Instantly a heavy body was hurled upon the outside of the door, +striving to break it in. + +Zeb Smith swung his long legs down from the counter hurriedly. + +"The kid's right, an' Black Dan's right. Open the door, Long, an' do +it quick. I don't want that there dawg comin' through the winder. An' +he'll be doin' it, too, in half a jiff." + +"Git along, then, Woolly, if ye insist on it. But no more peppermints, +mind," growled Jackson, throwing open the door and stepping back +discreetly. As he did so, Jim came in with a rush, just saving himself +from knocking Woolly Billy over. One swift glance assured him that the +child was all right, but very angry about something. + +"It's all right, Jim. Come with me," said Woolly Billy, tugging at the +animal's collar. And the pair stalked away haughtily side by side. + + +III + +Tug Blackstock arrived the next morning about eleven. Before he had +time to sit down for a cup of that strenuous black tea which the +woodsmen consume at all hours, he had heard from Woolly Billy's eager +lips the story of the hole in the tree beneath the fish-hawk's nest. +He heard also of the episode at Zeb Smith's store, but Woolly Billy by +this time had quite forgiven Long Jackson, so the incident was told in +such a way that Blackstock had no reason to take offence. + +"Long tried _hard_," said the child, "to get me to tell where that hole +was, but I _wouldn't_. And Black Dan was awful nice, an' made him stop +botherin' me, an' said I was quite right not to tell _anybody_ till you +came home, coz you'd know just what to do." + +"H'm!" said the Deputy-Sheriff thoughtfully, "Long's had a lot of money +stole from him, so, of course, he wanted to git his eyes on to that +hole quick. But 'tain't like Black Dan to be that thoughtful. Maybe +he _hasn't_ had none taken." + +While he was speaking, a bunch of the mill-hands arrived at the door, +word of Blackstock's return having gone through the village. + +"We want to go an' help ye find that traysure, Tug," said Long Jackson, +glancing somewhat sheepishly at Woolly Billy. A friendly grin from the +child reassured him, and he went on with more confidence: + +"We tried to git the kiddie to tell us where 'twas, but wild steers +wouldn't drag it out o' him till you got back." + +"That's right, Long," agreed Blackstock, "but it don't need to be no +expedition. We don't want the whole village traipsin' after us. You +an' three or four more o' the boys that's lost money come along, with +Woolly Billy an' me, an' the rest o' you meet us at the store in about +a couple o' hours' time. Tell any other folks you see that I don't +want 'em follerin' after us, because it may mix up things--an' anyways, +I don't want it, see!" + +After a few moments' hesitation and consultation the majority of the +mill-hands turned away, leaving Long Jackson and big Andy Stevens, the +blue-eyed giant from the Oromocto (who had been one of the chief +victims), and MacDonald, and Black Saunders, and Black Dan (whose name +had been Dan Black till the whim of the woodsmen turned it about). +Blackstock eyed them appraisingly. + +"I didn't know as _you'd_ bin one o' the victims too, Dan," he remarked. + +"Didn't ye, Tug?" returned Black with a short laugh. "Well, I didn't +say nawthin about it, coz I was after doin' a leetle detective work on +me own, an' mebbe I'd 'ave got in ahead o' ye if Woolly Billy here +hadn't 'a' been so smart. But I tell ye, Tug, if that there traysure's +the lot we're thinkin' it is, there'd ought ter be a five-dollar bill +in it what I've marked." + +"H'm!" grunted the Deputy, hastily gulping down the last of his tea, +and rising to his feet. "But Woolly Billy an' me and Jim's a +combination pretty hard to git ahead of, I'm thinkin'." + +As the party neared the bluff whereon the tree of the fish-hawk's nest +stood ragged against the sky, the air grew rank with the pungent odour +of skunk. Now skunks were too common in the region of Brine's Rip +Mills for that smell, as a rule, to excite any more comment than an +occasional disgusted execration when it became too concentrated. But +to-day it drew more than passing attention. MacDonald sniffed intently. + +"It's deuced queer," said he, "but I've noticed that there's always +been a smell of skunk round when anybody's lost anything. Did it ever +strike you that way, Tug?" + +"Yes, some!" assented the Deputy curtly. + +"It's a skunk, all right, that's been takin' our money," said big Andy, +"ef he _don't_ carry his tail over his back." + +Every one of the party was sniffing the tainted air as if the familiar +stench were some rare perfume--all but Jim. He had had an encounter +with a skunk, once in his impulsive puppy days, and the memory was too +painful to be dwelt upon. + +As they climbed the slope, one of the fish-hawks came swooping down +from somewhere high in the blue, and began circling on slow wings about +the nest. + +"That cross old bird doesn't like visitors," remarked Woolly Billy. + +"You wouldn't, neether, Woolly Billy, if you was a fish-hawk," said +Jackson. + +Arrived at the tree, Woolly Billy pointed eagerly to a slightly broken +piece of bark a little above the height of the Deputy's head. + +"_There's_ the hole!" he cried, clapping his hands in his excitement as +if relieved to find it had not vanished. + +"Keep off a bit now, boys," cautioned Blackstock. Drawing his long +hunting-knife, he carefully loosened the bark without letting his hand +come in contact with it, and on the point of the blade laid it aside +against the foot of the trunk. + +"Don't any of you tech it," he admonished. + +Then he slipped his hand into the hole, and felt about. + +A look of chagrin came over his face, and he withdrew his hand--empty. + +"Nothin' there!" said he. + +"It was there yesterday morning," protested Woolly Billy, his blue eyes +filling with tears. + +"Yes, yes, of course," agreed Blackstock, glancing slowly around the +circle of disappointed faces. + +"Somebody from the store's been blabbin'," exclaimed Black Dan, in a +loud and angry voice. + +"An' why not?" protested Big Andy, with a guilty air. "We never said +nawthin' about keepin' it a secret." + +In spite of their disappointment, the millhands laughed. Big Andy was +not one to keep a secret in any case, and his weakness for a certain +pretty widow who kept the postoffice was common comment. Big Andy +responded by blushing to the roots of his blonde hair. + +"Jim!" commanded the Deputy. And the big black dog bounded up to him, +his eyes bright with expectation. The Deputy picked him up, and held +him aloft with his muzzle to the edges of the hole. + +"Smell that," he ordered, and Jim sniffed intently. Then he set him +down, and directed him to the piece of bark. That, too, Jim's nose +investigated minutely, his feathered tail slowly wagging. + +"Seek him," ordered Blackstock. + +Jim whined, looked puzzled, and sniffed again at the bark. The +information which his subtle nose picked up there was extremely +confusing. First, there was the smell of skunk--but that smell of +skunk was everywhere, dulling the keenness of his discrimination. +Then, there was a faint, faint reminiscence of Woolly Billy. But there +was Woolly Billy, at Tug Blackstock's side. Certainly, there could be +no reason for him to seek Woolly Billy. Then there was an elusive, +tangled scent, which for some moments defied him. At last, however, he +got a clue to it. With a pleased bark--his way of saying "Eureka!"--he +whipped about, trotted over to big Andy Stevens, sat down in front of +him, and gazed up at him, with tongue hanging and an air of friendly +inquiry, as much as to say: "Here I am, Andy. But I don't know what +Tug Blackstock wants me to seek you for, seein' as you're right here +alongside him." + +Big Andy dropped his hand on the dog's head familiarly; then noticing +the sudden tense silence of the party, his eyes grew very big and round. + +"What're you all starin' at me fer, boys?" he demanded, with a sort of +uneasy wonder. + +"Ax Jim," responded Black Dan, harshly. + +"I reckon old Jim's makin' a mistake fer once, Tug," drawled Long +Jackson, who was Andy's special pal. + +The Deputy rubbed his lean chin reflectively. There could be no one +more above suspicion in his eyes than this transparently honest young +giant from the Oromocto. But Jim's curious action had scattered to the +winds, at least for a moment, a sort of hypothesis which he had been +building up in his mind. At the same time, he felt dimly that a new +clue was being held out to him, if he could only grasp it. He wanted +time to think. + +"We kin all make mistakes," he announced sententiously. "Come here, +Jim. Seek 'im, boy, seek 'im." And he waved his hand at large. + +Jim bounced off with a joyous yelp, and began quartering the ground, +hither and thither, all about the tree. Big Andy, at a complete loss +for words, stood staring from one to another with eyes of indignant and +incredulous reproach. + +Suddenly a yelp of triumph was heard in the bushes, a little way down +towards the lake, and Jim came racing back with a dark magenta article +in his mouth. At the foot of the tree he stopped, and looked at +Blackstock interrogatively. Receiving no sign whatever from his +master, whose face had lit up for an instant, but was now as impassive +as a hitching-post, he stared at Black Dan for a few seconds, and then +let his eyes wander back to Andy's face. In the midst of his obvious +hesitation the Oromocto man stepped forward. + +"Durned ef that ain't one o' my old mittens," he exclaimed eagerly, +"what Sis knit fer me. I've been lookin' fer 'em everywheres. Bring +it here, Jim." + +As the dog trotted up with it obediently, the Deputy intervened and +stopped him. "You shall have it bime-by, Andy," said he, "ef it's +yourn. But jest now I don't want nobody to tech it except Jim. Ef you +acknowledge it's yourn----" + +"_Of course_ it's mine," interrupted Andy resentfully. "An' I want to +find the other one." + +"So do I," said Blackstock. "Drop it, Jim. Go find the other mitt." + +As Jim went ranging once more through the bushes, the whole party moved +around to the other side of the tree to get out of the downpour of the +noon sun. As they passed the magenta mitten Black Dan picked it up and +examined it ostentatiously. + +"How do ye know it's yourn, Andy?" he demanded. "There's lots of +magenta mitts in the world, I reckon." + +Tug Blackstock turned upon him. + +"I said I didn't want no one to tech that mitt," he snapped. + +"Oh, beg pardon, Tug," said Dan, dropping the mitt. "I forgot. 'Spose +it might kind o' confuse Jim's scent, gittin' another smell besides +Andy's on to it." + +"It might," replied the Deputy coolly, "an' then agin, it mightn't." + +For a little while every one was quiet, listening to Jim as he crashed +about through the bushes, and confidently but unreasonably expecting +him to reappear with the other mitten. Or, at least, that was what Big +Andy and Woolly Billy expected. The Deputy, at least, did not. At +last he spoke. + +"I agree with Mac here, boys," said he, "that there may be somethin' +more'n skunk in this skunk smell. We'll jest look into it a bit. You +all keep back a ways--an' you, Long, jest keep an eye on Woolly Billy +ef ye don't mind, while I go on with Jim." + +He whistled to the dog, and directed his attention to a spot at the +foot of the tree exactly beneath the hole. Jim sniffed hard at the +spot, then looked up at his master with tail drooping despondently. + +"Yes, I know it's skunk, plain skunk," agreed the Deputy. "But I want +him. Seek him, Jim--_seek him_, boy." + +Thus reassured, Jim's tail went up again. He started off through the +bushes, down towards the lake, with his master close behind him. The +rest of the party followed thirty paces or so behind. + +The trail led straight down to the lake's edge. Here Jim stopped short. + +"_That_ skunk's a kind o' water-baby," remarked Long Jackson. + +"Oh, do you think so?" queried Woolly Billy, much interested. + +"Of course," answered Jackson. "Don't you see he's took to the water? +Now, yer common, no-account skunk hates wettin' his fur like pizen." + +The Deputy examined the hard, white sand at the water's edge. It +showed faint traces of moccasined feet. He pursed his lips. It was an +old game, but a good one, this breaking a trail by going into the +water. He had no way of deciding whether his quarry had turned up the +lake shore or down towards the outlet. He guessed at the latter as the +more likely alternative. + +Jim trotted slowly ahead, sniffing every foot of ground along the +water's edge. As they approached the outlet the shore became muddy, +and Jackson swung Woolly Billy up on to his shoulder. Once in the +outlet, the foreshore narrowed to a tiny strip of bare rock between the +water and an almost perpendicular bank covered with shrubs and vines. +All at once the smell of skunk, which had been almost left behind, +returned upon the air with fresh pungency. Blackstock stopped short +and scanned the bank with narrowed eyes. + +A second or two later, Jim yelped his signal, and his tail went up. He +sniffed eagerly across the ribbon of rock, and then leapt at the face +of the bank. + +The Deputy called him off and hurried to the spot. The rest of the +party, much excited, closed up to within four or five paces, when a +wave of the Deputy's hand checked them. + +"Phew!" ejaculated Black Dan, holding his nose. "There's a skunk hole +in that there bank. Ye'll be gittin' somethin' in the eye, Tug, ef ye +don't keep off." + +Blackstock, who was busy pulling apart the curtain of vines, paid no +attention, but Long Jackson answered sarcastically: + +"Ye call yerself a woodsman, Dan," said he, "an' ye don't know that the +hole where a skunk lives _don't_ smell any. Yer _reel_ skunk's quite a +gentleman and keeps his home always clean an' tidy. Tug Blackstock +ain't a-goin' to git nawthin' in the eye." + +"Well, I reckon we'd better smoke," said Black Dan amiably, pulling out +his pipe and filling it. And the others followed his example. + +Blackstock thrust his hand into a shallow hole in the bank quite hidden +by the foliage. He drew out a pair of moccasins, water-soaked, and +hurriedly set them down on the rock. For all their soaking, they +reeked of skunk. He picked up one on the point of a stick and examined +it minutely. In spite of all the soaking, the sole, to his initiated +eye, still bore traces of that viscous, oily liquid which no water will +wash off--the strangling exudation of the skunk's defensive gland. It +was just what he had expected. The moccasin was neat and slim and of +medium size--not more than seven at most. He held it up, that all +might see it clearly. + +"Does this belong to you, Andy Stevens?" he asked. + +There was a jeer from the group, and Big Andy held up an enormous foot, +which might, by courtesy, have been numbered a thirteen. It was a +point upon which the Oromocto man was usually sensitive, but to-day he +was proud of it. + +"Ye'll hev to play Cinderella, Tug, an' find out what leetle foot it +fits on to," suggested MacDonald. + +The Deputy fished again in the hole. He drew forth a magenta mitten, +dropped it promptly, then held it up on the point of his stick at arm's +length. It had been with the moccasins. Big Andy stepped forward to +claim it, then checked himself. + +"It's a mite too strong fer me now," he protested. "I'll hev to git +Sis to knit me another pair, I guess." + +Blackstock dropped the offensive thing beside the moccasins at his +feet, and reached once more into the hole. + +"He ain't takin' no risks this time, boys," said Blackstock. "He's +took the swag with him." + +There was a growl of disappointment. Long Jackson could not refrain +from a reproachful glance at Woolly Billy, but refrained from saying +the obvious. + +"What are ye goin' to do about it, Tug?" demanded Black Dan. "Hev ye +got any kind of a _reel_ clue, d'ye think, now?" + +"Wait an' see," was Blackstock's noncommittal reply. He picked up the +moccasins and mitten again on the point of his stick, scanned the bank +sharply to make sure his quarry had not gone that way, and led the +procession once more down along the rocky shore of the stream. "Seek +him," he said again to Jim, and the dog, as before, trotted on ahead, +sniffing along by the water's edge to intercept the trail of whoever +had stepped ashore. + +The party emerged at length upon the bank of the main stream, and +turned upwards towards Brine's Rip. After they had gone about half a +mile they rounded a bend and came in sight of a violent rapid which cut +close inshore. At this point it would be obviously impossible for any +one walking in the shallow water to avoid coming out upon dry ground. +Tug Blackstock quickened his pace, and waved Jim forward. + +A sharp oath broke from Black Dan's lips. + +"I've been an' gone an' left my 'baccy-pooch behind, by the skunk's +hole," he announced. And grumbling under his breath he turned back +down the shore. + +Blackstock ran on, as if suddenly in a great hurry. Just where the +shallow water ended, at the foot of the rapid, Jim gave his signal with +voice and tail. He raced up the bank to a clump of bushes and began +thrashing about in them. + +"What d'ye suppose he's found there?" asked Big Andy. + +"Scent, and lots of it. No mistake this time," announced MacDonald. +"Hain't ye caught on to Jim's signs yet?" + +"Jim," said the Deputy, sharply but not loud, "_fetch him!_" + +Jim, with nose in air instead of to the ground, set off at a gallop +down the shore in the direction of the outlet. + +The Deputy turned about. + +"Dan," he shouted peremptorily. "Come back here. I want ye!" + +Instead of obeying, Black Dan dashed up the bank, running like a deer, +and vanished into the bushes. + +"_I knew it_! That's the skunk, boys. Go home, you Billy!" cried +Blackstock, and started after the fugitive. The rest followed close on +his heels. But Jackson cried: + +"Ye'd better call off Jim quick. Dan's got a gun on him." + +The Deputy gave a shrill whistle, and Jim, who was just vanishing into +the bush, stopped short. At the same instant a shot rang out from the +bushes, and the dog dropped in his tracks with a howl of anguish. + +Blackstock's lean jaws set themselves like iron. He whipped out his +own heavy "Colt's," and the party tore on, till they met Jim dragging +himself towards them with a wounded hind-leg trailing pitifully. + +The Deputy gave one look at the big black dog, heaved a breath of +relief, and stopped. + +"'Tain't no manner o' use chasin' him now, boys," he decreed, "because, +as we all know, Dan kin run right away from the best runner amongst us. +But now I know him--an' I've suspicioned him this two month, only I +couldn't git no clue--_I'll git him_, never you fear. Jest now, ye'd +better help me carry Jim home, so's we kin git him doctored up in good +shape. I reckon Nipsiwaska County can't afford to lose Mr. +Assistant-Deputy Sheriff. That there skunk-oil on Dan's moccasins +fooled _both_ Jim an' me, good an' plenty, didn't it?" + +"But whatever did he want o' my mitts?" demanded Big Andy. + +"Now ye _air_ a sap-head, Andy Stevens," growled MacDonald, "ef ye +can't see _that_!" + + + + +IV. The Trail of the Bear + +I + +The Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County had spent half an hour at the +telephone. In the backwoods the telephone wires go everywhere. In +that half-hour every settlement, every river-crossing, every +lumber-camp, and most of the wide-scattered pioneer cabins had been +warned of the flight of the thief, Dan Black, nicknamed Black Dan, and +how, in the effort to secure his escape, he had shot and wounded the +Deputy-Sheriff's big black dog whose cleverness on the trail he had +such cause to dread. As Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, came out +of the booth he asked after Jim. + +"Oh, Black Dan's bullet broke no bones that time," replied the village +doctor, who had tended the dog's wound as carefully as if his patient +had been the Deputy himself. "It's a biggish hole, but Jim'll be all +right in a few days, never fear." + +Blackstock looked relieved. + +"Ye don't seem to be worryin' much about Black Dan's gittin' away, +Tug," grumbled Long Jackson, who was not unnaturally sore over the loss +of his money. + +"No, I ain't worryin' much," agreed the Deputy, with a confident grin, +"now I know Jim ain't goin' to lose a leg. As for Black Dan's gittin' +away, well, I've got me own notions about that. I've 'phoned all over +the three counties, and given warnin' to every place he kin stop for a +bite or a bed. He can't cross the river to get over the Border, for +I've sent word to hev every bridge an' ferry watched. Black Dan's +cunnin' enough to know I'd do jest that, first thing, so he won't waste +his time tryin' the river. He'll strike right back into the big +timber, countin' on the start he's got of us, now he's put Jim out of +the game. But I guess I kin trail him myself--now I know what I'm +trailin'--pretty nigh as well as Jim could. I've took note of his +tracks, and there ain't another pair o' boots in Brine's Rip Mills like +them he's wearin'." + +"And when air ye goin' to start?" demanded Long Jackson, still inclined +to be resentful. + +"Right now," replied Blackstock cheerfully, "soon as ye kin git guns +and stuff some crackers an' cheese into yer pockets. I'll want you to +come along, MacDonald, an' you, Long, an' Saunders, an' Big Andy, as my +posse. Meet me in fifteen minutes at the store an' I'll hev Zeb Smith +swear ye in for the job. If Black Dan wants to do any shootin', it's +jest as well to hev every thin' regular." + +There were not a few others among the mill-hands and the villagers who +had lost by Black Dan's cunning pilferings, and who would gladly have +joined in the hunt. In the backwoods not even a murderer--unless his +victim has been a woman or a child--is hunted down with so much zest as +a thief. But the Deputy did not like too much volunteer assistance, +and was apt to suppress it with scant ceremony. So his choice of a +posse was accepted without protest or comment, and the chosen four +slipped off to get their guns. + +As Tug Blackstock had foreseen, the trail of the fugitive was easily +picked up. Confident in his powers as a runaway, Black Dan's sole +object, at first, had been to gain as much lead as possible over the +expected pursuit, and he had run straight ahead, leaving a trail which +any one of Blackstock's posse--with the exception, perhaps, of Big +Andy--could have followed with almost the speed and precision of the +Deputy himself. + +There had been no attempt at concealment. About five miles back, +however, in the heavy woods beyond the head of the Lake, it appeared +that the fugitive had dropped into a walk and begun to go more +circumspectly. The trail now grew so obscure that the other woodsmen +would have had difficulty in deciphering it at all, and they were +amazed at the ease and confidence with which Blackstock followed it up, +hardly diminishing his stride. + +"Tug is sure some trailer," commented Jackson, his good humour now +quite restored by the progress they were making. + +"_Jim_ couldn't 'a' done no better himself," declared Big Andy, the +Oromocto man. + +And just then Blackstock came abruptly to a halt, and held up his hand +for his followers to stop. + +"Steady, boys. Stop right where ye are, an' don't step out o' yer +tracks," he commanded. + +The four stood rigid, and began searching the ground all about them +with keen, initiated eyes. + +"Oh, I've got him, so fur, all right," continued Blackstock, pointing +to a particularly clear and heavy impression of a boot-sole close +behind his own feet. "But here it stops. It don't appear to go any +further." + +He knelt down to examine the footprint. + +"P'raps he's doubled back on his tracks, to throw us off," suggested +Saunders, who was himself an expert on the trails of all the wild +creatures. + +"No," replied Blackstock, "I've watched out for that sharp." + +"P'raps he's give a big jump to one side or t'other, to break his +trail," said MacDonald. + +"No," said Blackstock with decision, "nor that neither, Mac. This here +print is even. Ef he'd jumped to one side or the other, it would be +dug in on that side, and ef he'd jumped forrard, it would be hard down +at the toe. It fair beats me!" + +Stepping carefully, foot by foot, he examined the ground minutely over +a half circle of a dozen yards to his front. He sent out his +followers--all but Big Andy, who, being no trailer, was bidden to stand +fast--to either side and to the rear, crawling like ferrets and +interrogating every grass tuft, in vain. The trail had simply stopped +with that one footprint. It was as if Black Dan had dissolved into a +miasma, and floated off. + +At last Blackstock called the party in, and around the solitary +footprint they all sat down and smoked. One after another they made +suggestions, but each suggestion had its futility revealed and sealed +by a stony stare from Blackstock, and was no more befriended by its +author. + +At last Blackstock rose to his feet, and gave a hitch to his belt. + +"I don't mind tellin' ye, boys," said he, "it beats me fair. But _one_ +thing's plain enough, Black Dan ain't _here_, an' he ain't likely to +come here lookin' for us. Spread out now, an' we'll work on ahead, an' +see ef we can't pick up somethin'. You, Big Andy, you keep right along +behind me. There's an explanation to _everything_--an' we'll find this +out afore along, or my name's Dinnis." + +Over the next three or four hundred yards, however, nothing of +significance was discovered by any of the party. Then, breaking +through a dense screen of branches, Blackstock came upon the face of a +rocky knoll, so steep, at that point, that hands and feet together +would be needed to climb it. Casting his eyes upwards, he saw what +looked like the entrance to a little cave. + +A whistle brought the rest of the party to his side. A cave always +holds possibilities, if nothing else. Blackstock spread his men out +again, at intervals of three or four paces, and all went cautiously up +the steep, converging on the entrance. Blackstock, in the centre, +shielding himself behind a knob of rock, peered in. + +The place was empty. It was hardly a cave, indeed, being little more +than a shallow recess beneath an overhanging ledge. But it was well +sheltered by a great branch which stretched upwards across the opening. +Blackstock sniffed critically. + +"A bear's den," he announced, stepping in and scrutinizing the floor. + +The floor was naked rock, scantily littered with dead leaves and twigs. +These, Blackstock concluded, had been recently disturbed, but he could +find no clue to what had disturbed them. From the further side, +however--to Blackstock's right--a palpable trail, worn clear of moss +and herbage, led off by a narrow ledge across the face of the knoll. +Half a dozen paces further on the rock ended in a stretch of stiff +soil. Here the trail declared itself. It was unmistakably that of a +bear, and unmistakably, also, a fresh trail. + +Waving the rest to stop where they were, Blackstock followed the clear +trail down from the knoll, and for a couple of hundred yards along the +level, going very slowly, and searching it hawk-eyed for some sign +other than that of bear. At length he returned, looking slightly +crestfallen. + +"Nawthin' at all but bear," he announced in an injured voice. "But +that bear seems to have been in a bit of a hurry, as if he was gittin' +out o' somebody's way--Black Dan's way, it's dollars to doughnuts. But +where was Black Dan, that's what I want to know?" + +"Ef _you_ don't know, Tug," said MacDonald, "who _kin_ know?" + +"Jim!" said the Deputy, rubbing his lean chin and biting off a big +"chaw" of "black-jack." + +"Jim's sure some dawg," agreed MacDonald. "That was the only fool +thing I ever know'd ye to do, Tug--sendin' Jim after Black Dan that +way." + +Blackstock swore, softly and intensely, though he was a man not given +to that form of self-expression. + +"Boys," said he, "I used to fancy myself quite a lot. But now I begin +to think Nipsiwaska County'd better be gittin' a noo Deputy. I ain't +no manner o' good." + +The men looked at him in frank astonishment. He had never before been +seen in this mood of self-depreciation. + +"Aw, shucks," exclaimed Long Jackson presently, "there ain't a man from +here to the St. Lawrence as kin _tech_ ye, an' ye know it, Tug. Quit +yer jollyin' now. I believe ye've got somethin' up yer sleeve, only ye +won't say so." + +At this expression of unbounded confidence Blackstock braced up visibly. + +"Well, boys, there's one thing I _kin_ do," said he. "I'm goin' back +to git Jim, ef I hev to fetch him in a wheelbarrow. We'll find out +what he thinks o' the situation. I'll take Saunders an' Big Andy with +me. You, Long, an' Mac, you stop on here an' lay low an' see what +turns up. But don't go mussin' up the trails." + + +II + +Jim proved to be so far recovered that he was able to hobble about a +little on three legs, the fourth being skilfully bandaged so that he +could not put his foot to the ground. It was obvious, however, that he +could not make a journey through the woods and be any use whatever at +the end of it. Blackstock, therefore, knocked together a handy litter +for his benefit. And with very ill grace Jim submitted to being borne +upon it. + +Some twenty paces from that solitary boot-print which marked the end of +Black Dan's trail, Jim was set free from his litter and his attention +directed to a bruised tuft of moss. + +"Seek him," said Blackstock. + +The dog gave one sniff, and then with a growl of anger the hair lifted +along his back, and he limped forward hurriedly. + +"He's got it in for Black Dan _now_," remarked MacDonald. And the +whole party followed with hopeful expectation, so great was their faith +in Jim's sagacity. + +The dog, in his haste, overshot the end of the trail. He stopped +abruptly, whined, sniffed about, and came back to the deep boot-print. +All about it he circled, whimpering with impatience, but never going +more than a dozen feet away from it. Then he returned, sniffed long +and earnestly, and stood over it with drooping tail, evidently quite +nonplussed. + +"He don't appear to make no more of it than you did, Tug," said Long +Jackson, much disappointed. + +"Oh, give him time, Long," retorted Blackstock. Then---- + +"Seek him! Seek him, good boy," he repeated, waving Jim to the front. + +Running with amazing briskness on his three sound legs, the dog began +to quarter the undergrowth in ever-widening half-circles, while the men +stood waiting and watching. At last, at a distance of several hundred +yards, he gave a yelp and a growl, and sprang forward. + +"Got it!" exclaimed Big Andy. + +"Guess it's only the trail o' that there b'ar he's struck," suggested +Jackson pessimistically. + +"Jim, stop!" ordered Blackstock. And the dog stood rigid in his tracks +while Blackstock hastened forward to see what he had found. + +"Sure enough. It's only the bear," cried Blackstock, investigating the +great footprint over which Jim was standing. "Come along back here, +Jim, an' don't go foolin' away yer time over a bear, jest _now_." + +The dog sniffed at the trail, gave another hostile growl, and +reluctantly followed his master back. Blackstock made him smell the +boot-print again. Then he said with emphasis, "_Black Dan_, Jim, it's +_Black Dan_ we're wantin'. Seek him, boy. _Fetch him_." + +Jim started off on the same manoeuvres as before, and at the same point +as before he again gave a growl and a yelp and bounded forward. + +"_Jim_," shouted the Deputy angrily, "come back here." + +The dog came limping back, looking puzzled. + +"What do you mean by that foolin'?" went on his master severely. +"What's bears to you? Smell that!" and he pointed again to the +boot-print. "It's _Black Dan_ you're after." + +Jim hung upon his words, but looked hopelessly at sea as to his +meaning. He turned and gazed wistfully in the direction of the bear's +trail. He seemed on the point of starting out for it again, but the +tone of Blackstock's rebuke withheld him. Finally, he sat down upon +his dejected tail and stared upwards into a great tree, one of whose +lower branches stretched directly over his head. + +Blackstock followed his gaze. The tree was an ancient rock maple, its +branches large but comparatively few in number. Blackstock could see +clear to its top. It was obvious that the tree could afford no +hiding-place to anything larger than a wild-cat. Nevertheless, as +Blackstock studied it, a gleam of sudden insight passed over his face. + +"Jim 'pears to think Black Dan's gone to Heaven," remarked Saunders +drily. + +"Ye can't always tell _what_ Jim's thinkin'," retorted Blackstock. +"But I'll bet it's a clever idea he's got in his black head, whatever +it is." + +He scanned the tree anew and the other trees nearest whose branches +interlaced with it. Then, with a sharp "Come on, Jim," he started +towards the knoll, eyeing the branches overhead as he went. The rest +of the party followed at a discreet distance. + +Crippled as he was, Jim could not climb the steep face of the knoll, +but his master helped him up. The instant he entered the cave he +growled savagely, and once more the stiff hair rose along his back. +Blackstock watched in silence for a moment. He had never before +noticed, on Jim's part, any special hostility toward bears, whom he was +quite accustomed to trailing. He glanced up at the big branch that +overhung the entrance, and conviction settled on his face. Then he +whispered, sharply, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off at once, as fast +as he could limp, along the trail of the bear. + +"Come on, boys," called Blackstock to his posse. "Ef we can't find +Black Dan we may as well hev a little bear-hunt to fill in the time. +Jim appears to hev a partic'lar grudge agin that bear." + +The men closed up eagerly, expecting to find that Blackstock, with +Jim's help, had at last discovered some real signs of Black Dan. When +they saw that there was still nothing more than that old bear's trail, +which they had already examined, Long Jackson began to grumble. + +"We kin hunt bear any day," he growled. + +"I guess Tug ain't no keener after bear this day than you be," +commented MacDonald. "He's got _somethin'_ up his sleeve, you see!" + +"Mebbe it's a tame b'ar, a _trained_ b'ar, an' Black Dan's a-ridin' him +horseback," suggested Big Andy. + +Blackstock, who was close at Jim's heels, a few paces ahead of the +rest, turned with one of his rare, ruminative laughs. + +"That's quite an idea of yours, Andy," he remarked, stooping to examine +one of those great clawed footprints in a patch of soft soil. + +"But even _trained_ b'ar hain't got wings," commented MacDonald again. +"An' there's a good three hundred yards atween the spot where Black +Dan's trail peters out an' the nearest b'ar track. I guess yer +interestin' hipotheesis don't quite fill the bill--eh, Andy?" + +"Anyways," protested the big Oromocto man, "ye'll all notice one thing +queer about this here b'ar track. It goes _straight_. Mostly a b'ar +will go wanderin' off this way an' that, to nose at an old root, er +grub up a bed o' toadstools. But _this_ b'ar keeps right on, as ef he +had important business somewhere straight ahead. That's just the way +he'd go ef some one _was_ a-ridin' him horseback." + +Andy had advanced his proposition as a joke, but now he was inclined to +take it seriously and to defend it with warmth. + +"Well," said Long Jackson, "we'll all chip in, when we git our money +back, an' buy ye a bear, Andy, an' ye shall ride it up every day from +the mills to the post office. It'll save ye quite a few minutes in +gittin' to the post office. It don't matter about yer gittin' away." + +The big Oromocto lad blushed, but laughed good-naturedly. He was so +much in love with the little widow who kept the post office that +nothing pleased him more than to be teased about her. + +For the Deputy's trained eyes, as for Jim's trained nose, that +bear-track was an easy one to follow. Nevertheless, progress was slow, +for Blackstock would halt from time to time to interrogate some +claw-print with special minuteness, and from time to time Jim would +stop to lie down and lick gingerly at his bandage, tormented by the +aching of his wound. + +Late in the afternoon, when the level shadows were black upon the trail +and the trailing had come to depend entirely on Jim's nose, Blackstock +called a halt on the banks of a small brook and all sat down to eat +their bread and cheese. Then they sprawled about, smoking, for the +Deputy, apparently regarding the chase as a long one, was now in no +great hurry. Jim lay on the wet sand, close to the brook's edge, while +Blackstock, scooping up the water in double handfuls, let it fall in an +icy stream on the dog's bandaged leg. + +"Hev ye got any reel idee to come an' go on, Tug?" demanded Long +Jackson at last, blowing a long, slow jet of smoke from his lips, and +watching it spiral upwards across a bar of light just over his head. + +"I hev," said Blackstock. + +"An' air ye sure it's a good one--good enough to drag us 'way out here +on?" persisted Jackson. + +"I'm bankin' on it," answered Blackstock. + +"An' so's Jim, I'm thinkin'," suggested MacDonald, tentatively. + +"Jim's idee an' mine ain't the same, exackly," vouchsafed Blackstock, +after a pause, "but I guess they'll come to the same thing in the end. +They're fittin' in with each other fine, so fur!" + +"What'll ye bet that ye're not mistaken, the both o' yez?" demanded +Jackson. + +"Yer wages fur the whole summer!" answered Blackstock promptly. + +Long looked satisfied. He knocked the ashes out of his pipe and +proceeded to refill it. + +"Oh, ef ye're so sure as that, Tug," he drawled, "I guess I ain't +takin' any this time." + +For a couple of hours after sunset the party continued to follow the +trail, depending now entirely upon Jim's leadership. The dog, revived +by his rest and his master's cold-water treatment, limped forward at a +good pace, growling from time to time as a fresh pang in his wound +reminded him anew of his enemy. + +"How Jim 'pears to hate that bear!" remarked Big Andy once. + +"He does _that_!" agreed Blackstock. "An' he's goin' to git his own +back, too, I'm thinkin', afore long." + +Presently the moon rose round and yellow through the tree-tops, and the +going became less laborious. Jim seemed untiring now. He pressed on +so eagerly that Blackstock concluded the object of his vindictive +pursuit, whatever it was, must be now not far ahead. + +Another hour, and the party came out suddenly upon the bank of a small +pond. Jim, his nose to earth, started to lead the way around it, +towards the left. But Blackstock stopped him, and halted his party in +the dense shadows. + +The opposite shore was in the full glare of the moonlight. There, +close to the water's edge, stood a little log hut, every detail of it +standing out as clearly as in daylight. It was obviously old, but the +roof had been repaired with new bark and poles and the door was shut, +instead of sagging half open on broken hinges after the fashion of the +doors of deserted cabins. + +Blackstock slipped a leash from his pocket and clipped it onto Jim's +collar. + +"I'm thinkin', boys, we'll git some information yonder about that bear, +ef we go the right way about inquirin'. Now, Saunders, you go round +the pond to the right and steal up alongshore, through the bushes, to +within forty paces of the hut. You, Mac, an' Big Andy, you two go +round same way, but git well back into the timber, and come up _behind_ +the hut to within about the same distance. There'll be a winder on +that side, likely. + +"When ye're in position give the call o' the big horned owl, not too +loud. An' when I answer with the same call twice, then close in. But +keep a good-sized tree atween you an' the winder, for ye never know +what a bear kin do when he's trained. I'll bet Big Andy's seen bears +that could shoulder a gun like a man! So look out for yourselves. +Long an' Jim an' me, we'll follow the trail o' the bear right round +this end o' the pond--an' ef I'm not mistaken it'll lead us right up to +the door o' that there hut. Some bears hev a taste in regard to where +they sleep." + +As noiselessly as shadows the party melted away in opposite directions. + +The pond lay smooth as glass under the flooding moonlight, reflecting a +pale star or two where the moon-path grudgingly gave it space. + +After some fifteen minutes a lazy, muffled hooting floated across the +pond. Five minutes later the same call, the very voice of the +wilderness at midnight, came from the deep of the woods behind the hut. + +Blackstock, with Jackson close behind him and Jim pulling eagerly on +the leash, was now within twenty yards of the hut door, but hidden +behind a thick young fir tree. He breathed the call of the horned +owl--a mellow, musical call, which nevertheless brings terror to all +the small creatures of the wilderness--and then, after a pause, +repeated it softly. + +He waited for a couple of minutes motionless. His keen ears caught the +snapping of a twig close behind the hut. + +"Big Andy's big feet that time," he muttered to himself. "That boy'll +never be much good on the trail." + +Then, leaving Jim to the care of Jackson, he slipped forward to another +and bigger tree not more than a dozen paces from the cabin. Standing +close in the shadow of the trunk, and drawing his revolver, he called +sharply as a gun-shot--"Dan Black." + +Instantly there was a thud within the hut as of some one leaping from a +bunk. + +"Dan Black," repeated the Deputy, "the game's up. I've got ye +surrounded. Will ye come out quietly an' give yerself up, or do ye +want trouble?" + +"Waal, no, I guess I don't want no more trouble," drawled a cool voice +from within the hut. "I guess I've got enough o' my own already. I'll +come out, Tug." + +The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight. + +[Illustration: "The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands +held up, stalked forth into the moonlight."] + +With a roar Jim sprang out from behind the fir tree, dragging Long +Jackson with him by the sudden violence of his rush. + +"Down, Jim, _down_!" ordered Blackstock. "Lay down an' shut up." And +Jim, grumbling in his throat, allowed Jackson to pull him back by the +collar. + +Blackstock advanced and clicked the handcuffs on to Black Dan's wrists. +Then he took the revolver and knife from the prisoner's belt, and +motioned him back into the hut. + +"Bein' pretty late now," said Blackstock, "I guess we'll accept yer +hospitality for the rest o' the night." + +"Right ye are, Tug," assented Dan. "Ye'll find tea an' merlasses, an' +a bite o' bacon in the cupboard yonder." + +As the rest of the party came in Black Dan nodded to them cordially, a +greeting which they returned with more or less sheepish grins. + +"Excuse me ef I don't shake hands with ye, boys," said he, "but Tug +here says the state o' me health makes it bad for me to use me arms." +And he held up the handcuffs. + +"No apologies needed," said MacDonald. + +Last of all came in Long Jackson, with Jim. Blackstock slipped the +leash, and the dog lay down in a corner, as far from the prisoner as he +could get. + +In a few minutes the whole party were sitting about the tiny stove, +drinking boiled tea and munching crackers and molasses--the prisoner +joining in the feast as well as his manacled hands would permit. At +length, with his mouth full of cracker, the Deputy remarked: + +"That was clever of ye, Dan--durn' clever. I didn't know it was in ye." + +"Not half so clever as you seein' through it the way you did, Tug," +responded the prisoner handsomely. + +"But darned ef _I_ see through it _now_," protested Big Andy in a +plaintive voice. "It's just about as clear as mud to _me_. Where's +your wings, Dan? An' where in tarnation is that b'ar?" + +The prisoner laughed triumphantly. Long Jackson and the others looked +relieved, the Oromocto man having propounded the question which they +had been ashamed to ask. + +"It's jest this way," explained Blackstock. "When we'd puzzled Jim +yonder--an' he was puzzled at us bein' such fools--ye'll recollect he +sat down on his tail by that boot-print, an' tried to work out what we +wanted of him. I was tellin' him to seek Black Dan, an' yet I was +callin' him back off that there bear-track. _He_ could smell Black Dan +in the bear-track, but we couldn't. So we was doin' the best we could +to mix him up. + +"Well, he looked up into the big maple overhead. Then I saw where +Black Dan had gone to. He'd jumped (that's why the boot-print was so +heavy), an' caught that there branch, an' swung himself up into the +tree. Then he worked his way along from tree to tree till he come to +the cave. I saw by the way Jim took on in the cave that Black Dan had +been _there_ all right. For Jim hain't got no special grudge agin +bear. Says I to myself, ef Jim smells Black Dan in that bear trail, +then Black Dan must _be_ in it, that's all! + +"Then it comes over me that I'd once seen a big bear-skin in Dan's room +at the Mills, an' as the picture of it come up agin in my mind, I +noticed how the fore-paws and legs of it were missin'. With that I +looked agin at the trail, as we went along Jim an' me. An' sure +enough, in all them tracks there wasn't one print of a hind-paw. _They +were all fore-paws_. Smart, very smart o' Dan, says I to myself. +Let's see them ingenious socks o' yours, Dan." + +"They're in the top bunk yonder," said Black Dan, with a weary air. +"An' my belt and pouch, containin' the other stuff, that's all in the +bunk, too. I may's well save ye the trouble o' lookin' for it, as ye'd +find it anyways. I was _sure_ ye'd never succeed in trackin' me down, +so I didn't bother to hide it. An' I see now ye _wouldn't_ 'a' got me, +Tug, ef it hadn't 'a' been fer Jim. That's where I made the mistake o' +my life, not stoppin' to make sure I'd done Jim up." + +"No, Dan," said Blackstock, "ye're wrong there. Ef you'd done Jim up +I'd have caught ye jest the same, in the long run, fer I'd never have +quit the trail till I _did_ git ye. An' when I got ye--well, I'd hev +forgot myself, mebbe, an' only remembered that ye'd killed my best +friend. Ef ye'd had as many lives as a cat, Dan, they wouldn't hev +been enough to pay fer that dawg." + + + + +V. The Fire at Brine's Rip Mills + +I + +When pretty Mary Farrell came to Brine's Rip and set up a modest +dressmaker's shop quite close to the Mills (she said she loved the +sound of the saws), all the unattached males of the village, to say +nothing of too many of the attached ones, fell instant victims to her +charms. They were her slaves from the first lifting of her long lashes +in their direction. + +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, to be sure, did not capitulate +quite so promptly as the rest. Mary had to flash her dark blue eyes +upon him at least twice, dropping them again with shy admiration. Then +he was at her feet--which was a pleasant place to be, seeing that those +same small feet were shod with a neatness which was a perpetual +reproach to the untidy sawdust strewn roadways of Brine's Rip. + +Even Big Andy, the boyish young giant from the Oromocto, wavered for a +few hours in his allegiance to the postmistress. But Mary was much too +tactful to draw upon her pretty shoulders the hostility of such a power +as the postmistress, and Big Andy's enthusiasm was cold-douched in its +first glow. + +As for the womenfolk of Brine's Rip, it was not to be expected that +they would agree any too cordially with the men on the subject of Mary +Farrell. + +But one instance of Mary's tact made even the most irreconcilable of +her own sex sheath their claws in dealing with her. She had come from +Harner's Bend. The Mills at Harner's Bend were anathema to Brine's Rip +Mills. A keen trade rivalry had grown, fed by a series of petty but +exasperating incidents, into a hostility that blazed out on the least +occasion. And pretty Mary had come from Harner's Bend. Brine's Rip +did not find it out till Mary's spell had been cast and secured, of +course. But the fact was a bitter one to swallow. No one else but +Mary Farrell could have made Brine's Rip swallow it. + +One day Big Andy, greatly daring, and secure in his renovated +allegiance to the postmistress, ventured to chaff Mary about it. She +turned upon him, half amused and half indignant. + +"Well," she demanded, "isn't Harner's Bend a good place to come away +from? Do you think I'd ought to have stopped there? Do I look like +the kind of girl that _wouldn't_ come away from Harner's Bend? And me +a dress-maker? I just couldn't _live_, let alone make a living, among +such a dowdy lot of women-folk as they've got over there. It isn't +dresses _they_ want, but oat-sacks, and you wouldn't know the +difference, either, when they'd got them on." + +The implication was obvious; and the women of Brine's Rip began to +allow for possible virtues in Miss Farrell. The post-mistress declared +there was no harm in her, and even admitted that she might almost be +called good-looking "if she hadn't such an _awful_ big mouth." + +I have said that all the male folk of Brine's Rip had capitulated +immediately to the summons of Mary Farrell's eyes. But there were two +notable exceptions--Woolly Billy and Jim. Both Woolly Billy's flaxen +mop of curls and the great curly black head of Jim, the dog, had turned +away coldly from Mary's first advances. Woolly Billy preferred men to +women anyhow. And Jim was jealous of Tug Blackstock's devotion to the +petticoated stranger. + +But Mary Farrell knew how to manage children and dogs as well as men. +She ignored both Jim and Woolly Billy. She did it quite pointedly, yet +with a gracious politeness that left no room for resentment. Neither +the child nor the dog was accustomed to being ignored. Before long +Mary's amiable indifference began to make them feel as if they were +being left out in the cold. They began to think they were losing +something because she did not notice them. Reluctantly at first, but +by-and-by with eagerness, they courted her attention. At last they +gained it. It was undeniably pleasant. From that moment the child and +the dog were at Mary's well-shod and self-reliant little feet. + + +II + +As summer wore on into autumn the dry weather turned to a veritable +drought, and all the streams ran lower and lower. Word came early that +the mills at Harner's Bend, over in the next valley, had been compelled +to shut down for lack of logs. But Brine's Rip exulted unkindly. The +Ottanoonsis, fed by a group of cold spring lakes, maintained a steady +flow; there were plenty of logs, and the mills had every prospect of +working full time all through the autumn. Presently they began to +gather in big orders which would have gone otherwise to Harner's Bend. +Brine's Rip not only exulted, but took into itself merit. It felt that +it must, on general principles, have deserved well of Providence, for +Providence so obviously to take sides with it. + +As August drew to a dusty, choking end, Mary Farrell began to collect +her accounts. Her tact and sympathy made this easy for her, and women +paid up civilly enough who had never been known to do such a thing +before, unless at the point of a summons. Mary said she was going to +the States, perhaps as far as New York itself, to renew her stock and +study up the latest fashions. + +Every one was much interested. Woolly Billy's eyes brimmed over at the +prospect of her absence, but he was consoled by the promise of her +speedy return with an air-gun and also a toy steam-engine that would +really go. As for Jim, his feathery black tail drooped in premonition +of a loss, but he could not gather exactly what was afoot. He was +further troubled by an unusual depression on the part of Tug +Blackstock. The Deputy-Sheriff seemed to have lost his zest in +tracking down evil-doers. + +It was nearing ten o'clock on a hot and starless night. Tug +Blackstock, too restless to sleep, wandered down to the silent mill +with Jim at his heels. As he approached, Jim suddenly went bounding on +ahead with a yelp of greeting. He fawned upon a small, shadowy figure +which was seated on a pile of deals close to the water's edge. Tug +Blackstock hurried up. + +"You here, Mary, all alone, at this time o' night!" he exclaimed. + +"I come here often," answered Mary, making room for him to sit beside +her. + +"I wish I'd known it sooner," muttered the Deputy. + +"I like to listen to the rapids, and catch glimpses of the water +slipping away blindly in the dark," said Mary. "It helps one not to +think," she added with a faint catch in her voice. + +"Why should _you_ not want to think, Mary?" protested Blackstock. + +"How dreadfully dry everything is," replied Mary irrelevantly, as if +heading Blackstock off. "What if there should be a fire at the mill? +Wouldn't the whole village go, like a box of matches? People might get +caught asleep in their beds. Oughtn't there to be more than one night +watchman in such dry weather as this? I've so often heard of mills +catching fire--though I don't see why they should, any more than +houses." + +"Mills most generally git _set_ afire," answered the Deputy grimly. +"Think what it would mean to Harner's Bend if these mills should git +burnt down now! It would mean thousands and thousands to them. But +you're dead right, Mary, about the danger to the village. Only it +depends on the wind. This time o' year, an' as long as it keeps dry, +what wind there is blows mostly away from the houses, so sparks and +brands would just be carried out over the river. But if the wind +should shift to the south'ard or thereabouts, yes, there'd be more +watchmen needed. I s'pose you're thinkin' about your shop while ye're +away?" + +"I was thinking about Woolly Billy," said Mary gravely. "What do I +care about the old shop? It's insured, anyway." + +"I'll look out for Woolly Billy," answered Blackstock. "And I'll look +out for the shop, whether _you_ care about it or not. It's yours, and +your name's on the door, and anything of yours, anything you've +touched, an' wherever you've put your little foot, that's something for +me to care about. I ain't no hand at making pretty speeches, Mary, or +paying compliments, but I tell you these here old sawdust roads are +just wonderful to me now, because your little feet have walked on 'em. +Ef only I could think that you could care--that I had anything, was +anything, Mary, worth offering you----" + +He had taken her hand, and she had yielded it to him. He had put his +great arm around her shoulders and drawn her to him,--and for a moment, +with a little shiver, she had leant against him, almost cowered against +him, with the air of a frightened child craving protection. But as he +spoke on, in his quiet, strong voice, she suddenly tore herself away, +sprang off to the other end of the pile of deals, and began to sob +violently. + +He followed her at once. But she thrust out both hands. + +"Go away. _Please_ don't come near me," she appealed, somewhat wildly. +"You don't understand--_anything_." + +Tug Blackstock looked puzzled. He seated himself at a distance of +several inches, and clasped his hands resolutely in his lap. + +"Of course, I won't tech you, Mary," said he, "if you don't want me to. +I don't want to do _anything_ you don't want me to--_never_, Mary. But +I sure don't understand what you're crying for. _Please_ don't. I'm +so sorry I teched you, dear. But if you knew how I love you, how I +would give my life for you, I think you'd forgive me, Mary." + +Mary gave a bitter little laugh, and choked her sobs. + +"It isn't that, oh no, it isn't _that_!" she said. "I--I _liked_ it. +There!" she panted. Then she sprang to her feet and faced him. And in +the gloom he could see her eyes flaming with some intense excitement, +from a face ghost-white. + +"But--I won't let you make me love you, Tug Blackstock. I won't!--I +won't! I won't let you change all my plans, all my ambitions. I won't +give up all I've worked for and schemed for and sold my very soul for, +just because at last I've met a real man. Oh, I'd soon spoil your +life, no matter how much you love me. You'd soon find how cruel, and +hard, and selfish I am. An' I'd ruin my own life, too. Do you think I +could settle down to spend my life in the backwoods? Do you think I +have no dreams beyond the spruce woods of Nipsiwaska County? Do you +think you could imprison _me_ in Brine's Rip? I'd either kill your +brave, clean soul, Tug Blackstock, or I'd kill myself!" + +Utterly bewildered at this incomprehensible outburst, Blackstock could +only stammer lamely: + +"But--I thought--ye kind o' liked Brine's Rip." + +"_Like_ it!" The uttermost of scorn was in her voice. "I hate, hate, +hate it! I just live to get out into the great world, where I feel +that I belong. But I must have money first. And I'm going to study, +and I'm going to make myself somebody. I wasn't born for this." And +she waved her hand with a sweep that took in all the backwoods world. +"I'm getting out of it. It would drive me mad. Oh, I sometimes think +it has already driven me half mad." + +Her tense voice trailed off wearily, and she sat down again--this time +further away. + +Blackstock sat quite still for a time. At last he said gently: + +"I do understand ye now, Mary." + +"You _don't_," interrupted Mary. + +"I felt, all along, I was somehow not good enough for you." + +"You're a million miles _too_ good for me," she interrupted again, +energetically. + +"But," he went on without heeding the protest, "I hoped, somehow, that +I might be able to make you happy. An' that's what I want, more'n +anything else in the world. All I have is at your feet, Mary, an' I +could make' it more in time. But I'm not a big enough man for you. +I'm all yours--an' always will be--but I can't make myself no more than +I am." + +"Yes, you could, Tug Blackstock," she cried. "Real men are scarce, in +the great world and everywhere. You could make yourself a master +anywhere--if only you would tear yourself loose from here." + +He sprang up, and his arms went out as if to seize her. But, with an +effort, he checked himself, and dropped them stiffly to his side. + +"I'm too old to change my spots, Mary," said he. "I'm stamped for good +an' all. I am some good here. I'd be no good there. An' I won't +never resk bein' a drag on yer plans." + +"You could--you could!" urged Mary almost desperately. + +But he turned away, with his lips set hard, not daring to look at her. + +"Ef ever ye git tired of it all out there, an' yer own kind calls ye +back--as it will, bein' in yer blood--I'll be waitin' for ye, Mary, +whatever happens." + +He strode off quickly up the shore. The girl stared after, him till he +was quite out of sight, then buried her face in the fur of Jim, who had +willingly obeyed a sign from his master and remained at her side. + +"Oh, my dear, if only you could have dared," she murmured. At last she +jumped up, with an air of resolve, and wandered off, apparently +aimlessly, into the recesses of the mill, with one hand resting firmly +on Jim's collar. + + +III + +Two days later Mary Farrell left Brine's Rip. She hugged and kissed +Woolly Billy very hard before she left, and cried a little with him, +pretending to laugh, and she took her three big trunks with her, in the +long-bodied express waggon which carried the mails, although she said +she would not be gone more than a month at the outside. + +Tug Blackstock eyed those three trunks with a sinking heart. His only +comfort was that he had in his pocket the key of Mary's little shop, +which she had sent to him by Woolly Billy. When the express waggon had +rattled and bumped away out of sight there was a general feeling in +Brine's Rip that the whole place had gone flat, like stale beer, and +the saws did not seem to make as cheerful a shrieking as before, and +Black Saunders, expert runner of logs as he was, fell in because he +forgot to look where he was going, and knocked his head heavily in +falling, and was almost drowned before they could fish him out. + +"There's goin' to be some bad luck comin' to Brine's Rip afore long," +remarked Long Jackson in a voice of deepest pessimism. + +"It's come, Long," said the Deputy. + +That same day the wind changed, and blew steadily from the mills right +across the village. But it brought no change in the weather, except a +few light showers that did no more than lay the surface dust. About a +week later it shifted back again, and blew steadily away from the +village and straight across the river. And once more a single +night-watchman was regarded as sufficient safeguard against fire. + +A little before daybreak on the second night following this change of +wind, the watchman was startled by a shrill scream and a heavy splash +from the upper end of the great pool where the logs were gathered +before being fed up in the saws. It sounded like a woman's voice. As +fast as he could stumble over the intervening deals and rubbish he made +his way to the spot, waving his lantern and calling anxiously. There +was no sign of any one in the water. As he searched he became +conscious of a ruddy light at one corner of the mill. + +He turned and dashed back, yelling "Fire! Fire!" at the top of his +lungs. A similar ruddy light was spreading upward in two other corners +of the mill. Frantically he turned on the nearest chemical +extinguisher, yelling madly all the while. But he was already too +late. The flames were licking up the dry wood with furious appetite. + +In almost as little time as it takes to tell of it the whole great +structure was ablaze, with all Brine's Rip, in every varying stage of +_déshabille_, out gaping at it. The little hand-fire-engine worked +heroically, squirting a futile stream upon the flames for a while, and +then turning its attention to the nearest houses in order to keep them +drenched. + +"Thank God the wind's in the right direction," muttered Zeb Smith, the +storekeeper and magistrate. And the pious ejaculation was echoed +fervently through the crowd. + +In the meantime Tug Blackstock, seeing that there was nothing to do in +the way of fighting the fire--the mill being already devoured--was +interviewing the distracted watchman. + +"Sure," he agreed, "it was a trick to git you away long enough for the +fires to git a start. Somebody yelled, an' chucked in a big stick, +that's all. An', o' course, you run to help. You couldn't naturally +do nothin' else." + +The watchman heaved a huge sigh of relief. If Blackstock exonerated +him from the charge of negligence, other people would. And his heart +had been very heavy at being so fatally fooled. + +"It's Harner's Bend all right, that's what it is!" he muttered. + +"Ef only we could prove it," said Blackstock, searching the damp ground +about the edges of the pool, which was lighted now as by day. +Presently he saw Jim sniffing excitedly at some tracks. He hurried +over to examine them. Jim looked up at him and wagged his tail, as +much as to say, "So you've found them, too! Interesting, ain't they!" + +"What d'ye make o' that?" demanded Blackstock of the watchman. + +"_Boy's_ tracks, sure," said the latter at once. + +The footprints were small and neat. They were of a double-soled +larrigan, with a low heel of a single welt. + +"None of _our_ boys," said Blackstock, "wear a larrigan like that, +especially this time o' year. One could run light in that larrigan, +an' the sole's thick enough to save the foot. An' it's good for a +canoe, too." + +He rubbed his chin, thinking hard. + +"Yesterday," said the watchman, "I mind seein' a young half-breed, he +looked like a slip of a lad, very dark complected, crossin' the road +half-a-mile up yonder. He was out o' sight in a second, like a +shadder, but I mind noticin' he had on larrigans--an' a brown slouch +hat down over his eyes, an' a dark red handkerchief roun' his neck. He +was a stranger in these parts." + +"That would account for the voice, like a woman's," said Blackstock, +following the tracks till they plunged through a tangle of tall bush. +"An' here's the handkerchief," he added triumphantly, grabbing up a +dark red thing that fluttered from a branch. "Harner's Bend knows +somethin' about that boy, I'm thinkin'. Now, Bill, you go along back, +an' don't say nothin' about this, _mind_! Me an' Jim, we'll look into +it. Tell old Mrs. Amos and Woolly Billy not to fret. We'll be back +soon." + +He slipped the leash into Jim's collar, gave him the red handkerchief +to smell, and said, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off eagerly, tugging +at the leash, because the trail was so fresh and plain to him, and he +hated to be held back. + +The trail led around behind the village, and back to the river bank +about a mile below. There it followed straight down the shore. It was +evident to Blackstock that his quarry would have a canoe in hiding some +distance further down. There was no time to be lost. It was now +almost full daybreak, and he could follow the trail by himself. After +all, it was only a boy he had to deal with. He could trust Jim to +delay him, to hold him at bay. He loosed the leash, and Jim bounded +forward at top speed. He himself followed at a leisurely loping stride. + +As he trotted on, thinking of many things, he took out the red +handkerchief and examined it again. He smelt it curiously. His nose +was keen, like a wild animal's. As he sniffed, a pang went through +him, clutching at his heart. He sniffed again. His long stride +shortened. He dropped into a walk. He thought over, word by word, his +conversation with Mary that night beside the mill. His face went grey. +After a brief struggle he shouted to Jim, trying to call him back. But +the eager dog was already far beyond hearing. Then Blackstock broke +into a desperate run, shouting from time to time. He thought of Jim's +ferocity when on the trail. + +Meanwhile, the figure of a slim boy, very light of foot, was speeding +far down the river bank, clutching a brown slouch hat in one hand as he +ran. He had an astonishing crop of hair, wound in tight coils about +his head. He was panting heavily, and seemed nearly spent. At last he +halted, drew a deep sigh of relief, pressed his hands to his heart, and +plunged into a clump of bushes. In the depth of the bushes lay a small +birch-bark canoe, carefully concealed. He tugged at it, but for the +moment he was too weary to lift it. He flung himself down beside it to +take breath. + +In the silence, his ears caught the sound of light feet padding down +the shore. He jumped up, and peered through the bushes. A big black +dog was galloping on his trail. He drew a long knife, and his mouth +set itself so hard that the lips went white. The dog reached the edge +of the bushes. The youth slipped behind the canoe. + +[Illustration: "He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe."] + +"Jim," said he softly. The dog whined, wagged his tail, and plunged in +through the bushes. The youth's stern lips relaxed. He slipped the +knife back into its sheath, and fondled the dog, which was fawning upon +him eagerly. + +"You'd never go back on me, would you, Jim, no matter what I'd done?" +said he, in a gentle voice. Then, with an expert twist of his lithe +young body, he shouldered the canoe and bore it down to the water's +edge. One of his swarthy hands had suddenly grown much whiter, where +Jim had been licking it. + +Before stepping into the canoe, this peculiar youth took a scrap of +paper from his shirt pocket, and an envelope. He scribbled something, +sealed it up, addressed the envelope, marked it "private," and gave it +to Jim, who took it in his mouth. + +"Give that to Tug Blackstock," ordered the youth clearly. Then he +kissed the top of Jim's black head, pushed off, and paddled away +swiftly down river. Jim, proud of his commission, set off up the shore +at a gallop to meet his master. + +Half-a-mile back he met him. Blackstock snatched the letter from Jim's +mouth, praising Heaven that the dog had for once failed in his duty. +He tore open the letter. It said! + + +Yes, I did it. I had to do it. But _you_ could have saved me, if +you'd _dared_--for I do love you, Tug Blackstock.--MARY. + + +A month later, a parcel came from New York for Woolly Billy, containing +an air-gun, and a toy steam-engine that would really go. But it +contained no address. And Brine's Rip said that Tug Blackstock had +been bested for once, because he never succeeded in finding out who +burnt down the mills. + + + + +VI. The Man with the Dancing Bear + +I + +One day there arrived at Brine's Rip Mills, driving in a smart trap +which looked peculiarly unsuited to the rough backwoods roads, an +imposing gentleman who wore a dark green Homburg hat, heavy, tan, +gauntletted gloves, immaculate linen, shining boots, and a well-fitting +morning suit of dark pepper-and-salt, protected from the contaminations +of travel by a long, fawn-coloured dust-coat. He also wore a monocle +so securely screwed into his left eye that it looked as if it had been +born there. + +His red and black wheels labouring noiselessly through the sawdust of +the village road, he drove up to the front door of the barn-like wooden +structure, which staggered under the name, in huge letters, of the +CONTINENTAL HOTEL. There was no one in sight to hold the horse, so he +sat in the trap and waited, with severe impatience, for some one to +come out to him. + +In a few moments the landlord strolled forth in his shirt-sleeves, +chewing tobacco, and inquired casually what he could do for his visitor. + +"I'm looking for Mr. Blackstock--Mr. J. T. Blackstock," said the +stranger with lofty politeness. "Will you be so good as to direct me +to him?" + +The landlord spat thoughtfully into the sawdust, to show that he was +not unduly impressed by the stranger's appearance. + +"You'll find him down to the furder end of the cross street yonder," he +answered pointing with his thumb. "Last house towards the river. +Lives with old Mrs. Amos--him an' Woolly Billy." + +The stranger found it without difficulty, and halted his trap in front +of the door. Before he could alight, a tall, rather gaunt woodsman, +with kind but piercing eyes and brows knitted in an habitual +concentration, appeared in the doorway and gave him courteous greeting. + +"Mr. Blackstock, I presume? The Deputy Sheriff, I should say," +returned the stranger with extreme affability, descending from the trap. + +"The same," assented Blackstock, stepping forward to hitch the horse to +a fence post. A big black dog came from the house and, ignoring the +resplendent stranger, went up to Blackstock's side to superintend the +hitching. A slender little boy, with big china-blue eyes and a shock +of pale, flaxen curls, followed the dog from the house and stopped to +stare at the visitor. + +The latter swept the child with a glance of scrutiny, swift and intent, +then turned to his host. + +"I am extraordinarily glad to meet you, Mr. Blackstock," he said, +holding out his hand. "If, as I surmise, the name of this little boy +here is Master George Harold Manners Watson, then I owe you a debt of +gratitude which nothing can repay. I hear that you not only saved his +life, but have been as a father to him, ever since the death of his own +unhappy father." + +Blackstock's heart contracted. He accepted the stranger's hand +cordially enough, but was in no hurry to reply. At last he said slowly: + +"Yes, Stranger, you've got Woolly Billy's reel name all O.K. But why +should you thank me? Whatever I've done, it's been for Woolly Billy's +own sake--ain't it, Billy?" + +For answer, Woolly Billy snuggled up against his side and clutched his +great brown hand adoringly, while still keeping dubious eyes upon the +stranger. + +The latter took off his gloves, laughing amiably. + +"Well, you see, Mr. Blackstock, I'm only his uncle, and his only uncle +at that. So I have a right to thank you, and I see by the way the +child clings to you how good you've been to him. My name is J. +Heathington Johnson, of Heathington Hall, Cramley, Blankshire. I'm his +mother's brother. And I fear I shall have to tear him away from you in +a great hurry, too." + +"Come inside, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock, "an' sit down. We must +talk this over a bit. It is kind o' sudden, you see." + +"I don't want to seem unsympathetic," said the visitor kindly, "and I +know my little nephew is going to resent my carrying him off." (At +these words Woolly Billy began to realize what was in the air, and +clung to Blackstock with a storm of frightened tears.) "But you will +understand that I have to catch the next boat from New York--and I have +a thirty-mile drive before me now to the nearest railway station. You +know what the roads are! So I'm sure you won't think me unreasonable +if I ask you to get my nephew ready as soon as possible." + +Blackstock devoted a few precious moments to quieting the child's sobs +before replying. He remembered having found out in some way, from some +papers in the drowned Englishman's pockets or somewhere, that the name +of Woolly Billy's mother, before her marriage, was not Johnson, but +O'Neill. Of course that discrepancy, he realized, might be easily +explained, but his quick suspicions, sharpened by his devotion to the +child, were aroused. + +"We are not a rich family, by any means, Mr. Blackstock," continued the +stranger, after a pause. "But we have enough to be able to reward +handsomely those who have befriended us. All _possible_ expense that +my nephew may have been to you, I want to reimburse you for at once. +And I wish also to make you a present as an expression of my +gratitude--not, I assure you, as a payment," he added, noticing that +Blackstock's face had hardened ominously. He took out a thick +bill-book, well stuffed with banknotes. + +"Put away your money, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock coldly. "I ain't +taking any, thank you, for what I may have done for Woolly Billy. But +what I want to know is, what authority have you to demand the child?" + +"I'm his uncle, his mother's brother," answered the stranger sharply, +drawing himself up. + +"That may be, an' then again, it mayn't," said Blackstock. "Do you +think I'm goin' to hand over the child to a perfect stranger, just +because he comes and says he's the child's uncle? What proofs have +you?" + +The visitor glared angrily, but restrained himself and handed +Blackstock his card. + +Blackstock read it carefully. + +"What does that prove?" he demanded sarcastically. "It might not be +your card! An' even if you are 'Mr. Johnson' all right, that's not +proving that Mr. Johnson is the little feller's uncle! I want legal +proof, that would hold in a court of law." + +"You insolent blockhead!" exclaimed the visitor. "How dare you +interfere between my nephew and me? If you don't hand him over at +once, I will make you smart for it. Come, child, get your cap and +coat, and come with me immediately. I have no more time to waste with +this foolery, my man." And he stepped forward as if to lay hands on +Woolly Billy. + +Blackstock interposed an inexorable shoulder. The big dog growled, and +stiffened up the hair on his neck ominously. + +"Look here," said Blackstock crisply, "you're goin' to git yourself +into trouble before you go much further, my lad. You jest mind your +manners. When you bring me them proofs, I'll talk to you, see!" + +He took Woolly Billy's hand, and turned towards the door. + +The stranger's righteous indignation, strangely enough, seemed to have +been allayed by this speech. He followed eagerly. + +"_Don't_ be unreasonable, Mr. Blackstock," he coaxed. "I'll send you +the documents, from my solicitors, at once. I'm sure you don't want to +stand in the dear child's light this way, and prevent him getting back +to his own people, and the life that is his right, a day longer than is +necessary. Do listen to reason, now." And he patted his wad of +bank-notes suggestively. + +But at this stage, Woolly Billy and the big dog having already entered +the cottage, Blackstock followed, and calmly shut the door. "You'll +smart for this, you ignorant clod-hopper!" shouted Mr. Heathington +Johnson. He clutched the door-knob. But for all his rage, prudence +came to his rescue. He did not turn the knob. After a moment's +hesitation he ground his heel upon the doorstep, stalked back to his +gig, and drove off furiously. The three at the window watched his +going. + +"We won't see _him_ back here again," remarked the Deputy. "_He_ +wasn't no uncle o' yours, Woolly Billy." + +That same evening he wrote to a reliable firm of lawyers at Exville, +telling them all he knew about Woolly Billy and Woolly Billy's father, +and also all he suspected, and instructed them to look into the matter +fully. + + +II + +Several weeks went by, and the imposing stranger, as Blackstock had +anticipated, failed to return with his proofs. Then came a letter from +the lawyers at Exville, saying that they had something important to +communicate, and Blackstock hurried off to see them, planning to be +away for about a week. + +On the day following his departure, to the delight of all the children +and of most of the rest of the population as well, there arrived at +Brine's Rip Mills a man with a dancing bear. He was a black-eyed, +swarthy, merry fellow, with a most infectious laugh, and besides his +trained bear he possessed a pedlar's pack containing all sorts of +up-to-date odds and ends, not by any means to be found in the very +utilitarian miscellany of Zeb Smith's corner store. + +He talked a rather musical but very broken lingo that passed for +English, flashing a mouthful of splendid white teeth as he did so. He +appeared to be an Italian, and the men of Brine's Rip christened him a +"Dago" at once. There was no resisting his childlike bonhomie, or the +amiable antics of his great brown bear, which grinned through its +muzzle as if dancing to its master's merry piccolo were its one delight +in life. And the two did a roaring business from the moment they came +strolling into Brine's Rip. + +"Tony" was what the laughing vagabond called himself, and his bear +answered to the name of Beppo. Business being so good, Tony could +afford to be generous, and he was continually pressing peppermint +lozenges upon the rabble of children who formed a triumphal procession +for him wherever he moved. When Tony's eyes first fell on Woolly +Billy, standing just outside the crowd, with one arm over the neck of +the big black dog, he was delighted. + +"Com-a here, Bambino, com-a quick!" he cried, holding out some +peppermints. Woolly Billy liked him at once, and adored the bear, but +was too shy, or reserved, to push his way through the other children. +So Tony came to him, leading the bear. Woolly Billy stood his ground, +with a welcoming smile. The big black dog growled doubtfully, and then +lost his doubts in curious admiration of the bear, which plainly +fascinated him. + +Woolly Billy accepted the peppermints politely, and put one into his +mouth without delay. Then, with an apologetic air, the Italian laid +one finger softly on Woolly Billy's curls, and drew back at once, as if +fearing he had taken a liberty. + +"Jim likes the bear, sir, _doesn't_ he?" suggested Woolly Billy, to +make conversation. + +"Everybody he like-a ze bear. Him vaira good bear," asserted the +bear's master, and laughed again, giving the bear a peppermint. "An' +you one vaira good bambino. Ze bear, he like-a you vaira much. See, +he shak-a you ze hand--good frens now." + +Encouraged by the warmth of his welcome, the Italian had from the first +made a practice of dropping in at certain houses of the village just at +meal times--when he was received always with true backwoods +hospitality. On Woolly Billy's invitation he had come to the house of +Mrs. Amos. The old lady, too rheumatic to get about much out of doors, +was delighted with such a unique and amusing guest. To all he +said--which, indeed, she never more than half understood--she kept +ejaculating. "Well, I never!" and "Did ye ever hear the likes o' that?" + +And the bear, chained to the gate-post and devouring her +pancakes-and-molasses, thrilled her with a sense of "furrin parts." In +fact, there was no other house at Brine's Rip where Tony and his bear +were made more warmly welcome than at Mrs. Amos'. The only member of +the household who lacked cordiality was Jim, whose coolness towards +Tony, however, was fully counter-balanced by his interest in the bear. +Towards Tony his attitude was one of armed neutrality. + +On the fourth evening after the arrival of Tony and Beppo, Jim +discovered a most tempting lump of meat in the corner of Mrs. Amos' +garden. Having something of an appetite at the moment, he was just +about to bolt the morsel. But no sooner had he set his teeth into it +than he conceived a prejudice against it. He dropped it, and sniffed +at it intently. The smell was quite all right. He turned it over with +his paw and sniffed at the under side. No, there was nothing the +matter with it. Nevertheless, his appetite had quite vanished. Well, +it would do for another time. He dug a hole and buried the morsel, and +then went back to the house to see what Woolly Billy and Mrs. Amos were +doing. + +A little later, just as Mrs. Amos was lighting the lamps in the +kitchen, the rattling of a chain was heard outside, followed by the +whimpering of Beppo, who objected to being tied up to the gate-post +when he wanted to come in and beg for pancakes. Woolly Billy ran to +the door and peered forth into the dusk. After a few moments Tony +entered, all his teeth agleam in his expansive smile. + +He had a little bag of bon-bons for Woolly Billy--something much more +fascinating than peppermints--which he doled out to the child one by +one, as a rare treat. And for himself he wanted a cup of tea, which +hospitable Mrs. Amos was only too eager to brew for him. Jim, seeing +that Woolly Billy was too interested to need _his_ company, got up and +went out to inspect the bear. + +Tony was in gay spirits that evening. In his broken English, and +helping out his meaning with eloquent gestures, he told of adventures +which made Woolly Billy's eyes as round as saucers and reduced Mrs. +Amos to admiring speechlessness. He made Mrs. Amos drink tea with him, +pouring it out for her himself while she hobbled about to find him +something to eat. And once in a while, at tantalizing intervals, he +allowed Woolly Billy one more bon-bon. + +There was a chill in the night air, so Tony, who was always politeness +itself, asked leave to close the door. Mrs. Amos hastened also to +close the window. Or, rather, she tried to hasten, but made rather a +poor attempt, and sat down heavily in the big arm-chair beside it. + +"My legs is that heavy," she explained, laughing apologetically. So +Tony closed the window himself, and at the same time drew the curtains. +Then he went on talking. + +But apparently his conversation was less interesting than it had been. +There came a snore from Mrs. Amos' big chair. Tony glanced aside at +Woolly Billy, as if expecting the child to laugh. But Woolly Billy +took no notice of the sound. He was fast asleep, his fluffy fair head +fallen forward upon the red table-cloth. + +Tony looked at the clock on the mantel-piece. It was not as late as he +could have wished, but he had observed that Brine's Rip went to bed +early. He turned the lamp low, softly raised the window, and looked +out, listening. There were no lights in the village, and all was +silence save for the soft roar of the Rip. He extinguished the lamp, +and waited a few moments till his eyes got quite accustomed to the +gloom. + +At length he picked up the slight form of Woolly Billy (who was now in +a drugged stupor from which he would not awake for hours), and slung +him over his left shoulder. In his right hand he grasped his short +bear-whip, with its loaded butt. He stepped noiselessly to the door, +listened a few moments, and then opened it inch by inch with his left +hand, standing behind it, and grasping the whip so as to be ready to +strike with the butt. He was wondering where the big black dog was. + +The door was about half open, when a black shape, appearing suddenly, +launched itself at the opening. The loaded butt came crashing +down--and Jim dropped sprawling across the threshold. + +From the back of the bear Tony now unfastened a small pack, and +strapped it over his right shoulder. Then he unchained the great beast +noiselessly, and led it off to the waterside, to a spot where a heavy +log canoe was drawn up upon the beach. He hauled the canoe down, +making much disarrangement in the gravel, launched it, thrust it far +out into the water, and noted it being carried away by the current. He +had no wish to journey by that route himself, knowing that as soon as +the crime was discovered, which might chance at any moment, the +telephone would give the alarm all down the river. + +Next he undid the bear's chain, and took off its muzzle, and threw them +both into the water, knowing that when freed from these badges of +servitude the animal would wander further and more freely. At first +the good-natured creature was unwilling to leave him. Its master, from +policy, had always treated it kindly, and fed it well, and it was in no +hurry to profit by its freedom. + +However, the man ordered it off towards the woods, enforcing the +command by a vigorous push and a stroke of the whip. Shaking itself +till it realized its freedom, it slouched away a few paces down stream, +then turned into the woods. The man listened to its careless, crashing +progress. + +"They'll find it easy following _that_ trail," he muttered with +satisfaction. + +Assured that he had thus thrown out two false trails to distract +pursuers, the man now stepped into the water, and walked up stream for +several hundred yards, till he reached the spot which served as a ferry +landing. Here, in the multiplicity of footprints, he knew his own +would be indistinguishable to even the keenest of backwood eyes. He +came ashore, slipped through the slumbering village, and plunged into +the woods with the assurance of one to whom their mysteries were an +open book. + +He was shaping his course--by the stars at present, but by compass when +it should become necessary--for an inlet on the coast, where there +would be a sturdy fishing-smack awaiting him and his rich prize. All +was working smoothly--as most plans were apt to work under his swift, +resourceful hands--and his hard lips relaxed in triumphant +self-satisfaction. One of the most accomplished and relentless of the +desperadoes of the Great North-West, he had peculiarly enjoyed his pose +as the childlike Tony. + +For hour after hour he pushed on, till even his untiring sinews began +to protest. About the edge of dawn Woolly Billy awoke, but, still +stupid with the heavy drugging he had received, he did not seem to +realize what had happened. He cried a little, asking for Jim, and for +Tug Blackstock, and for Mrs. Amos, but was pacified by the most trivial +excuses. The man gave him some sweet biscuits, but he refused to eat +them, leaving them on the moss beside him. He hardly protested even +when the man cut off his bright hair, and proceeded to darken what was +left with some queer-smelling dye. + +When the man undressed him and proceeded to stain his face and his +whole body, he apparently thought he was being got ready for bed, and +to certain terrible threats as to what would happen if he tried to get +away, or to tell any one anything, he paid no attention whatever. He +went to sleep again in the middle of it all. + +Satisfied with his job, the man lay down beside him, knowing himself +secure from pursuit, and went to sleep himself. + +Meanwhile, after lying motionless for several hours, where he had +dropped across the threshold, Jim at last began to stir. That crashing +blow, after all, had not fallen quite true. Jim was not dead, by any +means. He staggered to his feet, swayed a few moments, and then, for +all the pain in his head, he was practically himself again. He went +into the cottage, tried in vain to awaken Mrs. Amos in her chair, +hunted for Woolly Billy in his bed, and at last, realizing something of +what had happened, rushed forth in a panic of rage and fear and grief, +and remorse for a trust betrayed. + +It was a matter of a few minutes to trail the party down to the +waterside. Then he darted off after the bear. The latter, grubbing +delightedly in a rotten stump, greeted him with a friendly "Woof." A +glance and a sniff satisfied Jim that Woolly Billy was not there, and +his instinct assured him that the bear was void of offence in the whole +matter. He knew the enemy. He darted back to the waterside, ran on up +stream to the ferry-landing, picked up the trail of Tony's feet, +followed it unerringly through the confusion of other footprints, and +darted silently into the woods in pursuit. + +At daybreak an early riser, seeing the door of Mrs. Amos' cottage +standing open, looked in and saw the old lady still asleep in her +chair. She was awakened with difficulty, and could give but a vague +account of what had happened. The whole village turned out. Under the +leadership of Long Jackson, the big mill-hand who constituted himself +Woolly Billy's special guardian in Blackstock's absence, the "Dago" and +bear were traced down to the waterside. + +Of course, it was clear to almost every one that the "Dago"--who was +now due for lynching when caught--had carried Woolly Billy off down +river in the vanished canoe. Instantly the telephones were brought +into service, and half-a-dozen expert canoeists, in the swiftest canoes +to be had, started off in pursuit. But the more astute of the +woodsmen--including Long Jackson himself--held that this river clue was +a false one, a ruse to put them off the track. This group went after +the bear. + +In an hour or two they found him. And very glad to see them he +appeared to be. He was getting hungry, and a bit lonely. So without +waiting for an invitation, with touching confidence he attached himself +to the party, and accompanied it back to the village. There Big Andy, +who had always had a weakness for bears, took him home and fed him, and +shut him up in the back yard. + +In the meantime Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could not +hope to rival, had come soon after daybreak to the spot where the man +and Woolly Billy lay asleep. + +[Illustration: "In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the +fugitive could not hope to rival, had come to the right spot."] + +He arrived as soundlessly as a shadow. At sight of his enemy--for he +knew well who had carried off the child, and who had dealt that almost +fatal blow--his long white fangs bared in a silent snarl of hate. But +he had learnt, well learnt, that this man was a dangerous antagonist. +He crouched, stiffened as if to stone, and surveyed the situation. + +His sensitive nose prevented him from being quite deceived by the +transformation in Woolly Billy's appearance. He was puzzled by it, but +he had no doubt as to the child's identity. Having satisfied himself +that the little fellow was asleep, and therefore presumably safe for +the moment, he turned his attention to his enemy. + +The man was sleeping almost on his back, one arm thrown above his head, +his chin up, his brown, sinewy throat exposed. That bare throat +riveted Jim's vengeful gaze. He knew well that the man, though asleep +and at an utter disadvantage, was the most dangerous adversary he could +possibly tackle. + +Step by step, so lightly, so smoothly, that not a twig crackled under +his feet, he crept up, his muzzle outstretched, his fangs gleaming the +hair rising along his back. When he was within a couple of paces of +his goal, the sleeper stirred slightly, as if about to wake up, or +growing conscious of danger. Instantly Jim sprang, and sank his fangs +deep, deep, into his enemy's throat. + +With a shriek the sleeper awoke, flinging wide his arms and legs +convulsively. But the shriek was strangled at its birth, as Jim's +implacable teeth crunched closer. The great dog shook his victim as a +terrier shakes a rat. There was a choked gurgle, and the threshing +arms and legs lay still. + +Jim continued his savage shaking till satisfied his foe was quite dead. +Then he let go, and turned his attention to Woolly Billy. + +The child was sitting up, staring at him with round eyes of question +and bewilderment. + +"Where am I, Jim?" he demanded. Then he gazed at the transformation in +himself--his clothes and his stained hands. He saw his old clothes +tossed aside, his curls lying near them in a bright, fluffy heap. He +felt his cropped head. And then his brain began to clear. He had a +dim memory of the man cutting his hair and changing his clothes. + +Upon his first glimpse of the man, lying there dead and covered with +blood, he felt a sharp pang of sorrow. He had liked Tony. But the +pang passed, as he began to understand. If _Jim_ had killed Tony, Tony +must have been bad. It was evident that Tony had carried him off, and +that Jim had come to save him. Jim was licking his face now, +rapturously, and evidently coaxing him to get up and come away. + +He flung his arms around Jim's neck. Then he saw the biscuits. He +divided them evenly between himself and Jim, and ate his portion with +good appetite. Jim would not touch his share, so Woolly Billy tucked +them into his pocket. Then he got up and followed where Jim was trying +to lead him, keeping his face averted from the terrible, bleeding thing +sprawled there upon the moss. And Jim led him safely home. + +When Tug Blackstock, two days later, returned from his visit to +Exville, he brought news which explained why a certain gang of +criminals had planned to get possession of Woolly Billy. The child had +fallen heir to an immense property in England, and an ancient title, +and he was to have been held for ransom. From that moment Blackstock +never let him out of his sight, until, with a heavy heart, he handed +him over to his own people. + +Thereafter, as he sat brooding on a log beside the noisy river, with +Jim stretched at his feet, Tug Blackstock felt that Brine's Rip, for +the lack of a childish voice and a head of flaxen curls, had lost all +savour for him. And his thoughts turned more and more towards the +arguments of a grey-eyed girl, who had urged him to seek a wider sphere +for his energies than the confines of Nipsiwaska County could afford. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ledge on Bald Face, by Charles G. D. 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D. Roberts +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: center } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Ledge on Bald Face, by Charles G. D. Roberts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ledge on Bald Face + +Author: Charles G. D. Roberts + +Release Date: March 7, 2011 [EBook #35513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""The great dog shook his victim as a terrier shakes a rat." (Page 253.)" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 494px"> +"The great dog shook his victim as a terrier shakes a rat." (<A HREF="#P253">Page 253</A>.) +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +THE LEDGE ON +<BR> +BALD FACE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +By +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<I>ILLUSTRATED</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED +<BR> +LONDON AND MELBOURNE +<BR> +1918 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<I>Copyright in the United States of America</I> +<BR> +<I>by Charles G. D. Roberts</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +POPULAR NATURE STORIES<BR> +BY<BR> +CHAS. G. D. ROBERTS<BR> +<BR> +PUBLISHED BY<BR> +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED<BR> +<BR> +THE HOUSE IN THE WATER<BR> +KINGS IN EXILE<BR> +THE SECRET TRAILS<BR> +THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE EAGLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">COCK-CROW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG</A> +<BR><BR> + PART I <A HREF="#chap0501">HOW WOOLLY BILLY CAME TO BRINE'S RIP</A><BR> + " II <A HREF="#chap0502">THE BOOK AGENT AND THE BUCKSKIN BELT</A><BR> + " III <A HREF="#chap0503">THE HOLE IN THE TREE</A><BR> + " IV <A HREF="#chap0504">THE TRAIL OF THE BEAR</A><BR> + " V <A HREF="#chap0505">THE FIRE AT BRINE'S RIP MILLS</A><BR> + " VI <A HREF="#chap0506">THE MAN WITH THE DANCING BEAR</A><BR> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"The great dog shook his victim like a terrier shakes a rat" . . . +<I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-014"> +"He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over the brink" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-112"> +"Then he spread his wings wide and let go" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-129"> +"He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the +wet fur" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-176"> +"'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-193"> +"The door was flung open, and Black Dan with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-224"> +"He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-241"> +"In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could +not hope to rival, had come to the right spot" +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +I +<BR><BR> +THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Ledge on Bald Face +</H3> + +<P> +That one stark naked side of the mountain which gave it its name of Old +Bald Face fronted full south. Scorched by sun and scourged by storm +throughout the centuries, it was bleached to an ashen pallor that +gleamed startlingly across the leagues of sombre, green-purple +wilderness outspread below. From the base of the tremendous bald steep +stretched off the interminable leagues of cedar swamp, only to be +traversed in dry weather or in frost. All the region behind the +mountain face was an impenetrable jumble of gorges, pinnacles, and +chasms, with black woods clinging in crevice and ravine and struggling +up desperately towards the light. +</P> + +<P> +In the time of spring and autumn floods, when the cedar swamps were +impenetrable to all save mink, otter, and musk-rat, the only way from +the western plateau to the group of lakes that formed the source of the +Ottanoonsis, on the east, was by a high, nerve-testing trail across the +wind-swept brow of Old Bald Face. The trail followed a curious ledge, +sometimes wide enough to have accommodated an ox-wagon, at other times +so narrow and so perilous that even the sure-eyed caribou went warily +in traversing it. +</P> + +<P> +The only inhabitants of Bald Face were the eagles, three pairs of them, +who had their nests, widely separated from each other in haughty +isolation, on jutting shoulders and pinnacles accessible to no one +without wings. Though the ledge-path at its highest point was far +above the nests, and commanded a clear view of one of them, the eagles +had learned to know that those who traversed the pass were not +troubling themselves about eagles' nests. They had also observed +another thing—of interest to them only because their keen eyes and +suspicious brains were wont to note and consider everything that came +within their purview—and that was that the scanty traffic by the pass +had its more or less regular times and seasons. In seasons of drought +or hard frost it vanished altogether. In seasons of flood it increased +the longer the floods lasted. And whenever there was any passing at +all, the movement was from east to west in the morning, from west to +east in the afternoon. This fact may have been due to some sort of +dimly recognized convention among the wild kindreds, arrived at in some +subtle way to avoid unnecessary—and necessarily +deadly—misunderstanding and struggle. For the creatures of the wild +seldom fight for fighting's sake. They fight for food, or, in the +mating season, they fight in order that the best and strongest may +carry off the prizes. But mere purposeless risk and slaughter they +instinctively strive to avoid. The airy ledge across Bald Face was not +a place where the boldest of the wild kindred—the bear or the +bull-moose, to say nothing of lesser champions—would wilfully invite +the doubtful combat. If, therefore, it had been somehow arrived at +that there should be no disastrous meetings, no face-to-face struggles +for the right of way, at a spot where dreadful death was inevitable for +one or both of the combatants, that would have been in no way +inconsistent with the accepted laws and customs of the wilderness. On +the other hand, it is possible that this alternate easterly and +westerly drift of the wild creatures—a scanty affair enough at best of +times—across the front of Bald Face was determined in the first place, +on clear days, by their desire not to have the sun in their eyes in +making the difficult passage, and afterwards hardened into custom. It +was certainly better to have the sun behind one in treading the +knife-edge pass above the eagles. Joe Peddler found it troublesome +enough, that strong, searching glare from the unclouded sun of early +morning full in his eyes, as he worked over toward the Ottanoonsis +lakes. He had never attempted the crossing of Old Bald Face before, +and he had always regarded with some scorn the stories told by Indians +of the perils of that passage. But already, though he had accomplished +but a small portion of his journey and was still far from the worst of +the pass, he had been forced to the conclusion that report had not +exaggerated the difficulties of his venture. However, he was steady of +head and sure of foot, and the higher he went in that exquisitely +clear, crisp air, the more pleased he felt with himself. His great +lungs drank deep of the tonic wind which surged against him +rhythmically, and seemed to him to come unbroken from the outermost +edges of the world. His eyes widened and filled themselves, even as +his lungs, with the ample panorama that unfolded before them. He +imagined—for the woodsman, dwelling so much alone, is apt to indulge +some strange imaginings—that he could feel his very spirit enlarging, +as if to take full measure of these splendid breadths of sunlit, +wind-washed space. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, with a pleasant thrill, he observed that just ahead of him +the ledge went round an abrupt shoulder of the rockface at a point +where there was a practically sheer drop of many hundreds of feet into +what appeared a feather-soft carpet of treetops. He looked shrewdly to +the security of his footing as he approached, and also to the +roughnesses of the rock above the ledge, in case a sudden violent gust +should chance to assail him just at the turn. He felt that at such a +spot it would be so easy—indeed, quite natural—to be whisked off by +the sportive wind, whirled out into space, and dropped into that green +carpet so far below. In his flexible oil-tanned "larrigans" of thick +cow-hide, Peddler moved noiselessly as a wild-cat, even over the bare +stone of the ledge. He was like a grey shadow drifting slowly across +the bleached face of the precipice. As he drew near the bend of the +trail, of which not more than eight or ten paces were now visible to +him, he felt every nerve grow tense with exhilarating expectation. +Yet, even so, what happened was the utterly unexpected. +</P> + +<P> +Around the bend before him, stepping daintily on her fine hooves, came +a young doe. She completely blocked the trail just on that dizzy edge. +</P> + +<P> +Peddler stopped short, tried to squeeze himself to the rock like a +limpet, and clutched with fingers of iron at a tiny projection. +</P> + +<P> +The doe, for one second, seemed petrified with amazement. It was +contrary to all tradition that she should be confronted on that trail. +Then, her amazement instantly dissolving into sheer madness of panic, +she wheeled about violently to flee. But there was no room for even +her lithe body to make the turn. The inexorable rock-face bounced her +off, and with an agonized bleat, legs sprawling and great eyes starting +from their sockets, she went sailing down into the abyss. +</P> + +<P> +With a heart thumping in sympathy, Peddler leaned outward and followed +that dreadful flight, till she reached that treacherously soft-looking +carpet of treetops and was engulfed by it. A muffled crash came up to +Peddler's ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor leetle beggar!" he muttered. "I wish't I hadn't scared her so. +But I'd a sight rather it was her than me!" +</P> + +<P> +Peddler's exhilaration was now considerably damped. He crept +cautiously to the dizzy turn of the ledge and peered around. The +thought upon which his brain dwelt with unpleasant insistence was that +if it had been a surly old bull-moose or a bear which had confronted +him so unexpectedly, instead of that nervous little doe, he might now +be lying beneath that deceitful green carpet in a state of dilapidation +which he did not care to contemplate. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond the turn the trail was clear to his view for perhaps a couple of +hundred yards. It climbed steeply through a deep re-entrant, a mighty +perpendicular corrugation of the rock-face, and then disappeared again +around another jutting bastion. He hurried on rather feverishly, not +liking that second interruption to his view, and regretting, for the +first time, that he had no weapon with him but his long hunting-knife. +He had left his rifle behind him as a useless burden to his climbing. +No game was now in season, no skins in condition to be worth the +shooting, and he had food enough for the journey in his light pack. He +had not contemplated the possibility of any beast, even bear or +bull-moose, daring to face him, because he knew that, except in +mating-time, the boldest of them would give a man wide berth. But, as +he now reflected, here on this narrow ledge even a buck or a lynx would +become dangerous, finding itself suddenly at bay. +</P> + +<P> +The steepness of the rise in the trail at this point almost drove +Peddler to helping himself with his hands. As he neared the next turn, +he was surprised to note, far out to his right, a soaring eagle, +perhaps a hundred feet below him. He was surprised, too, by the fact +that the eagle was paying no attention to him whatever, in spite of his +invasion of the great bird's aerial domain. Instinctively he inferred +that the eagle's nest must be in some quite inaccessible spot at safe +distance from the ledge. He paused to observe from above, and thus +fairly near at hand, the slow flapping of those wide wings, as they +employed the wind to serve the majesty of their flight. While he was +studying this, another deduction from the bird's indifference to his +presence flashed upon his mind. There must be a fairly abundant +traffic of the wild creatures across this pass, or the eagle would not +be so indifferent to his presence. At this thought he lost his +interest in problems of flight, and hurried forward again, anxious to +see what might be beyond the next turn of the trail. +</P> + +<P> +His curiosity was gratified all too abruptly for his satisfaction. He +reached the turn, craned his head around it, and came face to face with +an immense black bear. +</P> + +<P> +The bear was not a dozen feet away. At sight of Peddler's gaunt dark +face and sharp blue eyes appearing thus abruptly and without visible +support around the rock, he shrank back upon his haunches with a +startled "Woof!" +</P> + +<P> +As for Peddler, he was equally startled, but he had too much discretion +and self-control to show it. Never moving a muscle, and keeping his +body out of sight so that his face seemed to be suspended in mid-air, +he held the great beast's eyes with a calm, unwinking gaze. +</P> + +<P> +The bear was plainly disconcerted. After a few seconds he glanced back +over his shoulder, and seemed to contemplate a strategic movement to +the rear. As the ledge at this point was sufficiently wide for him to +turn with due care, Peddler expected now to see him do so. But what +Peddler did not know was that dim but cogent "law of the ledge," which +forbade all those who travelled by it to turn and retrace their steps, +or to pass in the wrong direction at the wrong time. He did not know +what the bear knew—namely, that if that perturbed beast should turn, +he was sure to be met and opposed by other wayfarers, and thus to find +himself caught between two fires. +</P> + +<P> +Watching steadily, Peddler was unpleasantly surprised to see the +perturbation in the bear's eyes slowly change into a savage +resentment—resentment at being baulked in his inalienable right to an +unopposed passage over the ledge. To the bear's mind that grim, +confronting face was a violation of the law which he himself obeyed +loyally and without question. To be sure, it was the face of man, and +therefore to be dreaded. It was also mysterious, and therefore still +more to be dreaded. But the sense of bitter injustice, with the +realization that he was at bay and taken at a disadvantage, filled him +with a frightened rage which swamped all other emotion. Then he came +on. +</P> + +<P> +His advance was slow and cautious by reason of the difficulty of the +path and his dread lest that staring, motionless face should pounce +upon him just at the perilous turn and hurl him over the brink. But +Peddler knew that his bluff was called, and that his only chance was to +avoid the encounter. He might have fled by the way he had come, +knowing that he would have every advantage in speed on that narrow +trail. But before venturing up to the turn he had noted a number of +little projections and crevices in the perpendicular wall above him. +Clutching at them with fingers of steel and unerring toes, he swarmed +upwards as nimbly as a climbing cat. He was a dozen feet up before the +bear came crawling and peering around the turn. +</P> + +<P> +Elated at having so well extricated himself from so dubious a +situation, Peddler gazed down upon his opponent and laughed mockingly. +The sound of that confident laughter from straight above his head +seemed to daunt the bear and thoroughly damp his rage. He crouched +low, and scurried past growling. As he hurried along the trail at a +rash pace, he kept casting anxious glances over his shoulder, as if he +feared the man were going to chase him. Peddler lowered himself from +his friendly perch and continued his journey, cursing himself more than +ever for having been such a fool as not to bring his rifle. +</P> + +<P> +In the course of the next half-hour he gained the highest point of the +ledge, which here was so broken and precarious that he had little +attention to spare for the unparalleled sweep and splendour of the +view. He was conscious, however, all the time, of the whirling eagles, +now far below him, and his veins thrilled with intense exhilaration. +His apprehensions had all vanished under the stimulus of that tonic +atmosphere. He was on the constant watch, however, scanning not only +the trail ahead—which was now never visible for more than a hundred +yards or so at a time—and also the face of the rock above him, to see +if it could be scaled in an emergency. +</P> + +<P> +He had no expectation of an emergency, because he knew nothing of the +law of the ledge. Having already met a doe and a bear, he naturally +inferred that he would not be likely to meet any other of the elusive +kindreds of the wild, even in a whole week of forest faring. The shy +and wary beasts are not given to thrusting themselves upon man's +dangerous notice, and it was hard enough to find them, with all his +woodcraft, even when he was out to look for them. He was, therefore, +so surprised that he could hardly believe his eyes when, on rounding +another corrugation of the rock-face, he saw another bear coming to +meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" muttered Peddler to himself. "Who's been lettin' loose the +menagerie? Or hev I got the nightmare, mebbe?" +</P> + +<P> +The bear was about fifty yards distant—a smaller one than its +predecessor, and much younger also, as was obvious to Peddler's +initiated eye by the trim glossiness of its coat. It halted the +instant it caught sight of Peddler. But Peddler, for his part, kept +right on, without showing the least sign of hesitation or surprise. +This bear, surely, would give way before him. The beast hesitated, +however. It was manifestly afraid of the man. It backed a few paces, +whimpering in a worried fashion, then stopped, staring up the rock-wall +above it, as if seeking escape in that impossible direction. +</P> + +<P> +"If ye're so skeered o' me as ye look," demanded Peddler, in a crisp +voice, "why don't ye turn an' vamoose, 'stead o' backin' an' fillin' +that way? Ye can't git up that there rock, 'less ye're a fly!" +</P> + +<P> +The ledge at that point was a comparatively wide and easy path, and the +bear at length, as if decided by the easy confidence of Peddler's +tones, turned and retreated. But it went off with such reluctance, +whimpering anxiously the while, that Peddler was forced to the +conclusion there must be something coming up the trail which it was +dreading to meet. At this idea Peddler was delighted, and hurried on +as closely as possible at the retreating animal's heels. The bear, he +reflected, would serve him as an excellent advance guard, protecting +him perfectly from surprise, and perhaps, if necessary, clearing the +way for him. He chuckled to himself as he realized the situation, and +the bear, catching the incomprehensible sound, glanced nervously over +its shoulder and hastened its retreat as well as the difficulties of +the path would allow. +</P> + +<P> +The trail was now descending rapidly, though irregularly, towards the +eastern plateau. The descent was broken by here and there a stretch of +comparatively level going, here and there a sharp though brief rise, +and at one point the ledge was cut across by a crevice some four feet +in width. As a jump, of course, it was nothing to Peddler; but in +spite of himself he took it with some trepidation, for the chasm looked +infinitely deep, and the footing on the other side narrow and +precarious. The bear, however, had seemed to take it quite carelessly, +almost in its stride, and Peddler, not to be outdone, assumed a similar +indifference. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long, however, before the enigma of the bear's reluctance to +retrace its steps was solved. The bear, with Peddler some forty or +fifty paces behind, was approaching one of those short steep rises +which broke the general descent. From the other side of the rise came +a series of heavy breathings and windy grunts. +</P> + +<P> +"Moose, by gum!" exclaimed Peddler. "Now, I'd like to know if all the +critters hev took it into their heads to cross Old Bald Face to-day!" +</P> + +<P> +The bear heard the gruntings also, and halted unhappily, glancing back +at Peddler. +</P> + +<P> +"Git on with it!" ordered Peddler sharply. And the bear, dreading man +more than moose, got on. +</P> + +<P> +The next moment a long, dark, ominous head, with massive, overhanging +lip and small angry eyes, appeared over the rise. Behind this +formidable head laboured up the mighty humped shoulders and then the +whole towering form of a moose-bull. Close behind him followed two +young cows and a yearling calf. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! I guess there's goin' to be some row!" muttered Peddler, and +cast his eyes up the rock-face, to look for a point of refuge in case +his champion should get the worst of it. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the bear the two cows and the yearling halted, and stood +staring, with big ears thrust forward anxiously, at the foe that barred +their path. But the arrogant old bull kept straight on, though slowly, +and with the wariness of the practised duellist. At this season of the +year his forehead wore no antlers, indeed, but in his great knife-edged +fore-hooves he possessed terrible weapons which he could wield with +deadly dexterity. Marking the confidence of his advance, Peddler grew +solicitous for his own champion, and stood motionless, dreading to +distract the bear's attention. +</P> + +<P> +But the bear, though frankly afraid to face man, whom he did not +understand, had no such misgivings in regard to moose. He knew how to +fight moose, and he had made more than one good meal, in his day, on +moose calf. He was game for the encounter. Reassured to see that the +man was not coming any nearer, and possibly even sensing instinctively +that the man was on his side in this matter, he crouched close against +the rock and waited, with one huge paw upraised, like a boxer on guard, +for the advancing bull to attack. +</P> + +<P> +He had not long to wait. +</P> + +<P> +The bull drew near very slowly, and with his head held high as if +intending to ignore his opponent. Peddler, watching intently, felt +some surprise at this attitude, even though he knew that the deadliest +weapon of a moose was its fore-hooves. He was wondering, indeed, if +the majestic beast expected to press past the bear without a battle, +and if the bear, on his part, would consent to this highly reasonable +arrangement. Then like a flash, without the slightest warning, the +bull whipped up one great hoof to the height of his shoulder and struck +at his crouching adversary. +</P> + +<P> +The blow was lightning swift, and with such power behind it that, had +it reached its mark, it would have settled the whole matter then and +there. But the bear's parry was equally swift. His mighty forearm +fended the stroke so that it hissed down harmlessly past his head and +clattered on the stone floor of the trail. At the same instant, before +the bull could recover himself for another such pile-driving blow, the +bear, who had been gathered up like a coiled spring, elongated his body +with all the force of his gigantic hindquarters, thrusting himself +irresistibly between his adversary and the face of the rock, and +heaving outwards. +</P> + +<P> +These were tactics for which the great bull had no precedent in all his +previous battles. He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean +over the brink. By a terrific effort he turned, captured a footing +upon the edge with his fore-hooves, and struggled frantically to drag +himself up again upon the ledge. But the bear's paw struck him a +crashing buffet straight between the wildly staring eyes. He fell +backwards, turning clean over, and went bouncing, in tremendous +sprawling curves, down into the abyss. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-014"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-014.jpg" ALT=""He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over the brink."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 462px"> +"He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over the brink." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Upon the defeat of their leader the two cows and the calf turned +instantly—which the ledge at their point was wide enough to +permit—and fled back down the trail at a pace which seemed to threaten +their own destruction. The bear followed more prudently, with no +apparent thought of trying to overtake them. And Pedler kept on behind +him, taking care, however, after this exhibition of his champion's +prowess, not to press him too closely. +</P> + +<P> +The fleeing herd soon disappeared from view. It seemed to have +effectually cleared the trail before it, for the curious procession of +the bear and Peddler encountered no further obstacles. +</P> + +<P> +After about an hour the lower slopes of the mountain were reached. The +ledge widened and presently broke up, with trails leading off here and +there among the foothills. At the first of these that appeared to +offer concealment the bear turned aside and vanished into a dense grove +of spruce with a haste which seemed to Peddler highly amusing in a +beast of such capacity and courage. He was well content, however, to +be so easily quit of his dangerous advance guard. +</P> + +<P> +"A durn good thing for me," he mused, "that that there b'ar never got +up the nerve to call my bluff, or I might 'a' been layin' now where +that onlucky old bull-moose is layin', with a lot o' flies crawlin' +over me!" +</P> + +<P> +And as he trudged along the now easy and ordinary trail, he registered +two discreet resolutions—first, that never again would he cross Old +Bald Face without his gun and his axe; and, second, that never again +would he cross Old Bald Face at all, unless he jolly well had to. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +II +<BR><BR> +THE EAGLE +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Eagle +</H3> + +<P> +He sat upon the very topmost perch under the open-work dome of his +spacious and lofty cage. This perch was one of three or four lopped +limbs jutting from a dead tree-trunk erected in the centre of the +cage—a perch far other than that great branch of thunder-blasted pine, +out-thrust from the seaward-facing cliff, whereon he had been wont to +sit in his own land across the ocean. +</P> + +<P> +He sat with his snowy, gleaming, flat-crowned head drawn back between +the dark shoulders of his slightly uplifted wings. His black and +yellow eyes, unwinking, bright and hard like glass, stared out from +under his overhanging brows with a kind of darting and defiant inquiry +quite unlike their customary expression of tameless despair. That dull +world outside the bars of his cage, that hated, gaping, inquisitive +world which he had ever tried to ignore by staring at the sun or gazing +into the deeps of sky overhead, how it had changed since yesterday! +The curious crowds, the gabbling voices were gone. Even the high +buildings of red brick or whitish-grey stone, beyond the iron palings +of the park, were going, toppling down with a slow, dizzy lurch, or +leaping suddenly into the air with a roar and a huge belch of brown and +orange smoke and scarlet flame. Here and there he saw men running +wildly. Here and there he saw other men lying quite still—sprawling, +inert shapes an the close-cropped grass, or the white asphalted walks, +or the tossed pavement of the street. He knew that these inert, +sprawling shapes were men, and that the men were dead; and the sight +filled his exile heart with triumph. Men were his enemies, his +gaolers, his opponents, and now at last—he knew not how—he was +tasting vengeance. The once smooth green turf around his cage was +becoming pitted with strange yellow-brown holes. These holes, he had +noticed, always appeared after a burst of terrific noise, and livid +flame, and coloured smoke, followed by a shower of clods and pebbles, +and hard fragments which sometimes flew right through his cage with a +vicious hum. There was a deadly force in these humming fragments. He +knew it, for his partner in captivity, a golden eagle of the Alps, had +been hit by one of them, and now lay dead on the littered floor below +him, a mere heap of bloody feathers. Certain of the iron bars of the +cage, too, had been struck and cut through, as neatly as his own hooked +beak would sever the paw of a rabbit. +</P> + +<P> +The air was full of tremendous crashing, buffeting sounds and sudden +fierce gusts, which forced him to tighten the iron grip of his talons +upon the perch. In the centre of the little park pond, some fifty feet +from his cage, clustered a panic-stricken knot of eight or ten fancy +ducks and two pairs of red-billed coot, all that remained of the flock +of water-birds which had formerly screamed and gabbled over the pool. +This little cluster was in a state of perpetual ferment, those on the +outside struggling to get into the centre, those on the inside striving +to keep their places. From time to time one or two on the outer ring +would dive under and force their way up in the middle of the press, +where they imagined themselves more secure. But presently they would +find themselves on the outside again, whereupon, in frantic haste, they +would repeat the manoeuvre. The piercing glance of the eagle took in +and dismissed this futile panic with immeasurable scorn. With like +scorn, too, he noted the three gaunt cranes which had been wont to +stalk so arrogantly among the lesser fowl and drive them from their +meals. These once domineering birds were now standing huddled, their +drooped heads close together, beneath a dense laurel thicket just +behind the cage, their long legs quaking at every explosion. +</P> + +<P> +Amid all this destroying tumult and flying death the eagle had no fear. +He was merely excited by it. If a fragment of shell sang past his +head, he never flinched, his level stare never even filmed or wavered. +The roar and crash, indeed, and the monstrous buffetings of tormented +air, seemed to assuage the long ache of his home-sickness. They +reminded him of the hurricane racing past his ancient pine, of the +giant waves shattering themselves with thunderous jar upon the cliff +below. From time to time, as if his nerves were straining with +irresistible exultation, he would lift himself to his full height, half +spread his wings, stretch forward his gleaming white neck, and give +utterance to a short, strident, yelping cry. Then he would settle back +upon his perch again, and resume his fierce contemplation of the ruin +that was falling on the city. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly an eleven-inch shell dropped straight in the centre of the +pool and exploded on the concrete bottom which underlay the mud. Half +the pool went up in the colossal eruption of blown flame and steam and +smoke. Even here on his perch the eagle found himself spattered and +drenched. When the shrunken surface of the pool had closed again over +the awful vortex, and the smoke had drifted off to join itself to the +dark cloud which hung over the city, the little flock of ducks and coot +was nowhere to be seen. It simply was not. But a bleeding fragment of +flesh, with some purple-and-chestnut feathers clinging to it, lay upon +the bottom of the cage. This morsel caught the eagle's eye. He had +been forgotten for the past two days—the old one-legged keeper of the +cages having vanished—and he was ravenous with hunger. He hopped down +briskly to the floor, grabbed the morsel, and gulped it. Then he +looked around hopefully for more. There were no more such opportune +tit-bits within the cage, but just outside he saw the half of a big +carp, which had been torn in twain by a caprice of the explosion and +tossed up here upon the grass. This was just such a morsel as he was +craving. He thrust one great talon out between the bars and clutched +at the prize. But it was beyond his reach. Disappointed, he tried the +other claw, balancing himself on one leg with widespread wings. +Stretch and struggle as he would, it was all in vain. The fish lay too +far off. Then he tried reaching through the bars with his head. He +elongated his neck till he almost thought he was a heron, and till his +great beak was snapping hungrily within an inch or two of the prize. +But not a hair's-breadth closer could he get. At last, in a cold fury, +he gave it up, and drew back, and shook himself to rearrange the much +dishevelled feathers of his neck. +</P> + +<P> +Just at this moment, while he was still on the floor of the cage, a +high-velocity shell came by. With its flat trajectory it passed just +overhead, swept the dome of the cage clean out of existence, and +whizzed onwards to explode, with a curious grunting crash, some +hundreds of yards beyond. The eagle looked up and gazed for some +seconds before realizing that his prison was no longer a prison. The +path was clear above him to the free spaces of the air. But he was in +no unseemly haste. His eye measured accurately the width of the exit, +and saw that it was awkwardly narrow for his great spread of wing. He +could not essay it directly from the ground, his quarters being too +straitened for free flight. Hopping upwards from limb to limb of the +roosting-tree, he regained the topmost perch, and found that, though +split by a stray splinter of the cage, it was still able to bear his +weight. From this point he sprang straight upwards, with one beat of +his wings. But the wing-tips struck violently against each side of the +opening, and he was thrown back with such force that only by a furious +flopping and struggle could he regain his footing on the perch. +</P> + +<P> +After this unexpected rebuff he sat quiet for perhaps half a minute, +staring fixedly at the exit. He was not going to fail again through +misjudgment. The straight top of the roosting-tree extended for about +three feet above his perch, but this extension being of no use to him, +he had never paid any heed to it hitherto. Now, however, he marked it +with new interest. It was close below the hole in the roof. He +flopped up to it, balanced himself for a second, and once more sprang +for the opening, but this time with a short, convulsive beat of wings +only half spread. The leap carried him almost through, but not far +enough for him to get another stroke of his wings. Clutching out +wildly with stretched talons, he succeeded in catching the end of a +broken bar. Desperately he clung to it, resisting the natural impulse +to help himself by flapping his wings. Reaching out with his beak, he +gripped another bar, and so steadied himself till he could gain a +foothold with both talons. Then slowly, like a dog getting over a +wall, he dragged himself forth, and stood at last free on the outer +side of the bars which had been so long his prison. +</P> + +<P> +But the first thing he thought of was not freedom. It was fish. For +perhaps a dozen seconds he gazed about him majestically, and scanned +with calm the toppling and crashing world. Then spreading his splendid +wings to their fullest extent, with no longer any fear of them striking +against iron bars, he dropped down to the grass beside the cage and +clutched the body of the slain carp. He was no more than just in time, +for a second later a pair of mink, released from their captivity in +perhaps the same way as he had been, came gliding furtively around the +base of the cage, intent upon the same booty. He turned his head over +his shoulder and gave them one look, then fell to tearing and gulping +his meal as unconcernedly as if the two savage little beasts had been +field mice. The mink stopped short, flashed white fangs at him in a +soundless snarl of hate, and whipped about to forage in some more +auspicious direction. +</P> + +<P> +When the eagle had finished his meal—which took him, indeed, scarcely +more time than takes to tell of it—he wiped his great beak +meticulously on the turf. While he was doing so, a shell burst so near +him that he was half smothered in dry earth. Indignantly he shook +himself, hopped a pace or two aside, ruffled up his feathers, and +proceeded to make his toilet as scrupulously as if no shells or sudden +death were within a thousand miles of him. +</P> + +<P> +The toilet completed to his satisfaction, he took a little flapping run +and rose into the air. He flew straight for the highest point within +his view, which chanced to be the slender, soaring spire of a church +somewhere about the centre of the city. As he mounted on a long slant, +he came into the level where most of the shells were travelling, for +their objective was not the little park with its "Zoo," but a line of +fortifications some distance beyond. Above, below, around him streamed +the terrible projectiles, whinnying or whistling, shrieking or roaring, +each according to its calibre and its type. It seemed a miracle that +he should come through that zone unscathed; but his vision was so +powerful and all-embracing, his judgment of speed and distance so +instantaneous and unerring, that he was able to avoid, without apparent +effort, all but the smallest and least visible shells, and these +latter, by the favour of Fate, did not come his way. He was more +annoyed, indeed, by certain volleys of debris which occasionally +spouted up at him with a disagreeable noise, and by the evil-smelling +smoke clouds, which came volleying about him without any reason that he +could discern. He flapped up to a higher level to escape these +annoyances, and so found himself above the track of the shells. Then +he made for the church spire, and perched himself upon the tip of the +great weather-vane. It was exactly what he wanted—a lofty observation +post from which to view the country round about before deciding in +which direction he would journey. +</P> + +<P> +From this high post he noticed that, while he was well above one zone +of shells, there was still another zone of them screaming far overhead. +These projectiles of the upper strata of air were travelling in the +opposite direction. He marked that they came from a crowded line of +smoke-bursts and blinding flashes just beyond the boundary of the city. +He decided that, upon resuming his journey, he would fly at the present +level, and so avoid traversing again either of the zones of death. +</P> + +<P> +Much to his disappointment, he found that his present observation post +did not give him as wide a view as he had hoped for. The city of his +captivity, he now saw, was set upon the loop of a silver stream in the +centre of a saucer-like valley. In every direction his view was +limited by low, encircling hills. Along one sector of this +circuit—that from which the shells of the lower stratum seemed to him +to be issuing—the hill-rim and the slopes below it were fringed with +vomiting smoke-clouds and biting spurts of fire. This did not, +however, influence in the least his choice of the direction in which to +journey. Instinct, little by little, as he sat there on the slowly +veering vane, was deciding that point for him. His gaze was fixing +itself more and more towards the north, or, rather, the north-west; for +something seemed to whisper in his heart that there was where he would +find the wild solitudes which he longed for. The rugged and +mist-wreathed peaks of Scotland or North Wales, though he knew them +not, were calling to him in his new-found freedom. +</P> + +<P> +The call, however, was not yet strong enough to be determining, so, +having well fed and being beyond measure content with his liberty, he +lingered on his skyey perch and watched the crash of the opposing +bombardments. The quarter of the town immediately beneath him had so +far suffered little from the shells, and the church showed no signs of +damage except for one gaping hole in the roof. But along the line of +the fortifications there seemed to be but one gigantic boiling of smoke +and flames, with continual spouting fountains of debris. This +inexplicable turmoil held his interest for a few moments. Then, while +he was wondering what it all meant, an eleven-inch shell struck the +church spire squarely about thirty feet below him. +</P> + +<P> +The explosion almost stunned him. The tip of the spire—with the +weather-cock, and the eagle still clinging to it—went rocketing +straight up into the air amid a stifling cloud of black smoke, while +the rest of the structure, down to a dozen feet below the point of +impact, was blown to the four winds. Half stunned though he was, the +amazed bird kept his wits about him, and clutched firmly to his flying +perch till it reached the end of its flight and turned to fall. Then +he spread his wings wide and let go. The erratic mass of wood and +metal dropped away, and left him floating, half-blinded, in the heart +of the smoke-cloud. A couple of violent wing-beats, however, carried +him clear of the cloud; and at once he shaped his course upwards, as +steeply as he could mount, smitten with a sudden desire for the calm +and the solitude which were associated in his memory with the uppermost +deeps of air. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-112"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-112.jpg" ALT=""Then he spread his wings wide and let go."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 480px"> +"Then he spread his wings wide and let go." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The fire from the city batteries had just now slackened for a little, +and the great bird's progress carried him through the higher shell zone +without mishap. In a minute or two he was far above those strange +flocks which flew so straight and swift, and made such incomprehensible +noises in their flight. Presently, too, he was above the smoke, the +very last wisps of it having thinned off into the clear, dry air. He +now began to find that he had come once more into his own peculiar +realm, the realm of the upper sky, so high that, as he thought, no +other living creature could approach him. He arrested his ascent, and +began to circle slowly on still wings, surveying the earth. +</P> + +<P> +But now he received, for the first time, a shock. Hitherto the most +astounding happenings had failed to startle him, but now a pang of +something very like fear shot through his stout heart. A little to +southward of the city he saw a vast pale-yellow elongated form rising +swiftly, without any visible effort, straight into the sky. Had he +ever seen a sausage, he would have thought that this yellow monster was +shaped like one. Certain fine cords descended from it, reaching all +the way to the earth, and below its middle hung a basket, with a man in +it. It rose to a height some hundreds of feet beyond the level on +which the eagle had been feeling himself supreme. Then it came to +rest, and hung there, swaying slowly in the mild wind. +</P> + +<P> +His apprehension speedily giving way to injured pride, the eagle flew +upwards, in short, steep spirals, as fast as his wings could drive him. +Not till he could once more look down upon the fat back of the +glistening yellow monster did he regain his mood of unruffled calm. +But he regained it only to have it stripped from him, a minute later, +with tenfold lack of ceremony. For far above him—so high that even +his undaunted wings would never venture thither—he heard a fierce and +terrible humming sound. He saw something like a colossal bird—or +rather, it was more suggestive of a dragonfly than a bird—speeding +towards him with never a single beat of its vast, pale wings. Its +speed was appalling. The eagle was afraid, but not with any foolish +panic. He knew that even as a sparrow would be to him, so would he be +to this unheard-of sovereign of the skies. Therefore it was possible +the sovereign of the skies would ignore him and seek a more worthy +opponent. Yes, it was heading towards the giant sausage. And the +sausage, plainly, had no stomach for the encounter. It seemed to +shrink suddenly; and with sickening lurches it began to descend, as if +strong hands were tugging upon the cords which anchored it to earth. +The eagle winged off modestly to one side, but not far enough to miss +anything of the stupendous encounter which he felt was coming. Here, +at last, were events of a strangeness and a terror to move even his +cool spirit out of its indifference. +</P> + +<P> +Now the giant insect was near enough for the eagle to mark that it had +eyes on the under-sides of its wings—immense, round, coloured eyes of +red and white and blue. Its shattering hum shook the eagle's nerves, +steady and seasoned though they were. Slanting slightly downwards, it +darted straight toward the sausage, which was now wallowing fatly in +its convulsive efforts to descend. At the same time the eagle caught +sight of another of the giant birds, or insects, somewhat different in +shape and colour from the first, darting up from the opposite +direction. Was it, too, he wondered, coming to attack the terrified +sausage, or to defend it? +</P> + +<P> +Before he could find an answer to this exciting question, the first +monster had arrived directly above the sausage and was circling over it +at some height, glaring down upon it with those great staring eyes of +its wings. Something struck the sausage fairly in the back. +Instantly, with a tremendous windy roar, the sausage vanished in a +sheet of flame. The monster far above it rocked and plunged in the +uprush of tormented air, the waves of which reached even to where the +eagle hung poised, and forced him to flap violently in order to keep +his balance against them. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the second monster arrived. The eagle saw at once +that the two were enemies. The first dived headlong at the second, +spitting fire, with a loud and dreadful rap-rap-rapping noise, from its +strange blunt muzzle. The two circled around each other, and over and +under each other, at a speed which made even the eagle dizzy with +amazement; and he saw that it was something more deadly than fire which +spurted from their blunt snouts; for every now and then small things, +which travelled too fast for him to see, twanged past him with a +vicious note which he knew for the voice of death. He edged discreetly +farther away. Evidently this battle of the giants was dangerous to +spectators. His curiosity was beginning to get sated. He was on the +point of leaving the danger area altogether, when the dreadful duel +came suddenly to an end. He saw the second monster plunge drunkenly, +in wild, ungoverned lurches, and then drop head first, down, down, +down, straight as a stone, till it crashed into the earth and instantly +burst into flame. He saw the great still eyes of the victor staring +down inscrutably upon the wreck of its foe. Then he saw it whirl +sharply—tilting its rigid wings at so steep an angle that it almost +seemed about to overturn—and dart away again in the direction from +which it had come. He saw the reason for this swift departure. A +flock of six more monsters, of the breed of the one just slain, came +sweeping up from the south to take vengeance for their comrade's defeat. +</P> + +<P> +The eagle had no mind to await them. He had had enough of wonders, and +the call in his heart had suddenly grown clear and intelligible. +Mounting still upward till he felt the air growing thin beneath his +wing-beats, he headed northwards as fast as he could fly. He had no +more interest now in the amazing panorama which unrolled beneath him, +in the thundering and screaming flights of shell which sped past in the +lower strata of the air. He was intent only upon gaining the wild +solitudes of which he dreamed. He marked others of the monsters which +he so dreaded, journeying sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks, but +always with the same implacable directness of flight, always with that +angry and menacing hum which, of all the sounds he had ever heard, +alone had power to shake his bold heart. He noticed that sometimes the +sky all about these monsters would be filled with sudden bursts of +fleecy cloud, looking soft as wool; and once he saw one of these +apparently harmless clouds burst full on the nose of one of the +monsters, which instantly flew apart and went hurtling down to earth in +revolving fragments. But he was no longer curious. He gave them all +as wide a berth as possible, and sped on, without delaying to note +their triumphs or their defeats. +</P> + +<P> +At last the earth grew green again below him. The monsters, the smoke, +the shells, the flames, the thunders, were gradually left behind, and +far ahead at last he saw the sea, flashing gold and sapphire beneath +the summer sun. Soon—for he flew swiftly—it was almost beneath him. +His heart exulted at the sight. Then across that stretch of gleaming +tide he saw a dim line of cliffs—white cliffs, such cliffs as he +desired. +</P> + +<P> +But at this point, when he was so near his goal, that Fate which had +always loved to juggle with him decided to show him a new one of her +tricks. Two more monsters appeared, diving steeply from the blue above +him. One was pursuing the other. Quite near him the pursuer overtook +its quarry, and the two spat fire at each other with that strident +rap-rap-rapping sound which he so disliked. He swerved as wide as +possible from the path of their terrible combat, and paid no heed to +its outcome. But, as he fled, something struck him near the tip of his +left wing. +</P> + +<P> +The shock went through him like a needle of ice or fire, and he +dropped, leaving a little cloud of feathers in the air above to settle +slowly after him. He turned once completely over as he fell. But +presently; with terrific effort, he succeeded in regaining a partial +balance. He could no longer fully support himself, still less continue +his direct flight; but he managed to keep on an even keel and to delay +his fall. He knew that to drop into the sea below him was certain +death. But he had marked that the sea was dotted with peculiar-looking +ships—long, narrow, dark ships—which travelled furiously, vomiting +black smoke and carrying a white mass of foam in their teeth, +Supporting himself, with the last ounce of his strength, till one of +these rushing ships was just about to pass below him, he let himself +drop, and landed sprawling on the deck. +</P> + +<P> +Half stunned though he was, he recovered himself almost instantly, +clawed up to his feet, steadied himself with one outstretched wing +against the pitching of the deck, and defied, with hard, undaunted eye +and threatening beak, a tall figure in blue, white-capped and +gold-braided, which stood smiling down upon him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove," exclaimed Sub-Lieutenant James Smith, "here's luck: Uncle +Sam's own chicken, which he's sent us as a mascot till his ships can +get over and take a hand in the game with us: Delighted to see you, old +bird: You've come to the right spot, you have, and we'll do the best we +can to make you comfortable." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +III +<BR><BR> +COCK-CROW +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Cock-Crow +</H3> + +<P> +He was a splendid bird, a thoroughbred "Black-breasted Red" game-cock, +his gorgeous plumage hard as mail, silken with perfect condition, and +glowing like a flame against the darkness of the spruce forest. His +snaky head—the comb and wattles had been trimmed close, after the mode +laid down for his aristocratic kind—was sharp and keen, like a living +spearpoint. His eyes were fierce and piercing, ready ever to meet the +gaze of bird, or beast, or man himself with the unwinking challenge of +their full, arrogant stare. Perched upon a stump a few yards from the +railway line, he turned that bold stare now, with an air of unperturbed +superciliousness, upon the wreck of the big freight-car from which he +had just escaped. He had escaped by a miracle, but little effect had +that upon his bold and confident spirit. The ramshackle, overladen +freight train, labouring up the too-steep gradient, had broken in two, +thanks to a defective coupler, near the top of the incline a mile and a +half away. The rear cars—heavy box-cars—had, of course, run back, +gathering a terrific momentum as they went. The rear brakeman, his +brakes failing to hold, had discreetly jumped before the speed became +too great. At the foot of the incline a sharp curve had proved too +much for the runaways to negotiate. With a screech of tortured metal +they had jumped the track and gone crashing down the high embankment. +One car, landing on a granite boulder, had split apart like a cleft +melon. The light crate in which our game-cock, a pedigree bird, was +being carried to a fancier in the nearest town, some three score miles +away, had survived by its very lightness. But its door had been +snapped open. The cock walked out deliberately, uttered a long, low +<I>krr-rr-ee</I> of ironic comment upon the disturbance, hopped delicately +over the tangle of boxes and crates and agricultural implements, and +flew to the top of the nearest stump. There he shook himself, his +plumage being disarrayed, though his spirit was not. He flapped his +wings. Then, eyeing the wreckage keenly, he gave a shrill, triumphant +crow, which rang through the early morning stillness of the forest like +a challenge. He felt that the smashed car, so lately his prison, was a +foe which he had vanquished by his own unaided prowess. His pride was +not altogether unnatural. +</P> + +<P> +The place where he stood, preening the red glory of his plumage, was in +the very heart of the wilderness. The only human habitation within a +dozen miles in either direction was a section-man's shanty, guarding a +siding and a rusty water tank. The woods—mostly spruce in that +region, with patches of birch and poplar—had been gone over by the +lumbermen some five years before, and still showed the ravages of the +insatiable axe. Their narrow "tote-roads," now deeply mossed and +partly overgrown by small scrub, traversed the lonely spaces in every +direction. One of these roads led straight back into the wilderness +from the railway—almost from the stump whereon the red cock had his +perch. +</P> + +<P> +The cock had no particular liking for the neighbourhood of the +accident, and when his fierce, inquiring eye fell upon this road, he +decided to investigate, hoping it might lead him to some flock of his +own kind, over whom he would, as a matter of course, promptly establish +his domination. That there would be other cocks there, already in +charge, only added to his zest for the adventure. He was raising his +wings to hop down from his perch, when a wide-winged shadow passed over +him, and he checked himself, glancing upwards sharply. +</P> + +<P> +A foraging hawk had just flown overhead. The hawk had never before +seen a bird like the bright figure standing on the stump, and he paused +in his flight, hanging for a moment on motionless wing to scrutinize +the strange apparition. But he was hungry, and he considered himself +more than a match for anything in feathers except the eagle, the +goshawk, and the great horned owl. His hesitation was but for a +second, and, with a sudden mighty thrust of his wide wings, he swooped +down upon this novel victim. +</P> + +<P> +The big hawk was accustomed to seeing every quarry he stooped at cower +paralysed with terror or scurry for shelter in wild panic. But, to his +surprise, this infatuated bird on the stump stood awaiting him, with +wings half lifted, neck feathers raised in defiant ruff, and one eye +cocked upwards warily. He was so surprised, in fact, that at a +distance of some dozen or fifteen feet he wavered and paused in his +downward rush. But it was surprise only, fear having small place in +his wild, marauding heart. In the next second he swooped again and +struck downwards at his quarry with savage, steel-hard talons. +</P> + +<P> +He struck but empty air. At exactly the right fraction of the instant +the cock had leapt upwards on his powerful wings, lightly as a +thistle-seed, but swift as if shot from a catapult. He passed straight +over his terrible assailant's back. In passing he struck downwards +with his spurs, which were nearly three inches long, straight, and +tapered almost to a needle-point. One of these deadly weapons found +its mark, as luck would have it, fair in the joint of the hawk's +shoulder, putting the wing clean out of action. +</P> + +<P> +The marauder turned completely over and fell in a wild flutter to the +ground, the cock, at the same time, alighting gracefully six or eight +feet away and wheeling like a flash to meet a second attack. The hawk, +recovering with splendid nerve from the amazing shock of his overthrow, +braced himself upright on his tail by the aid of the one sound +wing—the other wing trailing helplessly—and faced his strange +adversary with open beak and one clutching talon uplifted. +</P> + +<P> +The cock, fighting after the manner of his kind, rushed in to within a +couple of feet of his foe and there paused, balanced for the next +stroke or parry, legs slightly apart, wings lightly raised, neck +feathers ruffed straight out, beak lowered and presented like a rapier +point. Seeing that his opponent made no demonstration, but simply +waited, watching him with eyes as hard and bright and dauntless as his +own, he tried to provoke him to a second attack. With scornful +insolence he dropped his guard and pecked at a twig or a grass blade, +jerking the unconsidered morsel aside and presenting his point again +with lightning swiftness. +</P> + +<P> +The insult, however, was lost upon the hawk, who had no knowledge of +the cock's duelling code. He simply waited, motionless as the stump +beside him. +</P> + +<P> +The cock, perceiving that taunt and insolence were wasted, now began to +circle warily toward the left, as if to take his opponent in the flank. +The hawk at once shifted front to face him. But this was the side of +his disabled wing. The sprawling member would not move, would not get +out of the way. In the effort to manage it, he partly lost his +precarious balance. The cock saw his advantage instantly. He dashed +in like a feathered and flaming thunderbolt, leaping upwards and +striking downwards with his destroying heels. The hawk was hurled over +backwards, with one spur through his throat, the other through his +lungs. As he fell he dragged his conqueror down with him, and one +convulsive but blindly-clutching talon ripped away a strip of flesh and +feathers from the victor's thigh. There was a moment's flapping, a few +delicate red feathers floated off upon the morning air, then the hawk +lay quite still, and the red cock, stepping haughtily off the body of +his foe, crowed long and shrill, three times, as if challenging any +other champions of the wilderness to come and dare a like fate. +</P> + +<P> +For a few minutes he stood waiting and listening for an answer to his +challenge. As no answer came, he turned, without deigning to glance at +his slain foe, and stalked off, stepping daintily, up the old wood-road +and into the depths of the forest. To the raw, red gash in his thigh +he paid no heed whatever. +</P> + +<P> +Having no inkling of the fact that the wilderness, silent and deserted +though it seemed, was full of hostile eyes and unknown perils, he took +no care at all for the secrecy of his going. Indeed, had he striven +for concealment, his brilliant colouring, so out of key with the forest +gloom, would have made it almost impossible. Nevertheless, his +keenness of sight and hearing, his practised and unsleeping vigilance +as protector of his flock, stood him in good stead, and made up for his +lack of wilderness lore. It was with an intense interest and +curiosity, rather than with any apprehension, that his bold eyes +questioned everything on either side of his path through the dark +spruce woods. Sometimes he would stop to peck the bright vermilion +bunches of the pigeon-berry, which here and there starred the hillocks +beside the road. But no matter how interesting he found the novel and +delicious fare, his vigilance never relaxed. It was, indeed, almost +automatic. The idea lurking in his subconscious processes was probably +that he might at any moment be seen by some doughty rival of his own +kind, and challenged to the great game of mortal combat. But whatever +the object of his watchfulness, it served him as well against the +unknown as it could have done against expected foes. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he came to a spot where an old, half-rotted stump had been +torn apart by a bear hunting for wood-ants. The raw earth about the +up-torn roots tempted the wanderer to scratch for grubs. Finding a fat +white morsel, much too dainty to be devoured alone, he stood over it +and began to call <I>kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt,</I> in his most alluring +tones, hoping that some coy young hen would come stealing out of the +underbrush in response to his gallant invitation. There was no such +response; but as he peered about hopefully, he caught sight of a +sinister, reddish-yellow shape creeping towards him behind the shelter +of a withe-wood bush. He gulped down the fat grub, and stood warily +eyeing the approach of this new foe. +</P> + +<P> +It looked to him like a sharp-nosed, bushy-tailed yellow dog—a very +savage and active one. He was not afraid, but he knew himself no match +for a thoroughly ferocious dog of that size. This one, it was clear, +had evil designs upon him. He half crouched, with wings loosed and +every muscle tense for the spring. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant the fox pounced at him, darting through the green +edges of the withe-wood bush with most disconcerting suddenness. The +cock sprang into the air, but only just in time, for the fox, leaping +up nimbly at him with snapping jaws, captured a mouthful of glossy fail +feathers. The cock alighted on a branch overhead, some seven or eight +feet from the ground, whipped around, stretched his neck downwards, and +eyed his assailant with a glassy stare. "<I>Kr-rr-rr-eee?</I>" he murmured +softly, as if in sarcastic interrogation. The fox, exasperated at his +failure, and hating, above all beasts, to be made a fool of, glanced +around to see if there were any spectators. Then, with an air of +elaborate indifference, he pawed a feather from the corner of his mouth +and trotted away as if he had just remembered something. +</P> + +<P> +He had not gone above thirty yards or so, when the cock flew down again +to the exact spot where he had been scratching. He pretended to pick +up another grub, all the time keeping an eye on the retiring foe. He +crowed with studied insolence; but the fox, although that long and +shrill defiance must have seemed a startling novelty, gave no sign of +having heard it. The cock crowed again, with the same lack of result. +He kept on crowing until the fox was out of sight. Then he returned +coolly to his scratching. When he had satisfied his appetite for fat +white grubs, he flew up again to his safe perch and fell to preening +his feathers. Five minutes later the fox reappeared, creeping up with +infinite stealth from quite another direction. The cock, however, +detected his approach at once, and proclaimed the fact with another +mocking crow. Disgusted and abashed, the fox turned in his tracks and +crept away to stalk some less sophisticated quarry. +</P> + +<P> +The wanderer, for all his fearlessness, was wise. He suspected that +the vicious yellow dog with the bushy tail might return yet again to +the charge. For a time, therefore, he sat on his perch, digesting his +meal and studying with keen, inquisitive eyes his strange surroundings. +After ten minutes or so of stillness and emptiness, the forest began to +come alive. He saw a pair of black-and-white woodpeckers running up +and down the trunk of a half-dead tree, and listened with tense +interest to their loud rat-tat-tattings. He watched the shy wood-mice +come out from their snug holes under the tree-roots, and play about +with timorous gaiety and light rustlings among the dead leaves. He +scrutinized with appraising care a big brown rabbit which came bounding +in a leisurely fashion down the tote-road and sat up on its +hindquarters near the stump, staring about with its mild, bulging eyes, +and waving its long ears this way and that, to question every minutest +wilderness sound; and he decided that the rabbit, for all its bulk and +apparent vigour of limb, would not be a dangerous opponent. In fact, +he thought of hopping down from his perch and putting the big innocent +to flight, just to compensate himself for having had to flee from the +fox. +</P> + +<P> +But while he was meditating this venture, the rabbit went suddenly +leaping off at a tremendous pace, evidently in great alarm. A few +seconds later a slim little light-brownish creature, with short legs, +long, sinuous body, short, triangular head, and cruel eyes that glowed +like fire, came into view, following hard upon the rabbit's trail. It +was nothing like half the rabbit's size, but the interested watcher on +the branch overhead understood at once the rabbit's terror. He had +never seen a weasel before, but he knew that the sinuous little beast +with the eyes of death would be as dangerous almost as the fox. He +noted that here was another enemy to look out for—to be avoided, if +possible, to be fought with the utmost wariness if fighting should be +forced upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Not long after the weasel had vanished, the cock grew tired of waiting, +and restless to renew the quest for the flock on which his dreams were +set. He started by flying from tree to tree, still keeping along the +course of the tote-road. But after he had covered perhaps a half-mile +in this laborious fashion, he gave it up and hopped down again into the +road. Here he went now with new caution, but with the same old +arrogance of eye and bearing. He went quickly, however, for the gloom +of the spruce wood had grown oppressive to him, and he wanted open +fields and the unrestricted sun. +</P> + +<P> +He had not gone far when he caught sight of a curious-looking animal +advancing slowly down the path to meet him. It was nearly as big as +the rabbit, but low on the legs; and instead of leaping along, it +crawled with a certain heavy deliberation. Its colour was a dingy, +greyish black-and-white, and its short black head was crowned with what +looked like a heavy iron-grey pompadour brushed well back. The cock +stood still, eyeing its approach suspiciously. It did not look capable +of any very swift demonstration, but he was on his guard. +</P> + +<P> +When it had come within three or four yards of him, he said +"<I>Kr-rr-rr-eee!</I>" sharply, just to see what it would do, at the same +time lowering his snaky head and ruffing out his neck feathers in +challenge. The stranger seemed then to notice him for the first time, +and instantly, to the cock's vast surprise, it enlarged itself to fully +twice its previous size. Its fur, which was now seen to be quills +rather than fur, stood up straight on end all over its head and body, +and the quills were two or three inches in length. At this amazing +spectacle the cock involuntarily backed away several paces. The +stranger came straight on, however, without hastening his deliberate +steps one jot. The cock waited, maintaining his attitude of challenge, +till not more than three or four feet separated him from the +incomprehensible apparition. Then he sprang lightly over it and turned +in a flash, expecting the stranger to turn also and again confront him. +The stranger, however, did nothing of the kind, but simply continued +stolidly on his way, not even troubling to look round. Such stolidity +was more than the cock could understand, having never encountered a +porcupine before. He stared after it for some moments. Then he crowed +scornfully, turned about, and resumed his lonely quest. +</P> + +<P> +A little farther on, to his great delight, he came out into a small +clearing with a log cabin in the centre of it. A house! It was +associated in his mind with an admiring, devoted flock of hens, and +rivals to be ignominiously routed, and harmless necessary humans whose +business it was to supply unlimited food. He rushed forward eagerly, +careless as to whether he should encounter love or war. +</P> + +<P> +Alas, the cabin was deserted! Even to his inexperienced eye it was +long deserted. The door hung on one hinge, half open; the one small +window had no glass in it. Untrodden weeds grew among the rotting +chips up to and across the threshold. The roof—a rough affair of +poles and bark—sagged in the middle, just ready to fall in at the +smallest provocation. A red squirrel, his tail carried jauntily over +his back, sat on the topmost peak of it and shrilled high derision at +the wanderer as he approached. +</P> + +<P> +The cock was acquainted with squirrels, and thought less than nothing +of them. Ignoring the loud chatter, he tip-toed around the cabin, +dejected but still inquisitive. Returning at length to the doorway, he +peered in, craning his neck and uttering a low <I>kr-rr</I>. Finally, with +head held high, he stalked in. The place was empty, save for a long +bench with a broken leg and a joint of rust-eaten stove-pipe. Along +two of the walls ran a double tier of bunks, in which the lumbermen had +formerly slept. The cock stalked all around the place, prying in every +corner and murmuring softly to himself. At last he flew up to the +highest bunk, perched upon the edge of it, flapped his wings, and +crowed repeatedly, as if announcing to the wilderness at large that he +had taken possession. This ceremony accomplished, he flew down again, +stalked out into the sunlight, and fell to scratching among the chips +with an air of assured possession. And all the while the red squirrel +kept on hurling shrill, unheeded abuse at him, resenting him as an +intruder in the wilds. +</P> + +<P> +Whenever the cock found a particularly choice grub or worm or beetle, +he would hold it aloft in his beak, then lay it down and call loudly +<I>kt-kt-kt-kt-kt-kt</I>, as if hoping thus to lure some flock of hens to +the fair domain which he had seized. He had now dropped his quest, and +was trusting that his subjects would come to him. That afternoon his +valiant calls caught the ear of a weasel—possibly the very one which +he had seen in the morning trailing the panic-stricken rabbit. The +weasel came rushing upon him at once, too ferocious in its blood-lust +for any such emotions as surprise or curiosity, and expecting an easy +conquest. The cock saw it coming, and knew well the danger. But he +was now on his own ground, responsible for the protection of an +imaginary flock. He faced the peril unwavering. Fortunately for him, +the weasel had no idea whatever of a fighting-cock's method of warfare. +When the cock evaded the deadly rush by leaping straight at it and over +it, instead of dodging aside or turning tail, the weasel was nonplussed +for just a fraction of a second, and stood snarling. In that instant +of hesitation the cock's keen spur struck it fairly behind the ear, and +drove clean into the brain. The murderous little beast stiffened out, +rolled gently over upon its side, and lay there with the soundless +snarl fixed upon its half-opened jaws. Surprised at such an easy +victory, the cock spurred the carcase again, just to make sure of it. +Then he kicked it to one side, crowed, of course, and stared around +wistfully for some appreciation of his triumph. He could not know with +what changed eyes the squirrel—who feared weasels more than anything +else on earth—was now regarding him. +</P> + +<P> +The killing of so redoubtable an adversary as the weasel must have +become known, in some mysterious fashion, for thenceforward no more of +the small marauders of the forest ventured to challenge the new +lordship of the clearing. For a week the cock ruled his solitude +unquestioned, very lonely, but sleeplessly alert, and ever hoping that +followers of his own kind would come to him from somewhere. In time, +doubtless, his loneliness would have driven him forth again upon his +quest; but Fate had other things in store for him. +</P> + +<P> +Late one afternoon a grizzled woodsman in grey homespun, and carrying a +bundle swung from the axe over his shoulder, came striding up to the +cabin. The cock, pleased to see a human being once more, stalked forth +from the cabin door to meet him. The woodsman was surprised at the +sight of what he called a "reel barn-yard rooster" away off here in the +wilds, but he was too tired and hungry to consider the question +carefully. His first thought was that there would be a pleasant +addition to his supper of bacon and biscuits. He dropped his axe and +bundle, and made a swift grab at the unsuspecting bird. The latter +dodged cleverly, ruffed his neck feathers with an angry <I>kr-rr-rr</I>, +hopped up, and spurred the offending hand severely. +</P> + +<P> +The woodsman straightened himself up, taken by surprise, and sheepishly +shook the blood from his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be durned!" he muttered, eyeing the intrepid cock with +admiration. "You're some rooster, you are! I guess you're all right. +Guess I deserved that, for thinkin' of wringin' the neck o' sech a +handsome an' gritty bird as you, an' me with plenty o' good bacon in me +pack. Guess we'll call it square, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +He felt in his pocket for some scraps of biscuits, and tossed them to +the cock, who picked them up greedily and then strutted around him, +plainly begging for more. The biscuit was a delightful change after an +unvarying diet of grubs and grass. Thereafter he followed his visitor +about like his shadow, not with servility, of course, but with a +certain condescending arrogance which the woodsman found hugely amusing. +</P> + +<P> +Just outside the cabin door the woodsman lit a fire to cook his evening +rasher and brew his tin of tea. The cock supped with him, striding +with dignity to pick up the scraps which were thrown to him, and then +resuming his place at the other side of the fire. By the time the man +was done, dusk had fallen; and the cock, chuckling contentedly in his +throat, tip-toed into the cabin, flew up to the top bunk, and settled +himself on his perch for the night. He had always been taught to +expect benefits from men, and he felt that this big stranger who had +fed him so generously would find him a flock to preside over on the +morrow. +</P> + +<P> +After a long smoke beside his dying fire, till the moon came up above +the ghostly solitude, the woodsman turned in to sleep in one of the +lower bunks, opposite to where the cock was roosting. He had heaped an +armful of bracken and spruce branches into the bunk before spreading +his blanket. And he slept very soundly. +</P> + +<P> +Even the most experienced of woodsmen may make a slip at times. This +one, this time, had forgotten to make quite sure that his fire was out. +There was no wind when he went to bed, but soon afterwards a wind +arose, blowing steadily toward the cabin. It blew the darkened embers +to a glow, and little, harmless-looking flames began eating their way +over the top layer of tinder-dry chips to the equally dry wall of the +cabin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The cock was awakened by a bright light in his eyes. A fiery glow, +beyond the reddest of sunrises, was flooding the cabin. Long tongues +of flame were licking about the doorway. He crowed valiantly, to greet +this splendid, blazing dawn. He crowed again and yet again, because he +was anxious and disturbed. As a sunrise, this one did not act at all +according to precedent. +</P> + +<P> +The piercing notes aroused the man, who was sleeping heavily. In one +instant he was out of his bunk and grabbing up his blanket and his +pack. In the next he had plunged out through the flaming doorway, and +thrown down his armful at a safe distance, cursing acidly at such a +disturbance to the most comfortable rest he had enjoyed for a week. +</P> + +<P> +From within the doomed cabin came once more the crow of the cock, +shrilling dauntlessly above the crackle and venomous hiss of the flames. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whizz!" muttered the woodsman, or, rather, that may be taken as +the polite equivalent of his untrammelled backwoods expletive. "That +there red rooster's game. Ye can't leave a pardner like that to roast!" +</P> + +<P> +With one arm shielding his face, he dashed in again, grabbed the cock +by the legs, and darted forth once more into the sweet, chill air, none +the worse except for frizzled eyelashes and an unceremonious trimming +of hair and beard. The cock, highly insulted, was flapping and pecking +savagely, but the man soon reduced him to impotence, if not submission, +holding him under one elbow while he tied his armed heels together, and +then swaddling him securely in his coat. +</P> + +<P> +"There," said he, "I guess we'll travel together from this out, +pardner. Ye've sure saved my life; an' to think I had the notion, for +a minnit, o' makin' a meal offen ye! I'll give ye a good home, +anyways, an' I guess ye'll lick the socks offen every other rooster in +the whole blame Settlement!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +IV +<BR><BR> +THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Morning of the Silver Frost +</H3> + +<P> +All night the big buck rabbit—he was really a hare, but the +backwoodsmen called him a rabbit—had been squatting on his form under +the dense branches of a young fir tree. The branches grew so low that +their tips touched the snow all round him, giving him almost perfect +shelter from the drift of the storm. The storm was one of icy rain, +which everywhere froze instantly as it fell. All night it had been +busy encasing the whole wilderness—every tree and bush and stump, and +the snow in every open meadow or patch of forest glade—in an armour of +ice, thick and hard and glassy clear. And the rabbit, crouching +motionless, save for an occasional forward thrust of his long, +sensitive ears, had slept in unwonted security, knowing that none of +his night-prowling foes would venture forth from their lairs on such a +night. +</P> + +<P> +At dawn the rain stopped. The cold deepened to a still intensity. The +clouds lifted along the eastern horizon, and a thin, icy flood of +saffron and palest rose washed down across the glittering desolation. +The wilderness was ablaze on the instant with elusive tongues and +points of coloured light—jewelled flames, not of fire, but of frost. +The world had become a palace of crystal and opal, a dream-palace that +would vanish at a touch, a breath. And indeed, had a wind arisen then +to breathe upon it roughly, the immeasurable crystal would have +shattered as swiftly as a dream, the too-rigid twigs and branches would +have snapped and clattered down in ruin. +</P> + +<P> +The rabbit came out from under his little ice-clad fir tree, and, for +all his caution, the brittle twigs broke about him as he emerged, and +tinkled round him sharply. The thin, light sound was so loud upon the +stillness that he gave a startled leap into the air, landing many feet +away from his refuge. He slipped and sprawled, recovered his foothold, +and stood quivering, his great, prominent eyes trying to look in every +direction at once, his ears questioning anxiously to and fro, his +nostrils twitching for any hint of danger. +</P> + +<P> +There was no sight, sound, or scent, however, to justify his alarm, and +in a few seconds, growing bolder, he remembered that he was hungry. +Close by he noticed the tips of a little birch sapling sticking up +above the snow. These birch-tips, in winter, were his favourite food. +He hopped toward them, going circumspectly over the slippery surface, +and sat up on his hindquarters to nibble at them. To his intense +surprise and disappointment, each twig and aromatic bud was sealed +away, inaccessible, though clearly visible, under a quarter inch of +ice. Twig after twig he investigated with his inquiring, sensitive +cleft nostrils, which met everywhere the same chill reception. Round +and round the tantalizing branch he hopped, unable to make out the +situation. At last, thoroughly disgusted, he turned his back on the +treacherous birch bush and made for another, some fifty yards down the +glade. +</P> + +<P> +As he reached it he stopped short, suddenly rigid, his head half turned +over his shoulder, every muscle gathered like a spring wound up to +extreme tension. His bulging eyes had caught a movement somewhere +behind him, beyond the clump of twigs which he had just left. Only for +a second did he remain thus rigid. Then the spring was loosed. With a +frantic bound he went over and through the top of the bush. The +shattered and scattered crystals rang sharply on the shining +snow-crust. And he sped away in panic terror among the silent trees. +</P> + +<P> +From behind the glassy twigs emerged another form, snow-white like the +fleeting rabbit, and sped in pursuit—not so swiftly, indeed, as the +rabbit, but with an air of implacable purpose that made the quarry seem +already doomed. The pursuer was much smaller than his intended victim, +very low on the legs, long-bodied, slender, and sinuous, and he moved +as if all compacted of whipcord muscle. The grace of his long, +deliberate bounds was indescribable. His head was triangular in shape, +the ears small and close-set, the black-tipped muzzle sharply pointed, +with the thin, black lips upcurled to show the white fangs; and the +eyes glowed red with blood-lust. Small as it was, there was something +terrible about the tiny beast, and its pursuit seemed as inevitable as +Fate. At each bound its steel-hard claws scratched sharply on the +crystal casing of the snow, and here and there an icicle from a snapped +twig went ringing silverly across the gleaming surface. +</P> + +<P> +For perhaps fifty yards the weasel followed straight upon the rabbit's +track. Then he swerved to the right. He had lost sight of his quarry. +But he knew its habits in flight. He knew it would run in a circle, +and he took a chord of that circle, so as to head the fugitive off. He +knew he might have to repeat this manoeuvre several times, but he had +no doubts as to the result. In a second or two he also had disappeared +among the azure shadows and pink-and-saffron gleams of the ice-clad +forest. +</P> + +<P> +For several minutes the glade was empty, still as death, with the +bitter but delicate glories of the winter dawn flooding ever more +radiantly across it. On a sudden the rabbit appeared again, this time +at the opposite side of the glade. He was running irresolutely now, +with little aimless leaps to this side and to that, and his leaps were +short and lifeless, as if his nerve-power were getting paralysed. +About the middle of the glade he seemed to give up altogether, as if +conquered by sheer panic. He stopped, hesitated, wheeled round, and +crouched flat upon the naked snow, trembling violently, and staring, +with eyes that started from his head, at the point in the woods which +he had just emerged from. +</P> + +<P> +A second later the grim pursuer appeared. He saw his victim awaiting +him, but he did not hurry his pace by a hair's-breadth. With the same +terrible deliberation he approached. Only his jaws opened, his long +fangs glistened bare; a blood-red globule of light glowed redder at the +back of his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +One more of those inexorable bounds, and he would have been at his +victim's throat. The rabbit screamed. +</P> + +<P> +At that instant, with a hissing sound, a dark shadow dropped out of the +air. It struck the rabbit. He was enveloped in a dreadful flapping of +wings. Iron talons, that clutched and bit like the jaws of a trap, +seized him by the back. He felt himself partly lifted from the snow. +He screamed again. But now he struggled convulsively, no longer +submissive to his doom, the hypnotic spell cast upon him by the weasel +being broken by the shock of the great hawk's unexpected attack. +</P> + +<P> +But the weasel was not of the stuff or temper to let his prey be +snatched thus from his jaws. Cruel and wanton assassin though he was, +ever rejoicing to kill for the lust of killing long after his hunger +was satisfied, he had the courage of a wounded buffalo. A mere darting +silver of white, he sprang straight into the blinding confusion of +those great wings. +</P> + +<P> +He secured a hold just under one wing, where the armour of feathers was +thinnest, and began to gnaw inwards with his keen fangs. With a +startled cry, the hawk freed her talons from the rabbit's back and +clutched frantically at her assailant. The rabbit, writhing out from +under the struggle, went leaping off into cover, bleeding copiously, +but carrying no fatal hurt. He had recovered his wits, and had no idle +curiosity as to how the battle between his enemies would turn out. +</P> + +<P> +The hawk, for all her great strength and the crushing superiority of +her weapons, had a serious disadvantage of position. The weasel, +maintaining his deadly grip and working inwards like a bull-dog, had +hunched up his lithe little body so that she could not reach it with +her talons. She tore furiously at his back with her rending beak, but +the amazingly tough, rubbery muscles resisted even that weapon to a +certain degree. At last, securing a grip with her beak upon her +adversary's thigh, she managed to pull the curled-up body out almost +straight, and so secured a grip upon it with one set of talons. +</P> + +<P> +That grip was crushing, irresistible, but it was too far back to be +immediately fatal. The weasel's lithe body lengthened out under the +agonizing stress of it, but it could not pull his jaws from their grip. +They continued inexorably their task of gnawing inwards, ever inwards, +seeking a vital spot. +</P> + +<P> +The struggle went on in silence, as far as the voices of both +combatants were concerned. But the beating of the hawk's wings +resounded on the glassy-hard surface of the snow. As the struggle +shifted ground, those flapping wings came suddenly in contact with a +bush, whose iced twigs were brittle as glass and glittering like the +prisms of a great crystal candelabrum. There was a shrill crash and a +thin, ringing clatter as the twigs shattered off and spun flying across +the crust. +</P> + +<P> +The sound carried far through the still iridescent spaces of the +wilderness. It reached the ears of a foraging fox, who was tiptoeing +with dainty care over the slippery crust. He turned hopefully to +investigate, trusting to get a needed breakfast out of some +fellow-marauder's difficulties. At the edge of the glade he paused, +peering through a bush of crystal fire to size up the situation before +committing himself to the venture. +</P> + +<P> +Desperately preoccupied though she was, the hawk's all-seeing eyes +detected the red outlines of the fox through the bush. With a frantic +beating of her wings she lifted herself from the snow. The fox darted +upon her with a lightning rush and a shattering of icicles. He was +just too late. The great bird was already in the air, carrying her +deadly burden with her. The fox leapt straight upwards, hoping to pull +her down, but his clashing jaws just failed to reach her talons. +Labouring heavily in her flight, she made off, striving to gain a +tree-top, where she might perch and once more give her attention to the +gnawing torment which clung beneath her wing. +</P> + +<P> +The fox, being wise, and seeing that the hawk was in extremest straits, +ran on beneath her as she flew, gazing upwards expectantly. +</P> + +<P> +The weasel, meanwhile, with that deadly concentration of purpose which +characterizes his tribe, paid no heed to the fact that he was +journeying through the air. And he knew nothing of what was going on +below. His flaming eyes were buried in his foe's feathers, his jaws +were steadily working inwards toward her vitals. +</P> + +<P> +Just at the edge of the glade, immediately over the top of a branchy +young paper-birch which shot a million coloured points of light in the +sunrise, the end came. The fangs of the weasel met in the hawk's +wildly throbbing heart. With a choking burst of scarlet blood it +stopped. +</P> + +<P> +Stone dead, the great marauder of the air crashed down through the slim +birch-top, with a great scattering of gleams and crystals. With +wide-sprawled wings she thudded down upon the snow-crust, almost under +the fox's complacent jaws. The weasel's venomous head, covered with +blood, emerged triumphant from the mass of feathers. +</P> + +<P> +As the victor writhed free, the fox, pouncing upon him with a careless +air, seized him by the neck, snapped it neatly, and tossed the long, +limp body, aside upon the snow. He had no use for the rank, stringy +meat of the weasel when better fare was at hand. Then he drew the hawk +close to the trunk of the young birch, and lay down to make a leisurely +breakfast. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<A NAME="chap0501"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +V +<BR><BR> +JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +How Woolly Billy Came to Brine's Rip +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +Jim's mother was a big cross-bred bitch, half Newfoundland and half +bloodhound, belonging to Black Saunders, one of the hands at the +Brine's Rip Mills. As the mills were always busy, Saunders was always +busy, and it was no place for a dog to be around, among the screeching +saws, the thumping, wet logs, and the spurting sawdust. So the big +bitch, with fiery energy thrilling her veins and sinews and the +restraint of a master's hand seldom exercised upon her, practically ran +wild. +</P> + +<P> +Hunting on her own account in the deep wilderness which surrounded +Brine's Rip Settlement, she became a deadly menace to every wild thing +less formidable than a bear or a bull moose, till at last, in the early +prime of her adventurous career, she was shot by an angry game warden +for her depredations among the deer and the young caribou. +</P> + +<P> +Jim's father was a splendid and pedigreed specimen of the old English +sheep-dog. From a litter of puppies of this uncommon parentage, Tug +Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, chose out the one +that seemed to him the likeliest, paid Black Saunders a sovereign for +him, and named him Jim. To Tug Blackstock, for some unfathomed reason, +the name of "Jim" stood for self-contained efficiency. +</P> + +<P> +It was efficiency, in chief, that Tug Blackstock, as Deputy Sheriff, +was after. He had been reading, in a stray magazine with torn cover +and much-thumbed pages, an account of the wonderful doings of the +trained police-dogs of Paris. The story had fired his imagination and +excited his envy. +</P> + +<P> +There was a lawless element in some of the outlying corners of +Nipsiwaska County, with a larger element of yet more audacious +lawlessness beyond the county line from which to recruit. Throughout +the wide and mostly wilderness expanse of Nipsiwaska County the +responsibility for law and order rested almost solely upon the +shoulders of Tug Blackstock. His chief, the Sheriff, a prosperous +shopkeeper who owed his appointment to his political pull, knew little +and thought less of the duties of his office. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as Jim was old enough to have an interest beyond his breakfast +and the worrying of his rag ball, Tug Blackstock set about his +training. It was a matter that could not be hurried. Tug had much +work to do and Jim, as behoved a growing puppy, had a deal of play to +get through in the course of each twenty-four hours. Then so hard was +the learning, so easy, alas! the forgetting. Tug Blackstock was kind +to all creatures but timber thieves and other evil-doers of like +kidney. He was patient, with the long patience of the forest. But he +had a will like the granite of old Bald Face. +</P> + +<P> +Jim was quick of wit, willing to learn, intent to please his master. +But it was hard for him to concentrate. It was hard to keep his mind +off cats, and squirrels, the worrying of old boots, and other doggish +frivolities. Hence, at times, some painful misunderstandings between +teacher and pupil. In the main, however, the education of Jim +progressed to a marvel. +</P> + +<P> +They were a pair, indeed, to strike the most stolid imagination, let +alone the sensitive, brooding, watchful imagination of the backwoods. +Tug Blackstock was a tall, spare figure of a man, narrow of hip, deep +of chest, with something of a stoop to his mighty shoulders, and his +head thrust forward as if in ceaseless scrutiny of the unseen. His +hair, worn somewhat short and pushed straight back, was faintly +grizzled. His face, tanned and lean, was markedly wide at the eyes, +with a big, well-modelled nose, a long, obstinate jaw, and a wide mouth +whimsically uptwisted at one corner. +</P> + +<P> +Except on the trail—and even then he usually carried a razor in his +pack—he was always clean-shaven, just because he didn't like the curl +of his beard. His jacket, shirt, and trousers were of browny-grey +homespun, of much the same hue as his soft slouch hat, all as +inconspicuous as possible. But at his throat, loosely knotted under +his wide-rolling shirt collar, he wore usually an ample silk +handkerchief of vivid green spattered with big yellow spots, like +dandelions in a young June meadow. +</P> + +<P> +As for Jim, at first glance he might almost have been taken for a slim, +young black bear rather than a dog. The shaggy coat bequeathed to him +by his sheep-dog sire gave to his legs and to his hindquarters an +appearance of massiveness that was almost clumsy. But under this dense +black fleece his lines were fine and clean-drawn as a bull-terrier's. +</P> + +<P> +The hair about his eyes grew so long and thick that, if left to itself, +it would have seriously interfered with his vision. This his master +could not think of permitting, so the riotous hair was trimmed down +severely, till Jim's large, sagacious eyes gazed out unimpeded from +ferocious, brush-like rims of stubby fur about half an inch in length. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +For some ten miles above the long, white, furrowed race of Brine's Rip, +where Blue Forks Brook flows in, the main stream of the Ottanoonsis is +a succession of mad rapids and toothed ledges and treacherous, +channel-splitting shoals. These ten miles are a trial of nerve and +water-craft for the best canoists on the river. In the spring, when +the river was in freshet and the freed logs were racing, battering, and +jamming, the whole reach was such a death-trap for the stream-drivers +that it had come to be known as Dead Man's Run. +</P> + +<P> +Now, in high summer, when the stream was shrunken in its channel and +the sunshine lay golden over the roaring, creamy chutes and the dancing +shallows, the place looked less perilous. But it was full of snares +and hidden teeth. It was no place for the canoist, however expert with +pole and paddle, unless he knew how to read the water unerringly for +many yards ahead. It is this reading of the water, this instantaneous +solving of the hieroglyphics of foam and surge and swirl and glassy +lunge, that makes the skilled runner of the rapids. +</P> + +<P> +A light birch-bark canoe, with a man in the stern and a small child in +the bow, was approaching the head of the rapids, which were hidden from +the paddler's view by a high, densely-wooded bend of the shore. The +canoe leapt forward swiftly on the smooth, quiet current, under the +strong drive of the paddle. +</P> + +<P> +The paddler was a tall, big-limbed man, with fair hair fringing out +under his tweed cap, and a face burnt red rather than tanned by the +weather. He was dressed roughly but well, and not as a woodsman, and +he had a subtle air of being foreign to the backwoods. He knew how to +handle his paddle, however, the prow of his craft keeping true though +his strokes were slow and powerful. +</P> + +<P> +The child who sat facing him on a cushion in the bow was a little boy +of four or five years, in a short scarlet jacket and blue knickers. +His fat, bare legs were covered with fly-bites and scratches, his baby +face of the tenderest cream and pink, his round, interested eyes as +blue as periwinkle blossoms. But the most conspicuous thing about him +was his hair. He was bareheaded—his little cap lying in the bottom of +the canoe among the luggage—and the hair, as white as tow, stood out +like a fleece all over his head, enmeshing the sunlight in its silken +tangle. +</P> + +<P> +When the canoe shot round the bend, the roar of the rapids smote +suddenly upon the voyagers' ears. The child turned his bright head +inquiringly, but from his low place could see nothing to explain the +noise. His father, however, sitting up on the hinder bar of the canoe, +could see a menacing white line of tossing crests, aflash in the +sunlight, stretching from shore to shore. Backing water vigorously to +check his headway, he stood up to get a better view and choose his way +through the surge. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger was master of his paddle, but he had had no adequate +experience in running rapids. Such light and unobstructed rips as he +had gone through had merely sufficed to make him regard lightly the +menace confronting him. He had heard of the perils of Dead Man's Run, +but that, of course, meant in time of freshet, when even the mildest +streams are liable to go mad and run amuck. This was the season of +dead low water, and it was hard for him to imagine there could be +anything really to fear from this lively but shrunken stream. He was +strong, clear-eyed, steady of nerve, and he anticipated no great +trouble in getting through. +</P> + +<P> +As the light craft dipped into the turmoil; jumping as if buffeted from +below, and the wave-tops slapped in on either side of the bow, the +little lad gave a cry of fear. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit tight, boy. Don't be afraid," said the father, peering ahead with +intent, narrowed eyes and surging fiercely on his blade to avoid a +boiling rock just below the first chute. As he swept past in safety he +laughed in triumph, for the passage had been close and exciting, and +the conquest of a mad rapid is one of the thrilling things in life, and +worth going far for. His laugh reassured the child, who laughed also, +but cowered low in the canoe and stared over the gunwale with wide eyes +of awe. +</P> + +<P> +But already the canoe was darting down toward a line of black rocks +smothered in foam. The man paddled desperately to gain the other +shore, where there seemed to be a clear passage. Slanting sharply +across the great current, surging with short terrific strokes upon his +sturdy maple blade, his teeth set and his breath coming in grunts, he +was swept on downward, sideways toward the rocks, with appalling speed. +But he made the passage, swept the bow around, and raced through, +shaving the rock so narrowly that his heart paused and the sweat jumped +out suddenly cold on his forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately afterwards the current swept him to mid-stream. Just here +the channel was straight and clear of rocks, and though the rips were +heavy the man had a few minutes' respite, with little to do but hold +his course. +</P> + +<P> +With a stab at the heart he realized now into what peril he had brought +his baby. Eagerly he looked for a chance to land, but on neither side +could he make shore with any chance of escaping shipwreck. A woodsman, +expert with the canoe-pole, might have managed it, but the stranger had +neither pole nor skill to handle one. He was in the grip of the wild +current and could only race on, trusting to master each new emergency +as it should hurl itself upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the little one took alarm again at his father's stern-set +mouth and preoccupied eyes. The man had just time to shout once more, +"Don't be afraid, son. Dad'll take care of you," when the canoe was +once more in a yelling chaos of chutes and ledges. And now there was +no respite. Unable to read the signs of the water, he was full upon +each new peril before he recognized it, and only his great muscular +strength and instant decision saved them. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again they barely, by a hair's-breadth, slipped through the +jaws of death, and it seemed to the man that the gnashing ledges raved +and yelled behind him at each miracle of escape. Then hissing +wave-crests cut themselves off and leapt over the racing gunwale, till +he feared the canoe would be swamped. Once they scraped so savagely +that he thought the bottom was surely ripped from the canoe. But still +he won onward, mile after roaring mile, his will fighting doggedly to +keep his eyesight from growing hopelessly confused with the hellish, +sliding dazzle and riot of waters. +</P> + +<P> +But at last the fiend of the flood, having played with its prey long +enough, laid bare its claws and struck. The bow of the canoe, in +swerving from one foam-curtained rock, grounded heavily upon another. +In an instant the little craft was swung broadside on, and hung there. +The waves piled upon her in a yelling pack. She was smothered down, +and rolled over helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +As they shot out into the torrent the man, with a terrible cry, sprang +toward the bow, striving to reach his son. He succeeded in catching +the little one, with one hand, by the back of the scarlet jacket. The +next moment he went under and the jacket came off over the child's +head. A whimsical cross-current dragged the little boy twenty feet off +to one side, and shot him into a shallow side channel. +</P> + +<P> +When the man came to the surface again his eyes were shut, his face +stark white, his legs and arms flung about aimlessly as weeds; but fast +in his unconscious grip he held the little red jacket. The canoe, its +side stove in, and full of water, was hurrying off down the rapid amid +a fleet of paddles, cushions, blankets, boxes, and bundles. The body +of the man, heavy and inert and sprawling, followed more slowly. The +waves rolled it over and trampled it down, shouldered it up again, and +snatched it away viciously whenever it showed an inclination to hang +itself up on some projecting ledge. It was long since they had had +such a victim on whom to glut their rancour. +</P> + +<P> +The child, meanwhile, after being rolled through the laughing shallows +of the side channel and playfully buffeted into a half-drowned +unconsciousness, was stranded on a sand spit some eight or ten yards +from the right-hand shore. There he lay, half in the water, half out +of it, the silken white floss of his hair all plastered down to his +head, the rippled current tugging at his scratched and bitten legs. +</P> + +<P> +The unclouded sun shone down warmly upon his face, slowly bringing back +the rose to his baby lips, and a small, paper-blue butterfly hovered +over his head for a few seconds, as if puzzled to make out what kind of +being he was. +</P> + +<P> +The sand spit which had given the helpless little one refuge was close +to the shore, but separated from it by a deep and turbulent current. A +few minutes after the blue butterfly had flickered away across the +foam, a large black bear came noiselessly forth from the fir woods and +down to the water's edge. He gazed searchingly up and down the river +to see if there were any other human creatures in sight, then stretched +his savage black muzzle out over the water toward the sand spit, eyeing +and sniffing at the little unconscious figure there in the sun. He +could not make out whether it was dead or only asleep. In either case +he wanted it. He stepped into the foaming edge of the sluice, and +stood there whimpering with disappointed appetite, daunted by the snaky +vehemence of the current. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, as the warmth of the flooding sun crept into his veins, the +child stirred, and opened his blue eyes. He sat up, noticed he was +sitting in the water, crawled to a dry spot, and snuggled down into the +hot sand. For the moment he was too dazed to realize where he was. +Then, as the life pulsed back into his veins, he remembered how his +father's hand had caught him by the jacket just as he went plunging +into the awful waves. Now, the jacket was gone. His father was gone, +too. +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy! Daddee-ee!" he wailed. And at the sound of that wailing cry, +so unmistakably the cry of a youngling for its parent, the bear drew +back discreetly behind a bush, and glanced uneasily up and down the +stream to see if the parent would come in answer to the appeal. He had +a wholesome respect for the grown-up man creature of either sex, and +was ready to retire on the approach of one. +</P> + +<P> +But no one came. The child began to sob softly, in a lonesome, +frightened, suppressed way. In a minute or two, however, he stopped +this, and rose to his feet, and began repeating over and over the +shrill wail of "Daddy, Daddee-ee, Daddee-ee!" At the same time he +peered about him in every direction, almost hopefully, as if he thought +his father must be hiding somewhere near, to jump out presently for a +game of bo-peep with him. +</P> + +<P> +His baby eyes were keen. They did not find his father, but they found +the bear, its great black head staring at him from behind a bush. +</P> + +<P> +His cries stopped on the instant, in the middle of a syllable, frozen +in his throat with terror. He cowered down again upon the sand, and +stared, speechless, at the awful apparition. The bear, realizing that +the little one's cries had brought no succour, came out from its hiding +confidently, and down to the shore, and straight out into the water +till the current began to drag too savagely at its legs. Here it +stopped, grumbling and baffled. +</P> + +<P> +The little one, unable any longer to endure the dreadful sight, backed +to the extreme edge of the sand, covered his face with his hands, and +fell to whimpering piteously, an unceasing, hopeless, monotonous little +cry, as vague and inarticulate as the wind. +</P> + +<P> +The bear, convinced at length that the sluice just here was too strong +for to cross, drew back to the shore reluctantly, It moved slowly +up-stream some forty or fifty yards, looking for a feasible crossing. +Disappointed in this direction, it then explored the water's edge for a +little distance down stream, but with a like result. But it would not +give up. Up and down, up and down, it continued to patrol the shore +with hungry obstinacy. And the piteous whimpering of the little figure +that cowered, with hidden face upon the sand spit, gradually died away. +That white fleece of silken locks, dried in the sun and blown by the +warm breeze, stood out once more in its radiance on the lonely little +slumbering head. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock sat on a log, smoking and musing, on the shore of that +wide, eddying pool, full of slow swirls and spent foam clusters, in +which the tumbling riot of Brine's Rip came to a rest. From the mills +behind him screeched the untiring saws. Outstretched at his feet lay +Jim, indolently snapping at flies. The men of the village were busy in +the mills, the women in their cottages, the children in their schools; +and the stretch of rough shore gave Tug Blackstock the solitude which +he loved. +</P> + +<P> +Down through the last race of the rapids came a canoe paddle, and began +revolving slowly in the eddies. Blackstock pointed it out to Jim, and +sent him in after it. The dog swam for it gaily, grabbed it by the top +so that it could trail at his side, and brought it to his master's +feet. It was a good paddle, of clean bird's-eye maple and Melicite +pattern, and Tug Blackstock wondered who could have been so careless as +to lose it. Carelessness is a vice regarded with small leniency in the +backwoods. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later down the rapids came wallowing a water-logged +birch-canoe. The other things which had started out with it, the +cushions and blankets and bundles, had got themselves tangled in the +rocks and left behind. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the wrecked canoe, Tug Blackstock rose to his feet. He +began to suspect another of the tragedies of Dead Man's Run. But what +river-man would come to grief in the Run at this stage of the water? +Blackstock turned to an old dug-out which lay hauled up on the shore, +ran it down into the water and paddled out to salvage the wrecked +canoe. He towed it to shore, emptied it, and scrutinized it. He +thought he knew every canoe on the river, but this one was a stranger +to him. It had evidently been brought across the Portage from the east +coast. Then he found, burnt into the inside of the gunwale near the +bow, the letters J.C.M.W. +</P> + +<P> +"The Englishman," he muttered. "He's let the canoe git away from him +at the head of the Run, likely, when he's gone ashore. He'd never have +tried to shoot the Run alone, an' him with no experience of rapids." +</P> + +<P> +But he was uneasy. He decided that he would get his own canoe and pole +up through the rapids, just to satisfy himself. +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock's canoe, a strong and swift "Fredericton" of polished +canvas, built on the lines of a racing birch, was kept under cover in +his wood shed at the end of the village street. He shouldered it, +carrying it over his head with the mid bar across his shoulders, and +bore it down to the water's edge. Then he went back and fetched his +two canoe poles and his paddles. +</P> + +<P> +Waving Jim into the bow, he was just about to push off when his +narrowed eyes caught sight of something else rolling and threshing +helplessly down the rapid. Only too well he saw what it was. His face +pale with concern, he thrust the canoe violently up into the tail of +the rapid, just in time to catch the blindly sprawling shape before it +could sink to the depths of the pool. Tenderly he lifted it out upon +the shore. It was battered almost out of recognition, but he knew it. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor devil! Poor devil!" he muttered sorrowfully. "He was a man all +right, but he didn't understand rapids for shucks!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he noticed that in the dead man's right hand was clutched a tiny +child's jacket. He understood—he saw the whole scene, and he swore +compassionately under his breath, as he unloosed the rigid fingers. +Alive or dead, the little one must be found at once. +</P> + +<P> +He called Jim sharply, and showed him the soaked red jacket. Jim +sniffed at it, but the wearer's scent was long ago soaked out of it. +He looked it over, and pawed it, wagging his tail doubtfully. He could +see it was a small child's jacket, but what was he expected to do with +it? +</P> + +<P> +After a few moments, Tug Blackstock patted the jacket vigorously, and +then waved his arm up-stream. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, find him, Jim!" he ordered. Jim, hanging upon each word and +gesture, comprehended instantly. He was to find the owner of the +little jacket—a child—somewhere up the river. With a series of eager +yelps—which meant that he would do all that living dog could do—he +started up the shore, on the full run. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the mill whistles had blown, the screaming of the saws had +stopped, the men, powdered with yellow sawdust, were streaming out from +the wide doors. They flocked down to the water. +</P> + +<P> +In hurried words Blackstock explained the situation. Then he stepped +once more into his canoe, snatched his long, steel-shod pole, and +thrust his prow up into the wild current, leaving the dead man to the +care of the coroner and the village authorities. Before he had battled +his way more than a few hundred yards upwards through the raging +smother, two more canoes, with expert polers standing poised in them +like statues, had pushed out to follow him in his search. +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the crowd picked up the body and bore it away reverently to +the court-room, with sympathetic women weeping beside it. +</P> + +<P> +Racing along the open edge of the river where it was possible, tearing +fiercely through thicket and underbrush where rapids or rocks made the +river's edge impassable, the great black dog panted onwards with the +sweat dripping from jaws and tongue. Whenever he was forced away from +the river, he would return to it at every fifty yards or so, and scan +each rock, shoal or sand spit with keen, sagacious eyes. He had been +told to search the river—that was the plain interpretation of the wet +jacket and of Tug Blackstock's gesture—so he wasted no time upon the +woods and the undergrowth. +</P> + +<P> +At last he caught sight of the little fluffy-headed figure huddled upon +the sand spit far across the river. He stopped, stared intently, and +then burst into loud, ecstatic barkings as an announcement that his +search had been successful. But the noise did not carry across the +tumult of the ledge, and the little one slept on, exhausted by his +terror and his grief. +</P> + +<P> +It was not only the sleeping child that Jim saw. He saw the bear, and +his barking broke into shrill yelps of alarm and appeal. He could not +see that the sluice between the sand spit and the bank was an effective +barrier, and he was frantic with anxiety lest the bear should attack +the little one before he could come to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +His experienced eye told him in a moment that the river was impassable +for him at this point. He dashed on up-stream for another couple of +hundred yards, and then, where a breadth of comparatively slack water +beneath a long ledge extended more than half-way across, he plunged in, +undaunted by the clamour and the jumping, boiling foam. +</P> + +<P> +Swimming mightily, he gained a point directly above the sand spit. +Then, fighting every inch of the way to get across the terrific draft +of the main current, he was swept downward at a tremendous speed. But +he had carried out his plan. He gained the shallow side channel, +splashed down it, and darted up the sand spit with a menacing growl at +the bear across the sluice. +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of that harsh growl close to his ears the little one woke +up and raised his head. Seeing Jim, big and black and dripping, he +thought it was the bear. With a piercing scream he once more hid his +face in his hands, rigid with horror. Puzzled at this reception, Jim +fell to licking his hands and his ears extravagantly, and whining and +thrusting a coaxing wet nose under his arms. +</P> + +<P> +At last the little fellow began to realize that these were not the +actions of a foe. Timidly he lowered his hands from his face, and +looked around. Why, there was the bear, on the other side of the +water, tremendous and terrible, but just where he had been this ever so +long. This creature that was making such a fuss over him was plainly a +dog—a kind, good dog, who was fond of little boys. +</P> + +<P> +With a sigh of inexpressible relief his terror slipped from him. He +flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the wet +fur. And Jim, his heart swelling with pride, stood up and barked +furiously across at the bear. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-129"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-129.jpg" ALT=""He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the wet fur."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 665px"> +"He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the wet fur." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock, standing in the stern of his canoe, plied his pole with +renewed effort. Reaching the spit he strode forward, snatched the +child up in his arms, and passed his great hand tenderly through that +wonderful shock of whitey-gold silken curls. His eyes were moist, but +his voice was hearty and gay, as if this meeting were the most ordinary +thing in the world. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Woolly Billy!" he cried. "What are you doin' here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy left me here," answered the child, his lip beginning to quiver. +"Where's he gone to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," replied Tug Blackstock hurriedly, "yer dad was called away rather +sudden, an' he sent me an' Jim, here, to look after you till he gits +back. An' we'll do it, too, Woolly Billy; don't you fret." +</P> + +<P> +"My name's George Harold Manners Watson," explained the child politely. +</P> + +<P> +"But we'll just call you Woolly Billy for short," said Tug Blackstock. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0502"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II. The Book Agent and the Buckskin Belt +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +A big-framed, jaunty man with black side-whiskers, a long black frock +coat, and a square, flat case of shiny black leather strapped upon his +back, stepped into the Corner Store at Brine's Rip Mills. +</P> + +<P> +He said: "Hullo, boys! Hot day!" in a big voice that was intentionally +hearty, ran his bulging eyes appraisingly over every one present, then +took off his wide-brimmed felt hat and mopped his glistening forehead +with a big red and white handkerchief. Receiving a more or less +hospitable chorus of grunts and "hullos" in response, he seated himself +on a keg of nails, removed the leather case from his back, and asked +for ginger beer, which he drank noisily from the bottle. +</P> + +<P> +"Name of Byles," said he at length, introducing himself with a sweeping +nod. "Hot tramp in from Cribb's Ridge. Thirsty, you bet. Never drink +nothing stronger'n ginger pop or soft cider. Have a round o' pop on +me, boys. A1 pop this o' yours, mister. A dozen more bottles, please, +for these gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +He looked around the circle with an air at once assured and persuasive. +And the taciturn woodsmen, not wholly at ease under such sudden +cordiality from a stranger, but too polite to rebuff him, muttered +"Thank ye, kindly," or "Here's how," as they threw back their heads and +poured the weak stuff down their gaunt and hairy throats. +</P> + +<P> +It was a slack time at Brine's Rip, the mills having shut down that +morning because the river was so low that there were no more logs +running. The shrieking saws being silent for a little, there was +nothing for the mill hands to do but loaf and smoke. The hot air was +heavily scented with the smell of fresh sawdust mixed with the strong +honey-perfume of the flowering buckwheat fields beyond the village. +The buzzing of flies in the windows of the store was like a fine +arabesque of sound against the ceaseless, muffled thunder of the rapids. +</P> + +<P> +The dozen men gathered here at Zeb Smith's store—which was, in effect, +the village club—found it hard to rouse themselves to a conversational +effort in any way worthy the advances of the confident stranger. They +all smoked a little harder than usual, and looked on with courteous but +noncommittal interest while he proceeded to unstrap his shiny black +leather case. +</P> + +<P> +In his stiff and sombre garb, so unsuited to the backwoods trails, the +stranger had much the look of one of those itinerant preachers who +sometimes busy themselves with the cure of souls in the remoter +backwoods settlements. But his eye and his address were rather those +of a shrewd and pushing commercial traveller. +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, felt a vague +antagonism toward him, chiefly on the ground that his speech and +bearing did not seem to consort with his habiliments. He rather liked +a man to look what he was or be what he looked, and he did not like +black side whiskers and long hair. This antagonism, however, he felt +to be unreasonable. The man had evidently had a long and tiring tramp, +and was entitled to a somewhat friendlier reception than he was getting. +</P> + +<P> +Swinging his long legs against the counter, on which he sat between a +pile of printed calicoes and a box of bright pink fancy soap, Tug +Blackstock reached behind him and possessed himself of a box of long, +black cigars. Having selected one critically for himself, he proffered +the box to the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a weed?" said he cordially. "They ain't half bad." +</P> + +<P> +But the stranger waved the box aside with an air at once grand and +gracious. +</P> + +<P> +"I never touch the weed, thank you kindly just the same," said he. +"But I've nothing agin it. It goes agin my system, that's all. If +it's all the same to you, I'll take a bite o' cheese an' a cracker +'stead o' the cigar." +</P> + +<P> +"Sartain," agreed Blackstock, jumping down to fetch the edibles from +behind the counter. Like most of the regular customers, he knew the +store and its contents almost as well as Zeb Smith himself. +</P> + +<P> +During the last few minutes an immense, rough-haired black dog had been +sniffing the stranger over with suspicious minuteness. The stranger at +first paid no attention whatever, though it was an ordeal that many +might have shrunk from. At last, seeming to notice the animal for the +first time, he recognized his presence by indifferently laying his hand +upon his neck. Instead of instantly drawing off with a resentful +growl, after his manner with strangers, the dog acknowledged the casual +caress by a slight wag of the tail, and then, after a few moments, +turned away amicably and lay down. +</P> + +<P> +"If Jim finds him all right," thought Blackstock to himself, "ther' +can't be much wrong with him, though I can't say I take to him myself." +And he weighed off a much bigger piece of cheese than he had at first +intended to offer, marking down his indebtedness on a slate which +served the proprietor as a sort of day-book. The stranger fell to +devouring it with an eagerness which showed that his lunch must have +been of the lightest. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye was sayin' as how ye'd jest come up from Cribb's Ridge?" put in a +long-legged, heavy-shouldered man who was sprawling on a cracker box +behind the door. He had short sandy hair, rapidly thinning, eyes of a +cold grey, set rather close together, and a face that suggested a cross +between a fox and a fish-hawk. He was somewhat conspicuous among his +fellows by the trimness of his dress, his shirt being of dark blue +flannel with a rolled-up collar and a scarlet knotted kerchief, while +the rest of the mill hands wore collarless shirts of grey homespun, +with no thought of neckerchiefs. +</P> + +<P> +His trousers were of brown corduroy, and were held up by a broad belt +of white dressed buckskin, elaborately decorated with Navajo designs in +black and red. He stuck to this adornment tenaciously as a sort of +inoffensive proclamation of the fact that he was not an ordinary +backwoods mill hand, but a wanderer, one who had travelled far, and +tried his wits at many ventures in the wilder West. +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are," assented the stranger, brushing some white cracker +crumbs out of his black whiskers. +</P> + +<P> +"I was jest a-wonderin'," went on Hawker, giving a hitch to the +elaborate belt and leaning forward a little to spit out through the +doorway, "if ye've seed anything o' Jake Sanderson on the road." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger, having his mouth full of cheese, did not answer for a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +"The boys are lookin' for him rather anxious," explained Blackstock +with a grin. "He brings the leetle fat roll that pays their wages here +at the mill, an' he's due some time to day." +</P> + +<P> +"I seen him at Cribb's Ridge this morning," answered the stranger at +last. "Said he'd hurt his foot, or strained his knee, or something, +an' would have to come on a bit slow. He'll be along some time +to-night, I guess. Didn't seem to me to have much wrong with him. No, +ye can't have none o' that cheese. Go 'way an' lay down," he added +suddenly to the great black dog, who had returned to his side and laid +his head on the stranger's knee. +</P> + +<P> +With a disappointed air the dog obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't often Jim's so civil to a stranger," muttered Blackstock to +himself. +</P> + +<P> +A little boy in a scarlet jacket, with round eyes of china blue, and an +immense mop of curly, fluffy, silky hair so palely flaxen as to be +almost white, came hopping and skipping into the store. He was greeted +with friendly grins, while several voices drawled, "Hullo, Woolly +Billy!" He beamed cheerfully upon the whole company, with a special +gleam of intimate confidence for Tug Blackstock and the big black dog. +Then he stepped up to the stranger's knee, and stood staring with +respectful admiration at those flowing jet-black side-whiskers. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger in return looked with a cold curiosity at the child's +singular hair. Neither children nor dogs had any particular appeal for +him, but that hair was certainly queer. +</P> + +<P> +"Most an albino, ain't he?" he suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he ain't," replied Tug Blackstock curtly. The dog, detecting a +note of resentment in his master's voice, got up and stood beside the +child, and gazed about the circle with an air of anxious interrogation. +Had any one been disagreeable to Woolly Billy? And if so, who? +</P> + +<P> +But the little one was not in the least rebuffed by the stranger's +unresponsiveness. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" he inquired, patting admiringly the stranger's shiny +leather case. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger grew cordial to him at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, now ye're talkin'," said he enthusiastically, undoing the flap of +the case. "It's a book, sonny. The greatest book, the most +<I>interestin'</I> book, the most useful book—and next to the Bible the +most high-toned, uplifting book that was ever written. Ye can't read +yet, sonny, but this book has the loveliest pictures ye ever seen, and +the greatest lot of 'em for the money." +</P> + +<P> +He drew reverently forth from the case a large, fat volume, bound +sumptuously in embossed sky-blue imitation leather, lavishly gilt, and +opened it upon his knees with a spacious gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"There," he continued proudly. "It's called 'Mother, Home, and +Heaven!' Ain't that a title for ye? Don't it show ye right off the +kind of book it is? With this book by ye, ye don't need any other book +in the house at all, except maybe the almanack an' the Bible—an' this +book has lots o' the best bits out of the Bible in it, scattered +through among the receipts an' things to keep it all wholesome an' +upliftin'. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll tell ye such useful things as how to get a cork out of a bottle +without breakin' the bottle, when he haven't got a corkscrew, or what +to do when the baby's got croup, and there ain't a doctor this side of +Tourdulac. An' it'll tell ye how to live, so as when things happen +that no medicines an' no doctors and no receipts—not even such great +receipts as these here ones" (and he slapped his hand on the counter) +"can help ye through—such as when a tree falls on to ye, or you trip +and stumble on to the saws, or git drawn down under half-a-mile o' +raft—then ye'll be ready to go right up aloft, an' no questions asked +ye at the Great White Gate. +</P> + +<P> +"An' it has po'try in it, too, reel heart po'try, such as'll take ye +back to the time when ye was all white an' innocent o' sin at yer +mother's knee, an' make ye wish ye was like that now. In fact, boys, +this book I'm goin' to show ye, with your kind permission, is handier +than a pocket in a shirt, an' at the same time the blessed fragrance of +it is like a rose o' Sharon in the household. It's in three styles o' +bindin', all <I>reel</I> handsome, but——" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to look at another picture now," protested Woolly Billy. "I'm +tired of this one of the angels sayin' their prayers." +</P> + +<P> +His amazing shock of silver-gold curls was bent intently over the book +in the stranger's lap. The woodsmen, on the other hand, kept on +smoking with a far-off look, as if they heard not a word of the fluent +harangue. They had a deep distrust and dread of this black-whiskered +stranger, now that he stood revealed as the +Man-Wanting-to-Sell-Something. The majority of them would not even +glance in the direction of the gaudy book, lest by doing so they should +find themselves involved in some expensive and complicated obligation. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger responded to Woolly Billy's appeal by shutting the book +firmly. "There's lots more pictures purtier than that one, sonny," +said he. "But ye must ask yer dad to buy it fer ye. He won't regret +it." And he passed the volume on to Hawker, who, having no dread of +book-agents, began to turn over the leaves with a superior smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad's gone away ever so far," answered Woolly Billy sadly. "It's an +awfully pretty book." And he looked at Tug Blackstock appealingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, mister," drawled Blackstock, "I don't take much stock +myself in those kind of books, an' moreover (not meanin' no offence to +you), any man that's sellin' 'em has got to larn to do a sight o' +lyin'. But as Woolly Billy here wants it so bad I'll take a copy, if +'tain't too dear. All the same, it's only fair to warn ye that ye'll +not do much business in Brine's Rip, for there was a book agent here +last year as got about ha'f the folks in the village to sign a crooked +contract, and we was all stung bad. I'd advise ye to move on, an' not +really tackle Brine's Rip fer another year or so. Now, what's the +price?" +</P> + +<P> +The stranger's face had fallen during this speech, but it brightened at +the concluding question. +</P> + +<P> +"Six dollars, four dollars, an' two dollars an' a half, accordin' to +style of bindin'," he answered, bringing out a handful of leaflets and +order forms and passing them round briskly. "An' ye don't need to pay +more'n fifty cents down, an' sign this order, an' ye pay the balance in +a month's time, when the books are delivered. I'll give ye my receipt +for the fifty cents, an' ye jest fill in this order accordin' to the +bindin' ye choose. Let me advise ye, as a friend, to take the six +dollar one. It's the best value." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks jest the same," said Blackstock drily, pulling out his wallet, +"but I guess Woolly Billy'd jest as soon have the two-fifty one. An' +I'll pay ye the cash right now. No signin' orders fer me. Here's my +name an' address." +</P> + +<P> +"Right ye are," agreed the stranger cordially, pocketing the money and +signing the receipt. "Cash payments for me every time, if I could have +my way. Now, if some o' you other gentlemen will follow Mr. +Blackstock's fine example, ye'll never regret it—an' neither will I." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Woolly Billy. Come on, Jim," said Blackstock, stepping out +into the street with the child and the dog at his heels. "We'll be +gittin' along home, an' leave this gentleman to argy with the boys." +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Jake Sanderson, with the pay for the mill-hands, did not arrive that +night, nor yet the following morning. Along toward noon, however, +there arrived a breathless stripling, white-faced and wild-eyed, with +news of him. The boy was young Stephens, son of Andy Stephens, the +game-warden. He and his father, coming up from Cribb's Ridge, had +found the body of Sanderson lying half in a pool beside the road, +covered with blood. Near at hand lay the bag, empty, slashed open with +a bloody knife. Stephens had sent his boy on into the Settlement for +help, while he himself had remained by the body, guarding it lest some +possible clue should be interfered with. +</P> + +<P> +Swift as a grass fire, the shocking news spread through the village. +An excited crowd gathered in front of the store, every one talking at +once, trying to question young Stephens. The Sheriff was away, down at +Fredericton for a holiday from his arduous duties. But nobody lamented +his absence. It was his deputy they all turned to in such an emergency. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Tug Blackstock?" demanded half a dozen awed voices. And, as +if in answer, the tall, lean figure of the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska +County came striding in haste up the sawdusty road, with the big, black +dog crowding eagerly upon his heels. +</P> + +<P> +The clamour of the crowd was hushed as Blackstock put a few questions, +terse and pertinent, to the excited boy. The people of Nipsiwaska +County in general had the profoundest confidence in their Deputy +Sheriff. They believed that his shrewd brain and keen eye could find a +clue to the most baffling of mysteries. Just now, however, his face +was like a mask of marble, and his eyes, sunk back into his head, were +like points of steel. The murdered man had been one of his best +friends, a comrade and helper in many a hard enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said he to the lad, "we'll go an' see." And he started off +down the road at that long loose stride of his, which was swifter than +a trot and much less tiring. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on a minute, Tug," drawled a rasping nasal voice. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Hawker?" demanded Blackstock, turning impatiently on his +heel. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye hain't asked no thin' yet about the Book Agent, Mister Byles, him +as sold ye 'Mother, Home, an' Heaven.' Mebbe he could give us some +information. He said as how he'd had some talk with poor old Jake." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock's lips curled slightly. He had not read the voluble +stranger as a likely highwayman in any circumstances, still less as one +to try issues with a man like Jake Sanderson. But the crowd, eager to +give tongue on any kind of a scent, and instinctively hostile to a book +agent, seized greedily upon the suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he?" "Send for him." "Did anybody see him this mornin'?" +"Rout him out!" "Fetch him along!" The babel of voices started afresh. +</P> + +<P> +"He's cleared out," cried a woman's shrill voice. It was the voice of +Mrs. Stukeley, who kept the boarding-house. Every one else was silent +to hear what she had to say. +</P> + +<P> +"He quit my place jest about daylight this morning," continued the +woman virulently. She had not liked the stranger's black whiskers, nor +his ministerial garb, nor his efforts to get a subscription out of her, +and she was therefore ready to believe him guilty without further +proof. "He seemed in a powerful hurry to git away, sayin' as how the +Archangel Gabriel himself couldn't do business in this town." +</P> + +<P> +Seeing the effect her words produced, and that even the usually +imperturbable and disdainful Deputy Sheriff was impressed by them, she +could not refrain from embroidering her statement a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Now ez I come to think of it," she went on, "I did notice as how he +seemed kind of excited an' nervous like, so's he could hardly stop to +finish his breakfus'. But he took time to make me knock half-a-dollar +off his bill." +</P> + +<P> +"Mac," said Blackstock sharply, turning to Red Angus MacDonald, the +village constable, "you take two of the boys an' go after the Book +Agent. Find him, an' fetch him back. But no funny business with him, +mind you. We hain't got a spark of evidence agin him. We jest want +him as a witness, mind." +</P> + +<P> +The crowd's excitement was somewhat damped by this pronouncement, and +Hawker's exasperating voice was heard to drawl: +</P> + +<P> +"No <I>evidence</I>, hey? Ef that ain't <I>evidence</I>, him skinnin' out that +way afore sun-up, I'd like to know what is!" +</P> + +<P> +But to this and similar comments Tug Blackstock paid no heed whatever. +He hurried on down the road toward the scene of the tragedy, his lean +jaws working grimly upon a huge chew of tobacco, the big, black dog not +now at his heels but trotting a little way ahead and casting from one +side of the road to the other, nose to earth. The crowd came on +behind, but Blackstock waved them back. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want none o' ye to come within fifty paces of me, afore I tell +ye to," he announced with decision. "Keep well back, all of ye, or +ye'll mess up the tracks." +</P> + +<P> +But this proved a decree too hard to be enforced for any length of time. +</P> + +<P> +When he arrived at the place where the game-warden kept watch beside +the murdered man, Blackstock stood for a few moments in silence, +looking down upon the body of his friend with stony face and brooding +eyes. In spite of his grief, his practised observation took in the +whole scene to the minutest detail, and photographed it upon his memory +for reference. +</P> + +<P> +The body lay with face and shoulder and one leg and arm in a deep, +stagnant pool by the roadside. The head was covered with black, +clotted blood from a knife-wound in the neck. Close by, in the middle +of the road, lay a stout leather satchel, gaping open, and quite empty. +Two small memorandum books, one shut and the other with white leaves +fluttering, lay near the bag. Though the roadway at this point was dry +and hard, it bore some signs of a struggle, and toward the edge of the +water there were several little, dark, caked lumps of puddled dust. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock first examined the road minutely, all about the body, but +the examination, even to such a practised eye as his, yielded little +result. The ground was too hard and dusty to receive any legible +trail, and, moreover, it had been carelessly over-trodden by the +game-warden and his son. But whether he found anything of interest or +not, Blackstock's grim, impassive face gave no sign. +</P> + +<P> +At length he went over to the body, and lifted it gently. The coat and +shirt were soaked with blood, and showed marks of a fierce struggle. +Blackstock opened the shirt, and found the fatal wound, a knife-thrust +which had been driven upwards between the ribs. He laid the body down +again, and at the same time picked up a piece of paper, crumpled and +blood-stained, which had lain beneath it. He spread it open, and for a +moment his brows contracted as if in surprise and doubt. It was one of +the order forms for "Mother, Home and Heaven." +</P> + +<P> +He folded it up and put it carefully between the leaves of the +note-book which he always carried in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Stephens, who was close beside him, had caught a glimpse of the paper, +and recognized it. +</P> + +<P> +"Say!" he exclaimed, under his breath. "I never thought o' <I>him</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +But Blackstock only shook his head slowly, and called the big black +dog, which had been waiting all this time in an attitude of keen +expectancy, with mouth open and tail gently wagging. +</P> + +<P> +"Take a good look at him, Jim," said Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +The dog sniffed the body all over, and then looked up at his master as +if for further directions. +</P> + +<P> +"An' now take a sniff at this." And he pointed to the rifled bag. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you make of it?" he inquired when the dog had smelt it all +over minutely. +</P> + +<P> +Jim stood motionless, with ears and tail drooping, the picture of +irresolution and bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock took out again the paper which he had just put away, and +offered it to the clog, who nosed it carefully, then looked at the dead +body beside the pool, and growled softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Seek him, Jim," said Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +At once the dog ran up again to the body, and back to the open book. +Then he fell to circling about the bag, nose to earth, seeking to pick +up the elusive trail. +</P> + +<P> +At this point the crowd from the village, unable longer to restrain +their eagerness, surged forward, led by Hawker, and closed in, +effectually obliterating all trails. Jim growled angrily, showing his +long white teeth, and drew back beside the body as if to guard it. +Blackstock stood watching his action with a brooding scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that bit o' paper ye found under him, Tug?" demanded Hawker +vehemently. +</P> + +<P> +"None o' yer business, Sam," replied the deputy, putting the +blood-stained paper back into his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"I seen what it was," shouted Hawker to the rest of the crowd. "It was +one o' them there dokyments that the book agent had, up to the store. +I always <I>said</I> as how 'twas him." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll ketch him!" "We'll string him up!" yelled the crowd, starting +back along the road at a run. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be sech fools!" shouted Blackstock. "Hold on! Come back I tell +ye!" +</P> + +<P> +But he might as well have shouted to a flock of wild geese on their +clamorous voyage through the sky. Fired by Sam Hawker's exhortations, +they were ready to lynch the black-whiskered stranger on sight. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock cursed them in a cold fury. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll hev to go after them, Andy," said he, "or there'll be trouble +when they find that there book agent." +</P> + +<P> +"Better give 'em their head, Tug," protested the warden. "Guess he +done it all right. He'll git no more'n's good for him." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Maybe</I> he did it, an' then agin, maybe he didn't," retorted the +Deputy, "an' anyways, they're jest plumb looney now. You stay here, +an' I'll follow them up. Send Bob back to the Ridge to fetch the +coroner." +</P> + +<P> +He turned and started on the run in pursuit of the shouting crowd, +whistling at the same time for the dog to follow him. But to his +surprise Jim did not obey instantly. He was very busy digging under a +big whitish stone at the other side of the pool. Blackstock halted. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim," he commanded angrily, "git out o' that! What d'ye mean by +foolin' about after woodchucks a time like this? Come here!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim lifted his head, his muzzle and paws loaded with fresh earth, and +gazed at his master for a moment. Then, with evident reluctance, he +obeyed. But he kept looking back over his shoulder at the big white +stone, as if he hated to leave it. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a lot o' ordinary pup left in that there dawg yet," explained +Blackstock apologetically to the game-warden. +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't a dawg ever lived that wouldn't want to dig out a +woodchuck," answered Stephens. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +The black-whiskered stranger had been overtaken by his pursuers about +ten miles beyond Brine's Rip, sleeping away the heat of the day under a +spreading birch tree a few paces off the road. He was sleeping +soundly—too soundly indeed, as thought the experienced constable, for +a man with murder on his soul. +</P> + +<P> +But when he was roughly aroused and seized, he seemed so terrified that +his captors were all the more convinced of his guilt. He made no +resistance as he was being hurried along the road, only clinging firmly +to his black leather case, and glancing with wild eyes from side to +side as if nerving himself to a desperate dash for liberty. +</P> + +<P> +When he had gathered, however, a notion of what he was wanted for, to +the astonishment of his captors, his terror seemed to subside—a fact +which the constable noted narrowly. He steadied his voice enough to +ask several questions about the murder—questions to which reply was +curtly refused. Then he walked on in a stolid silence, the ruddy +colour gradually returning to his face. +</P> + +<P> +A couple of miles before reaching Brine's Rip, the second search party +came in sight, the Deputy Sheriff at the head of it and the shaggy +black form of Jim close at his heels. With a savage curse Hawker +sprang forward, and about half the party with him, as if to snatch the +prisoner from his captors and take instant vengeance upon him. +</P> + +<P> +But Blackstock was too quick for them. The swiftest sprinter in the +county, he got to the other party ahead of the mob and whipped around +to face them, with one hand on the big revolver at his hip and Jim +showing his teeth beside him. The constable and his party, hugely +astonished, but confident that Blackstock's side was the right one to +be on, closed protectingly around the prisoner, whose eyes now almost +bulged from his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You keep right back, boys," commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel. +"The law will look after this here prisoner, if he's the guilty one." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-176"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-176.jpg" ALT=""'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 489px"> +"'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Fur as we kin see, there ain't no 'if' about it," shouted Hawker, +almost frothing at the mouth. "That's the man as done it, an' we're +agoin' to string 'im up fer it right now, for fear he might git off +some way atween the jedges an' the lawyers. You keep out of it now, +Tug." +</P> + +<P> +About half the crowd surged forward with Hawker in front. Up came +Blackstock's gun. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye know me, boys," said he. "Keep back." +</P> + +<P> +They kept back. They all fell back, indeed, some paces, except Hawker, +who held his ground, half crouching, his lips distorted in a snarl of +rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Aw now, quit it, Sam," urged one of his followers. "'Tain't worth it. +An' Tug's right, anyways. The law's good enough, with Tug to the back +of it." And putting forth a long arm he dragged Hawker back into the +crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"Put away yer gun, Tug," expostulated another. "Seein's ye feel that +way about it, we won't interfere." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock stuck the revolver back into his belt with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Glad ye've come back to yer senses, boys," said he, perceiving that +the crisis was over. "But keep an eye on Hawker for a bit yet. Seems +to 'ave gone clean off his head." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't fret, Tug. We'll look after him," agreed several of his +comrades from the mill, laying firmly persuasive hands upon the excited +man, who cursed them for cowards till they began to chaff him roughly. +</P> + +<P> +"What's makin' you so sore, Sam?" demanded one. "Did the book agent +try to make up to Sis Hopkins?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's Tug that Sis is making eyes at now," suggested another. +"That's what's puttin' Sam so off his nut." +</P> + +<P> +"Leave the lady's name out of it, boys," interrupted Blackstock, in a +tone that carried conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit that jaw now, Sam," interposed another, changing the subject, +"an' tell us what ye've done with that fancy belt o' yourn 'at ye're so +proud of. We hain't never seen ye without it afore." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," chimed in the constable. "That accounts for his +foolishness. Sam ain't himself without that fancy belt." +</P> + +<P> +Hawker stopped his cursing and pulled himself together with an effort, +as if only now realizing that his followers had gone over completely to +the side of the law and Tug Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +"Busted the buckle," he explained quickly. "Mend it when I git time." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, boys," said Blackstock presently, "we'll git right back along to +where poor Jake's still layin', and there we'll ask this here stranger +what he knows about it. It's there, if anywheres, where we're most +likely to git some light on the subject. I've sent over to the Ridge +fer the coroner, an' poor Jake can't be moved till he comes." +</P> + +<P> +The book agent, his confidence apparently restored by the attitude of +Blackstock, now let loose a torrent of eloquence to explain how glad he +would be to tell all he knew, and how sorry he was that he knew +nothing, having merely had a brief conversation with poor Mr. Sanderson +on the morning of the previous day. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye'll hev lots o' time to tell us all that when we're askin' ye," +answered Blackstock. "Now, take my advice an' keep yer mouth shet." +</P> + +<P> +As Blackstock was speaking, Jim slipped in alongside the prisoner and +rubbed against him with a friendly wag of the tail as if to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to see you in such a hole, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +Some of the men laughed, and one who was more or less a friend of +Hawker's, remarked sarcastically: +</P> + +<P> +"Jim don't seem quite so discriminatin' as usual, Tug." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," replied the Deputy drily, noting the dog's attitude +with evident interest. "Time will show. Ye must remember a man ain't +<I>necessarily</I> a murderer jest because he wears black side-lights an' +tries to sell ye a book that ain't no good." +</P> + +<P> +"No good!" burst out the prisoner, reddening with indignation. "You +show me another book that's half as good, at double the price, an' I'll +give you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Shet up, you!" ordered the Deputy, with a curious look. "This ain't +no picnic ye're on, remember." +</P> + +<P> +Then some one, as if for the first time, thought of the money for which +Sanderson had been murdered. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't ye search him, Tug?" he demanded. "Let's hev a look in that +there black knapsack." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye bloomin' fool," shouted Hawker, again growing excited, "ye don't +s'pose he'd be carryin' it on him, do ye? He'd hev it buried +somewheres in the woods, where he could git it later." +</P> + +<P> +"Right ye are, Sam," agreed the Deputy. "The man as done the deed +ain't likely to carry the evidence around on him. But all the same, +we'll search the prisoner bime-by." +</P> + +<P> +By the time the strange procession had got back to the scene of the +tragedy it had been swelled by half the population of the village. At +Blackstock's request, Zeb Smith, the proprietor of the store, who was +also a magistrate, swore in a score of special constables to keep back +the crowd while awaiting the arrival of the coroner. Under the +magistrate's orders—which satisfied Blackstock's demand for strict +formality of procedure—the prisoner was searched, and could not +refrain from showing a childish triumph when nothing was found upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Passing from abject terror to a ridiculous over-confidence, he with +difficulty restrained himself from seizing the opportunity to harangue +the crowd on the merits of "Mother, Home, and Heaven." His face was +wreathed in fatuous smiles as he saw the precious book snatched from +its case and passed around mockingly from hand to hand. He certainly +did not look like a murderer, and several of the crowd, including +Stephens, the game-warden, began to wonder if they had not been barking +up the wrong tree. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got the idee," remarked Stephens, "it'd take a baker's dozen o' +that chap to do in Jake Sanderson that way. The skate as killed Jake +was some man, anyways." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to know," sneered Hawker, "how ye're going to account for +that piece o' paper, the book-agent's paper, 'at Tug Blackstock found +there under the body." +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, shucks!" answered the game-warden, "that's easy. He's been +a-sowin' 'em round the country so's anybody could git hold of 'em, +same's you er me, Sam!" +</P> + +<P> +This harmless, if ill-timed pleasantry appeared to Hawker, in his +excitement, a wanton insult. His lean face went black as thunder, and +his lips worked with some savage retort that would not out. But at +that instant came a strange diversion. The dog Jim, who under +Blackstock's direction had been sniffing long and minutely at the +clothes of the murdered man, at the rifled leather bag, and at the +ground all about, came suddenly up to Hawker and stood staring at him +with a deep, menacing growl, while the thick hair rose stiffly along +his back. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment there was dead silence save for that strange accusing +growl. Hawker's face went white to the lips. Then, in a blaze, of +fury he yelled! +</P> + +<P> +"Git out o' that! I'll teach ye to come showin' yer teeth at me!" And +he launched a savage kick at the animal. +</P> + +<P> +"JIM!! Come here!" rapped out the command of Tug Blackstock, sharp as +a rifle shot. And Jim, who had eluded the kick, trotted back, still +growling, to his master. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever ye been doin' to Jim, Sam?" demanded one of the mill hands. +"I ain't never seen him act like that afore." +</P> + +<P> +"He's <I>always</I> had a grudge agin me," panted Hawker, "coz I had to give +him a lickin' once." +</P> + +<P> +"Now ye're lyin', Sam Hawker," said Blackstock quietly. "Ye know right +well as how you an' Jim were good friends only yesterday at the store, +where I saw ye feedin' him. An' I don't think likely ye've ever given +Jim a lickin'. It don't sound probable." +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me there's a lot of us has gone a bit off their nut over this +thing, an' not much wonder, neither," commented the game-warden. +"Looks like Sam Hawker has gone plumb crazy. An' now there's Jim, the +sensiblest dog in the world, with lots more brains than most men-kind, +foolin' away his time like a year-old pup a-tryin' dig out a darn old +woodchuck hole." +</P> + +<P> +Such, in fact, seemed to be Jim's object. He was digging furiously +with both forepaws beneath the big white stone on the opposite side of +the pool. +</P> + +<P> +"He's bit me. I'll kill him," screamed Hawker, his face distorted and +foam at the corners of his lips. He plucked his hunting-knife from its +sheath, and leapt forward wildly, with the evident intention of darting +around the pool and knifing the dog. +</P> + +<P> +But Blackstock, who had been watching him intently, was too quick for +him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, ye don't, Sam!" he snapped, catching him by the wrist with such a +wrench that the bright blade fell to the ground. With a scream, Hawker +struck at his face, but Blackstock parried the blow, tripped him +neatly, and fell on him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold him fast, boys," he ordered. "Seems like he's gone mad. Don't +let him hurt himself." +</P> + +<P> +In five seconds the raving man was trussed up helpless as a chicken, +his hands tied behind his back, his legs lashed together at the knees, +so that he could neither run nor kick. Then he was lifted to his feet, +and held thus, inexorably but with commiseration. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to be rough with ye, Sam," said one of the constables, "but +ye've gone crazy as a bed-bug." +</P> + +<P> +"Never knowed Sam was such a friend o' Jake's!" muttered another, with +deepest pity. +</P> + +<P> +But Blackstock stood close beside the body of the murdered man, and +watched with a face of granite the efforts of Jim to dig under the big +white stone. His absorption in such an apparently frivolous matter +attracted the notice of the crowd. A hush fell upon them all, broken +only by the hoarse, half-smothered ravings of Sam Hawker. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't no woodchuck Jim's diggin' for, you see!" muttered one of the +constables to the puzzled Stephens. +</P> + +<P> +"Tug don't seem to think so, neither," agreed Stephens. +</P> + +<P> +"Angus," said Blackstock in a low, strained voice to the constable who +had just spoken, "would ye mind stepping round an' givin' Jim a lift +with that there stone!" +</P> + +<P> +The constable hastened to obey. As he approached, Jim looked up, his +face covered thickly with earth, wagged his tail in greeting, then fell +to work again with redoubled energy. +</P> + +<P> +The constable set both hands under the stone, and with a huge heave +turned it over. With a yelp of delight Jim plunged his head into the +hole, grabbed something in his mouth, and tore around the pool with it. +The something was long and whitish, and trailed as he ran. He laid it +at Blackstock's feet. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock held it up so that all might see it. It was a painted +Indian belt, and it was stained and smeared with blood. The constable +picked out of the hole a package of bills. +</P> + +<P> +For some moments no one spoke, and even the ravings of Hawker were +stilled. +</P> + +<P> +Then Tug Blackstock spoke, while every one, as if with one consent, +turned his eyes away from the face of Sam Hawker, unwilling to see a +comrade's shame and horror. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a matter now for jedge and jury, boys," said he in a voice +that was grave and stern. "But I think you'll all agree that we hain't +no call to detain this gentleman, who's been put to so much +inconvenience all on account of our little mistake." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't mention it, don't mention it," protested the book agent, as his +guards, with profuse apologies, released him. "That's a mighty +intelligent dawg o' yours, Mr. Blackstock." +</P> + +<P> +"He's sure done <I>you</I> a good turn this day, mister," replied the Deputy +grimly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0503"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III. The Hole in the Tree +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +It was Woolly Billy who discovered the pile—notes and silver, with a +few stray gold pieces—so snugly hidden under the fishhawk's nest. +</P> + +<P> +The fish-hawk's nest was in the crotch of the old, half-dead rock-maple +on the shore of the desolate little lake which lay basking in the +flat-lands about a mile back, behind Brine's Rip Mills. +</P> + +<P> +As the fish-hawk is one of the most estimable of all the wilderness +folk, both brave and inoffensive, troubling no one except the fat and +lazy fish that swarmed in the lake below, and as he is protected by a +superstition of the backwoodsmen, who say it brings ill-luck to disturb +the domestic arrangements of a fish-hawk, the big nest, conspicuous for +miles about, was never disturbed by even the most amiable curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +But Woolly Billy, not fully acclimatized to the backwoods tradition and +superstition, and uninformed as to the firmness and decision with which +the fish-hawks are apt to resent any intrusion, had long hankered to +explore the mysteries of that great nest. One morning he made up his +mind to try it. +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock, Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, was away for a day +or two, and old Mrs. Amos, his housekeeper, was too deaf and rheumatic +to "fuss herself" greatly about the "goings-on" of so fantastic a child +as Woolly Billy, so long as she knew he had Jim to look after him. +This serves to explain how a small boy like Woolly Billy, his +seven-years-and-nine-months resting lightly on his amazingly fluffy +shock of pale flaxen curls, could be trotting off down the lonely +backwoods trail with no companion or guardian but a big, black dog. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy was familiar with the mossy old trail to the lake, and did +not linger upon it. Reaching the shore, he wasted no time throwing +sticks in for Jim to retrieve, but, in spite of the dog's eager +invitations to this pastime, made his way along the dry edge between +undergrowth and water till he came to the bluff. Pushing laboriously +through the hot, aromatic-scented tangle of bushes, he climbed to the +foot of the old maple, which looked dwarfed by the burden of the huge +nest carried in its crotch. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy was an expert tree-climber, but this great trunk presented +new problems. Twice he went round it, finding no likely spot to begin. +Then, certain roughnesses tempted him, and he succeeded in drawing +himself up several feet. Serene in the consciousness of his good +intentions, he struggled on. He gained perhaps another foot. Then he +stuck. He pulled hard upon a ragged edge of bark, trying to work his +way further around the trunk. A patch of bark came away suddenly in +his grip and he fell backwards with a startled cry. +</P> + +<P> +He fell plump on Jim, rolled off into the bushes, picked himself up, +shook the hair out of his eyes and stood staring up at a round hole in +the trunk where the patch of bark had been. +</P> + +<P> +A hole in a tree is always interesting. It suggests such +possibilities. Forgetting his scratches, Woolly Billy made haste to +climb up again, in spite of Jim's protests. He peered eagerly into the +hole. But he could see nothing. And he was cautious—for one could +never tell what lived in a hole like that—or what the occupant, if +there happened to be any, might have to say to an intruder. He would +not venture his hand into the unknown. He slipped down, got a bit of +stick, and thrust that into the hole. There was no result, but he +learnt that the hole was shallow. He stirred the stick about. There +came a slight jingling sound in return. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy withdrew the stick and thought for a moment. He reasoned +that a thing that jingled was not at all likely to bite. He dropped +the stick and cautiously inserted his hand to the full length of his +little arm. His fingers grasped something which felt more or less +familiar, and he drew forth a bank-note and several silver coins. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy's eyes grew very round and large as he stared at his +handful. He was sure that money did not grow in hollow trees. Tug +Blackstock kept his money in an old black wallet. Woolly Billy liked +money because it bought peppermints, and molasses candy, and gingerpop. +But this money was plainly not his. He reluctantly put it back into +the hole. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughtfully he climbed down. He knew that money was such a desirable +thing that it led some people—bad people whom Tug Blackstock hated—to +steal what did not belong to them. He picked up the patch of bark and +laboriously fitted it back into its place over the hole, lest some of +these bad people should find the money and appropriate it. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word, now, not one single word," he admonished Jim, "till Tug +comes home. We'll tell him all about it." +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +It was five o'clock in the sleepy summer afternoon, and the flies +buzzed drowsily among the miscellaneous articles that graced the +windows of the Corner Store. The mills had shut down early, because +the supply of logs was running low in the boom, and no more could be +expected until there should be a rise of water. Some half-dozen of the +mill hands were sitting about the store on nail-kegs and soap-boxes, +while Zeb Smith, the proprietor, swung his long legs lazily from the +edge of the littered counter. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy came in with a piece of silver in his little fist to buy a +packet of tea for Mrs. Amos. Jim, not liking the smoke, stayed outside +on the plank sidewalk, and snapped at flies. The child, who was +regarded as the mascot of Brine's Rip Mills, was greeted with a fire of +solemn chaff, which he received with an impartial urbanity. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, quit coddin' the kiddie, an' don't try to be so smart," growled +Long Jackson, the Magadavy river-man, lifting his gaunt length from a +pile of axe-handles, and thrusting his fist deep into his trousers' +pocket. "Here, Zeb, give me a box of peppermints for Woolly Billy. He +hain't been in to see us this long while." +</P> + +<P> +He pulled out a handful of coins and dollar bills, and proceeded to +select a silver bit from the collection. The sight was too much for +Woolly Billy, bursting with his secret. +</P> + +<P> +"I know where there's lots more money like that," he blurted out +proudly, "in a hole in a tree." +</P> + +<P> +During the past twelve months or more there had been thefts of money, +usually of petty sums, in Brine's Rip Mills and the neighbourhood, and +all Tug Blackstock's detective skill had failed to gain the faintest +clue to the perpetrator. Suspicions there had been, but all had +vanished into thin air at the touch of investigation. Woolly Billy's +amazing statement, therefore, was like a little bombshell in the shop. +</P> + +<P> +Every one of his audience stiffened up with intense interest. +</P> + +<P> +One swarthy, keen-featured, slim-waisted, half-Indian-looking fellow, +with the shapely hands and feet that mark so many of the Indian +mixed-bloods, was sitting on a bale of homespun behind Long Jackson, +and smoking solemnly with half-closed lids. His eyes opened wide for a +fraction of a second, and darted one searching glance at the child's +face. Then he dropped his lids slowly once more till the eyes were all +but closed. The others all stared eagerly at Woolly Billy. +</P> + +<P> +Pleased with the interest he had excited, Woolly Billy glanced about +him, and shook back his mop of pale curls self-consciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Lots more!" he repeated. "Big handfuls." +</P> + +<P> +Then he remembered his discretion, his resolve to tell no one but Tug +Blackstock about his discovery. Seeking to change the subject, he +beamed upon Long Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Long," he said politely. "I <I>love</I> peppermints. An' Jim +loves them, too." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Where</I> did you say that hole in the tree was?" asked Long Jackson, +reaching for the box that held the peppermints, and ostentatiously +filling a generous paper-bag. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy looked apologetic and deprecating. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, Long, if you don't mind very much, I can't tell anybody but +Tug Blackstock <I>that</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson laid the bag of peppermints a little to one side, as if to +convey that their transfer was contingent upon Woolly Billy's behaviour. +</P> + +<P> +The child looked wistfully at the coveted sweets; then his red lips +compressed themselves with decision and resentment. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't tell anybody but Tug Blackstock, <I>of course</I>," said he. "An' +I don't want any peppermints, thank you, Long." +</P> + +<P> +He picked up his package of tea and turned to leave the shop, angry at +himself for having spoken of the secret and angry at Jackson for trying +to get ahead of Tug Blackstock. Jackson, looking annoyed at the +rebuff, extended his leg and closed the door. Woolly Billy's blue eyes +blazed. One of the other men strove to propitiate him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come on, Woolly Billy," he urged coaxingly, "don't git riled at +Long. You an' him's pals, ye know. We're all pals o' yourn, an' of +Tug's. An' there ain't no harm <I>at all</I>, at all, in yer showin' us +this 'ere traysure what you've lit on to. Besides, you know there's +likely some o' that there traysure belongs to us 'uns here. Come on +now, an' take us to yer hole in the tree." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye ain't agoin' to git out o' this here store, Woolly Billy, I tell ye +that, till ye promise to take us to it right off," said Long Jackson +sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy was not alarmed in the least by this threat. But he was +so furious that for a moment he could not speak. He could do nothing +but stand glaring up at Long Jackson with such fiery defiance that the +good-natured mill-hand almost relented. But it chanced that he was one +of the sufferers, and he was in a hurry to get his money back. At this +point the swarthy woodsman on the bale of homespun opened his narrow +eyes once again, took the pipe from his mouth, and spoke up. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit plaguin' the kid, Long," he drawled. "The cash'll be all there +when Tug Blackstock gits back, an' it'll save a lot of trouble an' +misunderstandin', havin' him to see to dividin' it up fair an' square. +Let Woolly Billy out." +</P> + +<P> +Long Jackson shook his head obstinately, and opened his mouth to reply, +but at this moment Woolly Billy found his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me out! Let me out! <I>Let me out!</I>" he screamed shrilly, stamping +his feet and clenching his little fists. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly a heavy body was hurled upon the outside of the door, +striving to break it in. +</P> + +<P> +Zeb Smith swung his long legs down from the counter hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +"The kid's right, an' Black Dan's right. Open the door, Long, an' do +it quick. I don't want that there dawg comin' through the winder. An' +he'll be doin' it, too, in half a jiff." +</P> + +<P> +"Git along, then, Woolly, if ye insist on it. But no more peppermints, +mind," growled Jackson, throwing open the door and stepping back +discreetly. As he did so, Jim came in with a rush, just saving himself +from knocking Woolly Billy over. One swift glance assured him that the +child was all right, but very angry about something. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Jim. Come with me," said Woolly Billy, tugging at the +animal's collar. And the pair stalked away haughtily side by side. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock arrived the next morning about eleven. Before he had +time to sit down for a cup of that strenuous black tea which the +woodsmen consume at all hours, he had heard from Woolly Billy's eager +lips the story of the hole in the tree beneath the fish-hawk's nest. +He heard also of the episode at Zeb Smith's store, but Woolly Billy by +this time had quite forgiven Long Jackson, so the incident was told in +such a way that Blackstock had no reason to take offence. +</P> + +<P> +"Long tried <I>hard</I>," said the child, "to get me to tell where that hole +was, but I <I>wouldn't</I>. And Black Dan was awful nice, an' made him stop +botherin' me, an' said I was quite right not to tell <I>anybody</I> till you +came home, coz you'd know just what to do." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" said the Deputy-Sheriff thoughtfully, "Long's had a lot of money +stole from him, so, of course, he wanted to git his eyes on to that +hole quick. But 'tain't like Black Dan to be that thoughtful. Maybe +he <I>hasn't</I> had none taken." +</P> + +<P> +While he was speaking, a bunch of the mill-hands arrived at the door, +word of Blackstock's return having gone through the village. +</P> + +<P> +"We want to go an' help ye find that traysure, Tug," said Long Jackson, +glancing somewhat sheepishly at Woolly Billy. A friendly grin from the +child reassured him, and he went on with more confidence: +</P> + +<P> +"We tried to git the kiddie to tell us where 'twas, but wild steers +wouldn't drag it out o' him till you got back." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Long," agreed Blackstock, "but it don't need to be no +expedition. We don't want the whole village traipsin' after us. You +an' three or four more o' the boys that's lost money come along, with +Woolly Billy an' me, an' the rest o' you meet us at the store in about +a couple o' hours' time. Tell any other folks you see that I don't +want 'em follerin' after us, because it may mix up things—an' anyways, +I don't want it, see!" +</P> + +<P> +After a few moments' hesitation and consultation the majority of the +mill-hands turned away, leaving Long Jackson and big Andy Stevens, the +blue-eyed giant from the Oromocto (who had been one of the chief +victims), and MacDonald, and Black Saunders, and Black Dan (whose name +had been Dan Black till the whim of the woodsmen turned it about). +Blackstock eyed them appraisingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know as <I>you'd</I> bin one o' the victims too, Dan," he remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't ye, Tug?" returned Black with a short laugh. "Well, I didn't +say nawthin about it, coz I was after doin' a leetle detective work on +me own, an' mebbe I'd 'ave got in ahead o' ye if Woolly Billy here +hadn't 'a' been so smart. But I tell ye, Tug, if that there traysure's +the lot we're thinkin' it is, there'd ought ter be a five-dollar bill +in it what I've marked." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" grunted the Deputy, hastily gulping down the last of his tea, +and rising to his feet. "But Woolly Billy an' me and Jim's a +combination pretty hard to git ahead of, I'm thinkin'." +</P> + +<P> +As the party neared the bluff whereon the tree of the fish-hawk's nest +stood ragged against the sky, the air grew rank with the pungent odour +of skunk. Now skunks were too common in the region of Brine's Rip +Mills for that smell, as a rule, to excite any more comment than an +occasional disgusted execration when it became too concentrated. But +to-day it drew more than passing attention. MacDonald sniffed intently. +</P> + +<P> +"It's deuced queer," said he, "but I've noticed that there's always +been a smell of skunk round when anybody's lost anything. Did it ever +strike you that way, Tug?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, some!" assented the Deputy curtly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a skunk, all right, that's been takin' our money," said big Andy, +"ef he <I>don't</I> carry his tail over his back." +</P> + +<P> +Every one of the party was sniffing the tainted air as if the familiar +stench were some rare perfume—all but Jim. He had had an encounter +with a skunk, once in his impulsive puppy days, and the memory was too +painful to be dwelt upon. +</P> + +<P> +As they climbed the slope, one of the fish-hawks came swooping down +from somewhere high in the blue, and began circling on slow wings about +the nest. +</P> + +<P> +"That cross old bird doesn't like visitors," remarked Woolly Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't, neether, Woolly Billy, if you was a fish-hawk," said +Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Arrived at the tree, Woolly Billy pointed eagerly to a slightly broken +piece of bark a little above the height of the Deputy's head. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>There's</I> the hole!" he cried, clapping his hands in his excitement as +if relieved to find it had not vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep off a bit now, boys," cautioned Blackstock. Drawing his long +hunting-knife, he carefully loosened the bark without letting his hand +come in contact with it, and on the point of the blade laid it aside +against the foot of the trunk. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't any of you tech it," he admonished. +</P> + +<P> +Then he slipped his hand into the hole, and felt about. +</P> + +<P> +A look of chagrin came over his face, and he withdrew his hand—empty. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' there!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"It was there yesterday morning," protested Woolly Billy, his blue eyes +filling with tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, of course," agreed Blackstock, glancing slowly around the +circle of disappointed faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody from the store's been blabbin'," exclaimed Black Dan, in a +loud and angry voice. +</P> + +<P> +"An' why not?" protested Big Andy, with a guilty air. "We never said +nawthin' about keepin' it a secret." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of their disappointment, the millhands laughed. Big Andy was +not one to keep a secret in any case, and his weakness for a certain +pretty widow who kept the postoffice was common comment. Big Andy +responded by blushing to the roots of his blonde hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim!" commanded the Deputy. And the big black dog bounded up to him, +his eyes bright with expectation. The Deputy picked him up, and held +him aloft with his muzzle to the edges of the hole. +</P> + +<P> +"Smell that," he ordered, and Jim sniffed intently. Then he set him +down, and directed him to the piece of bark. That, too, Jim's nose +investigated minutely, his feathered tail slowly wagging. +</P> + +<P> +"Seek him," ordered Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +Jim whined, looked puzzled, and sniffed again at the bark. The +information which his subtle nose picked up there was extremely +confusing. First, there was the smell of skunk—but that smell of +skunk was everywhere, dulling the keenness of his discrimination. +Then, there was a faint, faint reminiscence of Woolly Billy. But there +was Woolly Billy, at Tug Blackstock's side. Certainly, there could be +no reason for him to seek Woolly Billy. Then there was an elusive, +tangled scent, which for some moments defied him. At last, however, he +got a clue to it. With a pleased bark—his way of saying "Eureka!"—he +whipped about, trotted over to big Andy Stevens, sat down in front of +him, and gazed up at him, with tongue hanging and an air of friendly +inquiry, as much as to say: "Here I am, Andy. But I don't know what +Tug Blackstock wants me to seek you for, seein' as you're right here +alongside him." +</P> + +<P> +Big Andy dropped his hand on the dog's head familiarly; then noticing +the sudden tense silence of the party, his eyes grew very big and round. +</P> + +<P> +"What're you all starin' at me fer, boys?" he demanded, with a sort of +uneasy wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"Ax Jim," responded Black Dan, harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon old Jim's makin' a mistake fer once, Tug," drawled Long +Jackson, who was Andy's special pal. +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy rubbed his lean chin reflectively. There could be no one +more above suspicion in his eyes than this transparently honest young +giant from the Oromocto. But Jim's curious action had scattered to the +winds, at least for a moment, a sort of hypothesis which he had been +building up in his mind. At the same time, he felt dimly that a new +clue was being held out to him, if he could only grasp it. He wanted +time to think. +</P> + +<P> +"We kin all make mistakes," he announced sententiously. "Come here, +Jim. Seek 'im, boy, seek 'im." And he waved his hand at large. +</P> + +<P> +Jim bounced off with a joyous yelp, and began quartering the ground, +hither and thither, all about the tree. Big Andy, at a complete loss +for words, stood staring from one to another with eyes of indignant and +incredulous reproach. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a yelp of triumph was heard in the bushes, a little way down +towards the lake, and Jim came racing back with a dark magenta article +in his mouth. At the foot of the tree he stopped, and looked at +Blackstock interrogatively. Receiving no sign whatever from his +master, whose face had lit up for an instant, but was now as impassive +as a hitching-post, he stared at Black Dan for a few seconds, and then +let his eyes wander back to Andy's face. In the midst of his obvious +hesitation the Oromocto man stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Durned ef that ain't one o' my old mittens," he exclaimed eagerly, +"what Sis knit fer me. I've been lookin' fer 'em everywheres. Bring +it here, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +As the dog trotted up with it obediently, the Deputy intervened and +stopped him. "You shall have it bime-by, Andy," said he, "ef it's +yourn. But jest now I don't want nobody to tech it except Jim. Ef you +acknowledge it's yourn——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Of course</I> it's mine," interrupted Andy resentfully. "An' I want to +find the other one." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I," said Blackstock. "Drop it, Jim. Go find the other mitt." +</P> + +<P> +As Jim went ranging once more through the bushes, the whole party moved +around to the other side of the tree to get out of the downpour of the +noon sun. As they passed the magenta mitten Black Dan picked it up and +examined it ostentatiously. +</P> + +<P> +"How do ye know it's yourn, Andy?" he demanded. "There's lots of +magenta mitts in the world, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock turned upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"I said I didn't want no one to tech that mitt," he snapped. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, beg pardon, Tug," said Dan, dropping the mitt. "I forgot. 'Spose +it might kind o' confuse Jim's scent, gittin' another smell besides +Andy's on to it." +</P> + +<P> +"It might," replied the Deputy coolly, "an' then agin, it mightn't." +</P> + +<P> +For a little while every one was quiet, listening to Jim as he crashed +about through the bushes, and confidently but unreasonably expecting +him to reappear with the other mitten. Or, at least, that was what Big +Andy and Woolly Billy expected. The Deputy, at least, did not. At +last he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with Mac here, boys," said he, "that there may be somethin' +more'n skunk in this skunk smell. We'll jest look into it a bit. You +all keep back a ways—an' you, Long, jest keep an eye on Woolly Billy +ef ye don't mind, while I go on with Jim." +</P> + +<P> +He whistled to the dog, and directed his attention to a spot at the +foot of the tree exactly beneath the hole. Jim sniffed hard at the +spot, then looked up at his master with tail drooping despondently. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know it's skunk, plain skunk," agreed the Deputy. "But I want +him. Seek him, Jim—<I>seek him</I>, boy." +</P> + +<P> +Thus reassured, Jim's tail went up again. He started off through the +bushes, down towards the lake, with his master close behind him. The +rest of the party followed thirty paces or so behind. +</P> + +<P> +The trail led straight down to the lake's edge. Here Jim stopped short. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>That</I> skunk's a kind o' water-baby," remarked Long Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do you think so?" queried Woolly Billy, much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," answered Jackson. "Don't you see he's took to the water? +Now, yer common, no-account skunk hates wettin' his fur like pizen." +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy examined the hard, white sand at the water's edge. It +showed faint traces of moccasined feet. He pursed his lips. It was an +old game, but a good one, this breaking a trail by going into the +water. He had no way of deciding whether his quarry had turned up the +lake shore or down towards the outlet. He guessed at the latter as the +more likely alternative. +</P> + +<P> +Jim trotted slowly ahead, sniffing every foot of ground along the +water's edge. As they approached the outlet the shore became muddy, +and Jackson swung Woolly Billy up on to his shoulder. Once in the +outlet, the foreshore narrowed to a tiny strip of bare rock between the +water and an almost perpendicular bank covered with shrubs and vines. +All at once the smell of skunk, which had been almost left behind, +returned upon the air with fresh pungency. Blackstock stopped short +and scanned the bank with narrowed eyes. +</P> + +<P> +A second or two later, Jim yelped his signal, and his tail went up. He +sniffed eagerly across the ribbon of rock, and then leapt at the face +of the bank. +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy called him off and hurried to the spot. The rest of the +party, much excited, closed up to within four or five paces, when a +wave of the Deputy's hand checked them. +</P> + +<P> +"Phew!" ejaculated Black Dan, holding his nose. "There's a skunk hole +in that there bank. Ye'll be gittin' somethin' in the eye, Tug, ef ye +don't keep off." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock, who was busy pulling apart the curtain of vines, paid no +attention, but Long Jackson answered sarcastically: +</P> + +<P> +"Ye call yerself a woodsman, Dan," said he, "an' ye don't know that the +hole where a skunk lives <I>don't</I> smell any. Yer <I>reel</I> skunk's quite a +gentleman and keeps his home always clean an' tidy. Tug Blackstock +ain't a-goin' to git nawthin' in the eye." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I reckon we'd better smoke," said Black Dan amiably, pulling out +his pipe and filling it. And the others followed his example. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock thrust his hand into a shallow hole in the bank quite hidden +by the foliage. He drew out a pair of moccasins, water-soaked, and +hurriedly set them down on the rock. For all their soaking, they +reeked of skunk. He picked up one on the point of a stick and examined +it minutely. In spite of all the soaking, the sole, to his initiated +eye, still bore traces of that viscous, oily liquid which no water will +wash off—the strangling exudation of the skunk's defensive gland. It +was just what he had expected. The moccasin was neat and slim and of +medium size—not more than seven at most. He held it up, that all +might see it clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"Does this belong to you, Andy Stevens?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +There was a jeer from the group, and Big Andy held up an enormous foot, +which might, by courtesy, have been numbered a thirteen. It was a +point upon which the Oromocto man was usually sensitive, but to-day he +was proud of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye'll hev to play Cinderella, Tug, an' find out what leetle foot it +fits on to," suggested MacDonald. +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy fished again in the hole. He drew forth a magenta mitten, +dropped it promptly, then held it up on the point of his stick at arm's +length. It had been with the moccasins. Big Andy stepped forward to +claim it, then checked himself. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a mite too strong fer me now," he protested. "I'll hev to git +Sis to knit me another pair, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock dropped the offensive thing beside the moccasins at his +feet, and reached once more into the hole. +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't takin' no risks this time, boys," said Blackstock. "He's +took the swag with him." +</P> + +<P> +There was a growl of disappointment. Long Jackson could not refrain +from a reproachful glance at Woolly Billy, but refrained from saying +the obvious. +</P> + +<P> +"What are ye goin' to do about it, Tug?" demanded Black Dan. "Hev ye +got any kind of a <I>reel</I> clue, d'ye think, now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait an' see," was Blackstock's noncommittal reply. He picked up the +moccasins and mitten again on the point of his stick, scanned the bank +sharply to make sure his quarry had not gone that way, and led the +procession once more down along the rocky shore of the stream. "Seek +him," he said again to Jim, and the dog, as before, trotted on ahead, +sniffing along by the water's edge to intercept the trail of whoever +had stepped ashore. +</P> + +<P> +The party emerged at length upon the bank of the main stream, and +turned upwards towards Brine's Rip. After they had gone about half a +mile they rounded a bend and came in sight of a violent rapid which cut +close inshore. At this point it would be obviously impossible for any +one walking in the shallow water to avoid coming out upon dry ground. +Tug Blackstock quickened his pace, and waved Jim forward. +</P> + +<P> +A sharp oath broke from Black Dan's lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been an' gone an' left my 'baccy-pooch behind, by the skunk's +hole," he announced. And grumbling under his breath he turned back +down the shore. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock ran on, as if suddenly in a great hurry. Just where the +shallow water ended, at the foot of the rapid, Jim gave his signal with +voice and tail. He raced up the bank to a clump of bushes and began +thrashing about in them. +</P> + +<P> +"What d'ye suppose he's found there?" asked Big Andy. +</P> + +<P> +"Scent, and lots of it. No mistake this time," announced MacDonald. +"Hain't ye caught on to Jim's signs yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jim," said the Deputy, sharply but not loud, "<I>fetch him!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Jim, with nose in air instead of to the ground, set off at a gallop +down the shore in the direction of the outlet. +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy turned about. +</P> + +<P> +"Dan," he shouted peremptorily. "Come back here. I want ye!" +</P> + +<P> +Instead of obeying, Black Dan dashed up the bank, running like a deer, +and vanished into the bushes. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I knew it</I>! That's the skunk, boys. Go home, you Billy!" cried +Blackstock, and started after the fugitive. The rest followed close on +his heels. But Jackson cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Ye'd better call off Jim quick. Dan's got a gun on him." +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy gave a shrill whistle, and Jim, who was just vanishing into +the bush, stopped short. At the same instant a shot rang out from the +bushes, and the dog dropped in his tracks with a howl of anguish. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock's lean jaws set themselves like iron. He whipped out his +own heavy "Colt's," and the party tore on, till they met Jim dragging +himself towards them with a wounded hind-leg trailing pitifully. +</P> + +<P> +The Deputy gave one look at the big black dog, heaved a breath of +relief, and stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't no manner o' use chasin' him now, boys," he decreed, "because, +as we all know, Dan kin run right away from the best runner amongst us. +But now I know him—an' I've suspicioned him this two month, only I +couldn't git no clue—<I>I'll git him</I>, never you fear. Jest now, ye'd +better help me carry Jim home, so's we kin git him doctored up in good +shape. I reckon Nipsiwaska County can't afford to lose Mr. +Assistant-Deputy Sheriff. That there skunk-oil on Dan's moccasins +fooled <I>both</I> Jim an' me, good an' plenty, didn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"But whatever did he want o' my mitts?" demanded Big Andy. +</P> + +<P> +"Now ye <I>air</I> a sap-head, Andy Stevens," growled MacDonald, "ef ye +can't see <I>that</I>!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0504"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV. The Trail of the Bear +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +The Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County had spent half an hour at the +telephone. In the backwoods the telephone wires go everywhere. In +that half-hour every settlement, every river-crossing, every +lumber-camp, and most of the wide-scattered pioneer cabins had been +warned of the flight of the thief, Dan Black, nicknamed Black Dan, and +how, in the effort to secure his escape, he had shot and wounded the +Deputy-Sheriff's big black dog whose cleverness on the trail he had +such cause to dread. As Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, came out +of the booth he asked after Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Black Dan's bullet broke no bones that time," replied the village +doctor, who had tended the dog's wound as carefully as if his patient +had been the Deputy himself. "It's a biggish hole, but Jim'll be all +right in a few days, never fear." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock looked relieved. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye don't seem to be worryin' much about Black Dan's gittin' away, +Tug," grumbled Long Jackson, who was not unnaturally sore over the loss +of his money. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I ain't worryin' much," agreed the Deputy, with a confident grin, +"now I know Jim ain't goin' to lose a leg. As for Black Dan's gittin' +away, well, I've got me own notions about that. I've 'phoned all over +the three counties, and given warnin' to every place he kin stop for a +bite or a bed. He can't cross the river to get over the Border, for +I've sent word to hev every bridge an' ferry watched. Black Dan's +cunnin' enough to know I'd do jest that, first thing, so he won't waste +his time tryin' the river. He'll strike right back into the big +timber, countin' on the start he's got of us, now he's put Jim out of +the game. But I guess I kin trail him myself—now I know what I'm +trailin'—pretty nigh as well as Jim could. I've took note of his +tracks, and there ain't another pair o' boots in Brine's Rip Mills like +them he's wearin'." +</P> + +<P> +"And when air ye goin' to start?" demanded Long Jackson, still inclined +to be resentful. +</P> + +<P> +"Right now," replied Blackstock cheerfully, "soon as ye kin git guns +and stuff some crackers an' cheese into yer pockets. I'll want you to +come along, MacDonald, an' you, Long, an' Saunders, an' Big Andy, as my +posse. Meet me in fifteen minutes at the store an' I'll hev Zeb Smith +swear ye in for the job. If Black Dan wants to do any shootin', it's +jest as well to hev every thin' regular." +</P> + +<P> +There were not a few others among the mill-hands and the villagers who +had lost by Black Dan's cunning pilferings, and who would gladly have +joined in the hunt. In the backwoods not even a murderer—unless his +victim has been a woman or a child—is hunted down with so much zest as +a thief. But the Deputy did not like too much volunteer assistance, +and was apt to suppress it with scant ceremony. So his choice of a +posse was accepted without protest or comment, and the chosen four +slipped off to get their guns. +</P> + +<P> +As Tug Blackstock had foreseen, the trail of the fugitive was easily +picked up. Confident in his powers as a runaway, Black Dan's sole +object, at first, had been to gain as much lead as possible over the +expected pursuit, and he had run straight ahead, leaving a trail which +any one of Blackstock's posse—with the exception, perhaps, of Big +Andy—could have followed with almost the speed and precision of the +Deputy himself. +</P> + +<P> +There had been no attempt at concealment. About five miles back, +however, in the heavy woods beyond the head of the Lake, it appeared +that the fugitive had dropped into a walk and begun to go more +circumspectly. The trail now grew so obscure that the other woodsmen +would have had difficulty in deciphering it at all, and they were +amazed at the ease and confidence with which Blackstock followed it up, +hardly diminishing his stride. +</P> + +<P> +"Tug is sure some trailer," commented Jackson, his good humour now +quite restored by the progress they were making. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Jim</I> couldn't 'a' done no better himself," declared Big Andy, the +Oromocto man. +</P> + +<P> +And just then Blackstock came abruptly to a halt, and held up his hand +for his followers to stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady, boys. Stop right where ye are, an' don't step out o' yer +tracks," he commanded. +</P> + +<P> +The four stood rigid, and began searching the ground all about them +with keen, initiated eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've got him, so fur, all right," continued Blackstock, pointing +to a particularly clear and heavy impression of a boot-sole close +behind his own feet. "But here it stops. It don't appear to go any +further." +</P> + +<P> +He knelt down to examine the footprint. +</P> + +<P> +"P'raps he's doubled back on his tracks, to throw us off," suggested +Saunders, who was himself an expert on the trails of all the wild +creatures. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Blackstock, "I've watched out for that sharp." +</P> + +<P> +"P'raps he's give a big jump to one side or t'other, to break his +trail," said MacDonald. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Blackstock with decision, "nor that neither, Mac. This here +print is even. Ef he'd jumped to one side or the other, it would be +dug in on that side, and ef he'd jumped forrard, it would be hard down +at the toe. It fair beats me!" +</P> + +<P> +Stepping carefully, foot by foot, he examined the ground minutely over +a half circle of a dozen yards to his front. He sent out his +followers—all but Big Andy, who, being no trailer, was bidden to stand +fast—to either side and to the rear, crawling like ferrets and +interrogating every grass tuft, in vain. The trail had simply stopped +with that one footprint. It was as if Black Dan had dissolved into a +miasma, and floated off. +</P> + +<P> +At last Blackstock called the party in, and around the solitary +footprint they all sat down and smoked. One after another they made +suggestions, but each suggestion had its futility revealed and sealed +by a stony stare from Blackstock, and was no more befriended by its +author. +</P> + +<P> +At last Blackstock rose to his feet, and gave a hitch to his belt. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mind tellin' ye, boys," said he, "it beats me fair. But <I>one</I> +thing's plain enough, Black Dan ain't <I>here</I>, an' he ain't likely to +come here lookin' for us. Spread out now, an' we'll work on ahead, an' +see ef we can't pick up somethin'. You, Big Andy, you keep right along +behind me. There's an explanation to <I>everything</I>—an' we'll find this +out afore along, or my name's Dinnis." +</P> + +<P> +Over the next three or four hundred yards, however, nothing of +significance was discovered by any of the party. Then, breaking +through a dense screen of branches, Blackstock came upon the face of a +rocky knoll, so steep, at that point, that hands and feet together +would be needed to climb it. Casting his eyes upwards, he saw what +looked like the entrance to a little cave. +</P> + +<P> +A whistle brought the rest of the party to his side. A cave always +holds possibilities, if nothing else. Blackstock spread his men out +again, at intervals of three or four paces, and all went cautiously up +the steep, converging on the entrance. Blackstock, in the centre, +shielding himself behind a knob of rock, peered in. +</P> + +<P> +The place was empty. It was hardly a cave, indeed, being little more +than a shallow recess beneath an overhanging ledge. But it was well +sheltered by a great branch which stretched upwards across the opening. +Blackstock sniffed critically. +</P> + +<P> +"A bear's den," he announced, stepping in and scrutinizing the floor. +</P> + +<P> +The floor was naked rock, scantily littered with dead leaves and twigs. +These, Blackstock concluded, had been recently disturbed, but he could +find no clue to what had disturbed them. From the further side, +however—to Blackstock's right—a palpable trail, worn clear of moss +and herbage, led off by a narrow ledge across the face of the knoll. +Half a dozen paces further on the rock ended in a stretch of stiff +soil. Here the trail declared itself. It was unmistakably that of a +bear, and unmistakably, also, a fresh trail. +</P> + +<P> +Waving the rest to stop where they were, Blackstock followed the clear +trail down from the knoll, and for a couple of hundred yards along the +level, going very slowly, and searching it hawk-eyed for some sign +other than that of bear. At length he returned, looking slightly +crestfallen. +</P> + +<P> +"Nawthin' at all but bear," he announced in an injured voice. "But +that bear seems to have been in a bit of a hurry, as if he was gittin' +out o' somebody's way—Black Dan's way, it's dollars to doughnuts. But +where was Black Dan, that's what I want to know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ef <I>you</I> don't know, Tug," said MacDonald, "who <I>kin</I> know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jim!" said the Deputy, rubbing his lean chin and biting off a big +"chaw" of "black-jack." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim's sure some dawg," agreed MacDonald. "That was the only fool +thing I ever know'd ye to do, Tug—sendin' Jim after Black Dan that +way." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock swore, softly and intensely, though he was a man not given +to that form of self-expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys," said he, "I used to fancy myself quite a lot. But now I begin +to think Nipsiwaska County'd better be gittin' a noo Deputy. I ain't +no manner o' good." +</P> + +<P> +The men looked at him in frank astonishment. He had never before been +seen in this mood of self-depreciation. +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, shucks," exclaimed Long Jackson presently, "there ain't a man from +here to the St. Lawrence as kin <I>tech</I> ye, an' ye know it, Tug. Quit +yer jollyin' now. I believe ye've got somethin' up yer sleeve, only ye +won't say so." +</P> + +<P> +At this expression of unbounded confidence Blackstock braced up visibly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, boys, there's one thing I <I>kin</I> do," said he. "I'm goin' back +to git Jim, ef I hev to fetch him in a wheelbarrow. We'll find out +what he thinks o' the situation. I'll take Saunders an' Big Andy with +me. You, Long, an' Mac, you stop on here an' lay low an' see what +turns up. But don't go mussin' up the trails." +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Jim proved to be so far recovered that he was able to hobble about a +little on three legs, the fourth being skilfully bandaged so that he +could not put his foot to the ground. It was obvious, however, that he +could not make a journey through the woods and be any use whatever at +the end of it. Blackstock, therefore, knocked together a handy litter +for his benefit. And with very ill grace Jim submitted to being borne +upon it. +</P> + +<P> +Some twenty paces from that solitary boot-print which marked the end of +Black Dan's trail, Jim was set free from his litter and his attention +directed to a bruised tuft of moss. +</P> + +<P> +"Seek him," said Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +The dog gave one sniff, and then with a growl of anger the hair lifted +along his back, and he limped forward hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +"He's got it in for Black Dan <I>now</I>," remarked MacDonald. And the +whole party followed with hopeful expectation, so great was their faith +in Jim's sagacity. +</P> + +<P> +The dog, in his haste, overshot the end of the trail. He stopped +abruptly, whined, sniffed about, and came back to the deep boot-print. +All about it he circled, whimpering with impatience, but never going +more than a dozen feet away from it. Then he returned, sniffed long +and earnestly, and stood over it with drooping tail, evidently quite +nonplussed. +</P> + +<P> +"He don't appear to make no more of it than you did, Tug," said Long +Jackson, much disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, give him time, Long," retorted Blackstock. Then—— +</P> + +<P> +"Seek him! Seek him, good boy," he repeated, waving Jim to the front. +</P> + +<P> +Running with amazing briskness on his three sound legs, the dog began +to quarter the undergrowth in ever-widening half-circles, while the men +stood waiting and watching. At last, at a distance of several hundred +yards, he gave a yelp and a growl, and sprang forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Got it!" exclaimed Big Andy. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess it's only the trail o' that there b'ar he's struck," suggested +Jackson pessimistically. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim, stop!" ordered Blackstock. And the dog stood rigid in his tracks +while Blackstock hastened forward to see what he had found. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure enough. It's only the bear," cried Blackstock, investigating the +great footprint over which Jim was standing. "Come along back here, +Jim, an' don't go foolin' away yer time over a bear, jest <I>now</I>." +</P> + +<P> +The dog sniffed at the trail, gave another hostile growl, and +reluctantly followed his master back. Blackstock made him smell the +boot-print again. Then he said with emphasis, "<I>Black Dan</I>, Jim, it's +<I>Black Dan</I> we're wantin'. Seek him, boy. <I>Fetch him</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Jim started off on the same manoeuvres as before, and at the same point +as before he again gave a growl and a yelp and bounded forward. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Jim</I>," shouted the Deputy angrily, "come back here." +</P> + +<P> +The dog came limping back, looking puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by that foolin'?" went on his master severely. +"What's bears to you? Smell that!" and he pointed again to the +boot-print. "It's <I>Black Dan</I> you're after." +</P> + +<P> +Jim hung upon his words, but looked hopelessly at sea as to his +meaning. He turned and gazed wistfully in the direction of the bear's +trail. He seemed on the point of starting out for it again, but the +tone of Blackstock's rebuke withheld him. Finally, he sat down upon +his dejected tail and stared upwards into a great tree, one of whose +lower branches stretched directly over his head. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock followed his gaze. The tree was an ancient rock maple, its +branches large but comparatively few in number. Blackstock could see +clear to its top. It was obvious that the tree could afford no +hiding-place to anything larger than a wild-cat. Nevertheless, as +Blackstock studied it, a gleam of sudden insight passed over his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim 'pears to think Black Dan's gone to Heaven," remarked Saunders +drily. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye can't always tell <I>what</I> Jim's thinkin'," retorted Blackstock. +"But I'll bet it's a clever idea he's got in his black head, whatever +it is." +</P> + +<P> +He scanned the tree anew and the other trees nearest whose branches +interlaced with it. Then, with a sharp "Come on, Jim," he started +towards the knoll, eyeing the branches overhead as he went. The rest +of the party followed at a discreet distance. +</P> + +<P> +Crippled as he was, Jim could not climb the steep face of the knoll, +but his master helped him up. The instant he entered the cave he +growled savagely, and once more the stiff hair rose along his back. +Blackstock watched in silence for a moment. He had never before +noticed, on Jim's part, any special hostility toward bears, whom he was +quite accustomed to trailing. He glanced up at the big branch that +overhung the entrance, and conviction settled on his face. Then he +whispered, sharply, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off at once, as fast +as he could limp, along the trail of the bear. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys," called Blackstock to his posse. "Ef we can't find +Black Dan we may as well hev a little bear-hunt to fill in the time. +Jim appears to hev a partic'lar grudge agin that bear." +</P> + +<P> +The men closed up eagerly, expecting to find that Blackstock, with +Jim's help, had at last discovered some real signs of Black Dan. When +they saw that there was still nothing more than that old bear's trail, +which they had already examined, Long Jackson began to grumble. +</P> + +<P> +"We kin hunt bear any day," he growled. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess Tug ain't no keener after bear this day than you be," +commented MacDonald. "He's got <I>somethin'</I> up his sleeve, you see!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe it's a tame b'ar, a <I>trained</I> b'ar, an' Black Dan's a-ridin' him +horseback," suggested Big Andy. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock, who was close at Jim's heels, a few paces ahead of the +rest, turned with one of his rare, ruminative laughs. +</P> + +<P> +"That's quite an idea of yours, Andy," he remarked, stooping to examine +one of those great clawed footprints in a patch of soft soil. +</P> + +<P> +"But even <I>trained</I> b'ar hain't got wings," commented MacDonald again. +"An' there's a good three hundred yards atween the spot where Black +Dan's trail peters out an' the nearest b'ar track. I guess yer +interestin' hipotheesis don't quite fill the bill—eh, Andy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anyways," protested the big Oromocto man, "ye'll all notice one thing +queer about this here b'ar track. It goes <I>straight</I>. Mostly a b'ar +will go wanderin' off this way an' that, to nose at an old root, er +grub up a bed o' toadstools. But <I>this</I> b'ar keeps right on, as ef he +had important business somewhere straight ahead. That's just the way +he'd go ef some one <I>was</I> a-ridin' him horseback." +</P> + +<P> +Andy had advanced his proposition as a joke, but now he was inclined to +take it seriously and to defend it with warmth. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Long Jackson, "we'll all chip in, when we git our money +back, an' buy ye a bear, Andy, an' ye shall ride it up every day from +the mills to the post office. It'll save ye quite a few minutes in +gittin' to the post office. It don't matter about yer gittin' away." +</P> + +<P> +The big Oromocto lad blushed, but laughed good-naturedly. He was so +much in love with the little widow who kept the post office that +nothing pleased him more than to be teased about her. +</P> + +<P> +For the Deputy's trained eyes, as for Jim's trained nose, that +bear-track was an easy one to follow. Nevertheless, progress was slow, +for Blackstock would halt from time to time to interrogate some +claw-print with special minuteness, and from time to time Jim would +stop to lie down and lick gingerly at his bandage, tormented by the +aching of his wound. +</P> + +<P> +Late in the afternoon, when the level shadows were black upon the trail +and the trailing had come to depend entirely on Jim's nose, Blackstock +called a halt on the banks of a small brook and all sat down to eat +their bread and cheese. Then they sprawled about, smoking, for the +Deputy, apparently regarding the chase as a long one, was now in no +great hurry. Jim lay on the wet sand, close to the brook's edge, while +Blackstock, scooping up the water in double handfuls, let it fall in an +icy stream on the dog's bandaged leg. +</P> + +<P> +"Hev ye got any reel idee to come an' go on, Tug?" demanded Long +Jackson at last, blowing a long, slow jet of smoke from his lips, and +watching it spiral upwards across a bar of light just over his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I hev," said Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +"An' air ye sure it's a good one—good enough to drag us 'way out here +on?" persisted Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm bankin' on it," answered Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +"An' so's Jim, I'm thinkin'," suggested MacDonald, tentatively. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim's idee an' mine ain't the same, exackly," vouchsafed Blackstock, +after a pause, "but I guess they'll come to the same thing in the end. +They're fittin' in with each other fine, so fur!" +</P> + +<P> +"What'll ye bet that ye're not mistaken, the both o' yez?" demanded +Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer wages fur the whole summer!" answered Blackstock promptly. +</P> + +<P> +Long looked satisfied. He knocked the ashes out of his pipe and +proceeded to refill it. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ef ye're so sure as that, Tug," he drawled, "I guess I ain't +takin' any this time." +</P> + +<P> +For a couple of hours after sunset the party continued to follow the +trail, depending now entirely upon Jim's leadership. The dog, revived +by his rest and his master's cold-water treatment, limped forward at a +good pace, growling from time to time as a fresh pang in his wound +reminded him anew of his enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"How Jim 'pears to hate that bear!" remarked Big Andy once. +</P> + +<P> +"He does <I>that</I>!" agreed Blackstock. "An' he's goin' to git his own +back, too, I'm thinkin', afore long." +</P> + +<P> +Presently the moon rose round and yellow through the tree-tops, and the +going became less laborious. Jim seemed untiring now. He pressed on +so eagerly that Blackstock concluded the object of his vindictive +pursuit, whatever it was, must be now not far ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Another hour, and the party came out suddenly upon the bank of a small +pond. Jim, his nose to earth, started to lead the way around it, +towards the left. But Blackstock stopped him, and halted his party in +the dense shadows. +</P> + +<P> +The opposite shore was in the full glare of the moonlight. There, +close to the water's edge, stood a little log hut, every detail of it +standing out as clearly as in daylight. It was obviously old, but the +roof had been repaired with new bark and poles and the door was shut, +instead of sagging half open on broken hinges after the fashion of the +doors of deserted cabins. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock slipped a leash from his pocket and clipped it onto Jim's +collar. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm thinkin', boys, we'll git some information yonder about that bear, +ef we go the right way about inquirin'. Now, Saunders, you go round +the pond to the right and steal up alongshore, through the bushes, to +within forty paces of the hut. You, Mac, an' Big Andy, you two go +round same way, but git well back into the timber, and come up <I>behind</I> +the hut to within about the same distance. There'll be a winder on +that side, likely. +</P> + +<P> +"When ye're in position give the call o' the big horned owl, not too +loud. An' when I answer with the same call twice, then close in. But +keep a good-sized tree atween you an' the winder, for ye never know +what a bear kin do when he's trained. I'll bet Big Andy's seen bears +that could shoulder a gun like a man! So look out for yourselves. +Long an' Jim an' me, we'll follow the trail o' the bear right round +this end o' the pond—an' ef I'm not mistaken it'll lead us right up to +the door o' that there hut. Some bears hev a taste in regard to where +they sleep." +</P> + +<P> +As noiselessly as shadows the party melted away in opposite directions. +</P> + +<P> +The pond lay smooth as glass under the flooding moonlight, reflecting a +pale star or two where the moon-path grudgingly gave it space. +</P> + +<P> +After some fifteen minutes a lazy, muffled hooting floated across the +pond. Five minutes later the same call, the very voice of the +wilderness at midnight, came from the deep of the woods behind the hut. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock, with Jackson close behind him and Jim pulling eagerly on +the leash, was now within twenty yards of the hut door, but hidden +behind a thick young fir tree. He breathed the call of the horned +owl—a mellow, musical call, which nevertheless brings terror to all +the small creatures of the wilderness—and then, after a pause, +repeated it softly. +</P> + +<P> +He waited for a couple of minutes motionless. His keen ears caught the +snapping of a twig close behind the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"Big Andy's big feet that time," he muttered to himself. "That boy'll +never be much good on the trail." +</P> + +<P> +Then, leaving Jim to the care of Jackson, he slipped forward to another +and bigger tree not more than a dozen paces from the cabin. Standing +close in the shadow of the trunk, and drawing his revolver, he called +sharply as a gun-shot—"Dan Black." +</P> + +<P> +Instantly there was a thud within the hut as of some one leaping from a +bunk. +</P> + +<P> +"Dan Black," repeated the Deputy, "the game's up. I've got ye +surrounded. Will ye come out quietly an' give yerself up, or do ye +want trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Waal, no, I guess I don't want no more trouble," drawled a cool voice +from within the hut. "I guess I've got enough o' my own already. I'll +come out, Tug." +</P> + +<P> +The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-193"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-193.jpg" ALT=""The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands held up, stalked forth into the moonlight."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 481px"> +"The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands held up, stalked forth into the moonlight." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +With a roar Jim sprang out from behind the fir tree, dragging Long +Jackson with him by the sudden violence of his rush. +</P> + +<P> +"Down, Jim, <I>down</I>!" ordered Blackstock. "Lay down an' shut up." And +Jim, grumbling in his throat, allowed Jackson to pull him back by the +collar. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock advanced and clicked the handcuffs on to Black Dan's wrists. +Then he took the revolver and knife from the prisoner's belt, and +motioned him back into the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"Bein' pretty late now," said Blackstock, "I guess we'll accept yer +hospitality for the rest o' the night." +</P> + +<P> +"Right ye are, Tug," assented Dan. "Ye'll find tea an' merlasses, an' +a bite o' bacon in the cupboard yonder." +</P> + +<P> +As the rest of the party came in Black Dan nodded to them cordially, a +greeting which they returned with more or less sheepish grins. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me ef I don't shake hands with ye, boys," said he, "but Tug +here says the state o' me health makes it bad for me to use me arms." +And he held up the handcuffs. +</P> + +<P> +"No apologies needed," said MacDonald. +</P> + +<P> +Last of all came in Long Jackson, with Jim. Blackstock slipped the +leash, and the dog lay down in a corner, as far from the prisoner as he +could get. +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes the whole party were sitting about the tiny stove, +drinking boiled tea and munching crackers and molasses—the prisoner +joining in the feast as well as his manacled hands would permit. At +length, with his mouth full of cracker, the Deputy remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"That was clever of ye, Dan—durn' clever. I didn't know it was in ye." +</P> + +<P> +"Not half so clever as you seein' through it the way you did, Tug," +responded the prisoner handsomely. +</P> + +<P> +"But darned ef <I>I</I> see through it <I>now</I>," protested Big Andy in a +plaintive voice. "It's just about as clear as mud to <I>me</I>. Where's +your wings, Dan? An' where in tarnation is that b'ar?" +</P> + +<P> +The prisoner laughed triumphantly. Long Jackson and the others looked +relieved, the Oromocto man having propounded the question which they +had been ashamed to ask. +</P> + +<P> +"It's jest this way," explained Blackstock. "When we'd puzzled Jim +yonder—an' he was puzzled at us bein' such fools—ye'll recollect he +sat down on his tail by that boot-print, an' tried to work out what we +wanted of him. I was tellin' him to seek Black Dan, an' yet I was +callin' him back off that there bear-track. <I>He</I> could smell Black Dan +in the bear-track, but we couldn't. So we was doin' the best we could +to mix him up. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he looked up into the big maple overhead. Then I saw where +Black Dan had gone to. He'd jumped (that's why the boot-print was so +heavy), an' caught that there branch, an' swung himself up into the +tree. Then he worked his way along from tree to tree till he come to +the cave. I saw by the way Jim took on in the cave that Black Dan had +been <I>there</I> all right. For Jim hain't got no special grudge agin +bear. Says I to myself, ef Jim smells Black Dan in that bear trail, +then Black Dan must <I>be</I> in it, that's all! +</P> + +<P> +"Then it comes over me that I'd once seen a big bear-skin in Dan's room +at the Mills, an' as the picture of it come up agin in my mind, I +noticed how the fore-paws and legs of it were missin'. With that I +looked agin at the trail, as we went along Jim an' me. An' sure +enough, in all them tracks there wasn't one print of a hind-paw. <I>They +were all fore-paws</I>. Smart, very smart o' Dan, says I to myself. +Let's see them ingenious socks o' yours, Dan." +</P> + +<P> +"They're in the top bunk yonder," said Black Dan, with a weary air. +"An' my belt and pouch, containin' the other stuff, that's all in the +bunk, too. I may's well save ye the trouble o' lookin' for it, as ye'd +find it anyways. I was <I>sure</I> ye'd never succeed in trackin' me down, +so I didn't bother to hide it. An' I see now ye <I>wouldn't</I> 'a' got me, +Tug, ef it hadn't 'a' been fer Jim. That's where I made the mistake o' +my life, not stoppin' to make sure I'd done Jim up." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Dan," said Blackstock, "ye're wrong there. Ef you'd done Jim up +I'd have caught ye jest the same, in the long run, fer I'd never have +quit the trail till I <I>did</I> git ye. An' when I got ye—well, I'd hev +forgot myself, mebbe, an' only remembered that ye'd killed my best +friend. Ef ye'd had as many lives as a cat, Dan, they wouldn't hev +been enough to pay fer that dawg." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0505"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V. The Fire at Brine's Rip Mills +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +When pretty Mary Farrell came to Brine's Rip and set up a modest +dressmaker's shop quite close to the Mills (she said she loved the +sound of the saws), all the unattached males of the village, to say +nothing of too many of the attached ones, fell instant victims to her +charms. They were her slaves from the first lifting of her long lashes +in their direction. +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, to be sure, did not capitulate +quite so promptly as the rest. Mary had to flash her dark blue eyes +upon him at least twice, dropping them again with shy admiration. Then +he was at her feet—which was a pleasant place to be, seeing that those +same small feet were shod with a neatness which was a perpetual +reproach to the untidy sawdust strewn roadways of Brine's Rip. +</P> + +<P> +Even Big Andy, the boyish young giant from the Oromocto, wavered for a +few hours in his allegiance to the postmistress. But Mary was much too +tactful to draw upon her pretty shoulders the hostility of such a power +as the postmistress, and Big Andy's enthusiasm was cold-douched in its +first glow. +</P> + +<P> +As for the womenfolk of Brine's Rip, it was not to be expected that +they would agree any too cordially with the men on the subject of Mary +Farrell. +</P> + +<P> +But one instance of Mary's tact made even the most irreconcilable of +her own sex sheath their claws in dealing with her. She had come from +Harner's Bend. The Mills at Harner's Bend were anathema to Brine's Rip +Mills. A keen trade rivalry had grown, fed by a series of petty but +exasperating incidents, into a hostility that blazed out on the least +occasion. And pretty Mary had come from Harner's Bend. Brine's Rip +did not find it out till Mary's spell had been cast and secured, of +course. But the fact was a bitter one to swallow. No one else but +Mary Farrell could have made Brine's Rip swallow it. +</P> + +<P> +One day Big Andy, greatly daring, and secure in his renovated +allegiance to the postmistress, ventured to chaff Mary about it. She +turned upon him, half amused and half indignant. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she demanded, "isn't Harner's Bend a good place to come away +from? Do you think I'd ought to have stopped there? Do I look like +the kind of girl that <I>wouldn't</I> come away from Harner's Bend? And me +a dress-maker? I just couldn't <I>live</I>, let alone make a living, among +such a dowdy lot of women-folk as they've got over there. It isn't +dresses <I>they</I> want, but oat-sacks, and you wouldn't know the +difference, either, when they'd got them on." +</P> + +<P> +The implication was obvious; and the women of Brine's Rip began to +allow for possible virtues in Miss Farrell. The post-mistress declared +there was no harm in her, and even admitted that she might almost be +called good-looking "if she hadn't such an <I>awful</I> big mouth." +</P> + +<P> +I have said that all the male folk of Brine's Rip had capitulated +immediately to the summons of Mary Farrell's eyes. But there were two +notable exceptions—Woolly Billy and Jim. Both Woolly Billy's flaxen +mop of curls and the great curly black head of Jim, the dog, had turned +away coldly from Mary's first advances. Woolly Billy preferred men to +women anyhow. And Jim was jealous of Tug Blackstock's devotion to the +petticoated stranger. +</P> + +<P> +But Mary Farrell knew how to manage children and dogs as well as men. +She ignored both Jim and Woolly Billy. She did it quite pointedly, yet +with a gracious politeness that left no room for resentment. Neither +the child nor the dog was accustomed to being ignored. Before long +Mary's amiable indifference began to make them feel as if they were +being left out in the cold. They began to think they were losing +something because she did not notice them. Reluctantly at first, but +by-and-by with eagerness, they courted her attention. At last they +gained it. It was undeniably pleasant. From that moment the child and +the dog were at Mary's well-shod and self-reliant little feet. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +As summer wore on into autumn the dry weather turned to a veritable +drought, and all the streams ran lower and lower. Word came early that +the mills at Harner's Bend, over in the next valley, had been compelled +to shut down for lack of logs. But Brine's Rip exulted unkindly. The +Ottanoonsis, fed by a group of cold spring lakes, maintained a steady +flow; there were plenty of logs, and the mills had every prospect of +working full time all through the autumn. Presently they began to +gather in big orders which would have gone otherwise to Harner's Bend. +Brine's Rip not only exulted, but took into itself merit. It felt that +it must, on general principles, have deserved well of Providence, for +Providence so obviously to take sides with it. +</P> + +<P> +As August drew to a dusty, choking end, Mary Farrell began to collect +her accounts. Her tact and sympathy made this easy for her, and women +paid up civilly enough who had never been known to do such a thing +before, unless at the point of a summons. Mary said she was going to +the States, perhaps as far as New York itself, to renew her stock and +study up the latest fashions. +</P> + +<P> +Every one was much interested. Woolly Billy's eyes brimmed over at the +prospect of her absence, but he was consoled by the promise of her +speedy return with an air-gun and also a toy steam-engine that would +really go. As for Jim, his feathery black tail drooped in premonition +of a loss, but he could not gather exactly what was afoot. He was +further troubled by an unusual depression on the part of Tug +Blackstock. The Deputy-Sheriff seemed to have lost his zest in +tracking down evil-doers. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearing ten o'clock on a hot and starless night. Tug +Blackstock, too restless to sleep, wandered down to the silent mill +with Jim at his heels. As he approached, Jim suddenly went bounding on +ahead with a yelp of greeting. He fawned upon a small, shadowy figure +which was seated on a pile of deals close to the water's edge. Tug +Blackstock hurried up. +</P> + +<P> +"You here, Mary, all alone, at this time o' night!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"I come here often," answered Mary, making room for him to sit beside +her. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I'd known it sooner," muttered the Deputy. +</P> + +<P> +"I like to listen to the rapids, and catch glimpses of the water +slipping away blindly in the dark," said Mary. "It helps one not to +think," she added with a faint catch in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should <I>you</I> not want to think, Mary?" protested Blackstock. +</P> + +<P> +"How dreadfully dry everything is," replied Mary irrelevantly, as if +heading Blackstock off. "What if there should be a fire at the mill? +Wouldn't the whole village go, like a box of matches? People might get +caught asleep in their beds. Oughtn't there to be more than one night +watchman in such dry weather as this? I've so often heard of mills +catching fire—though I don't see why they should, any more than +houses." +</P> + +<P> +"Mills most generally git <I>set</I> afire," answered the Deputy grimly. +"Think what it would mean to Harner's Bend if these mills should git +burnt down now! It would mean thousands and thousands to them. But +you're dead right, Mary, about the danger to the village. Only it +depends on the wind. This time o' year, an' as long as it keeps dry, +what wind there is blows mostly away from the houses, so sparks and +brands would just be carried out over the river. But if the wind +should shift to the south'ard or thereabouts, yes, there'd be more +watchmen needed. I s'pose you're thinkin' about your shop while ye're +away?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking about Woolly Billy," said Mary gravely. "What do I +care about the old shop? It's insured, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll look out for Woolly Billy," answered Blackstock. "And I'll look +out for the shop, whether <I>you</I> care about it or not. It's yours, and +your name's on the door, and anything of yours, anything you've +touched, an' wherever you've put your little foot, that's something for +me to care about. I ain't no hand at making pretty speeches, Mary, or +paying compliments, but I tell you these here old sawdust roads are +just wonderful to me now, because your little feet have walked on 'em. +Ef only I could think that you could care—that I had anything, was +anything, Mary, worth offering you——" +</P> + +<P> +He had taken her hand, and she had yielded it to him. He had put his +great arm around her shoulders and drawn her to him,—and for a moment, +with a little shiver, she had leant against him, almost cowered against +him, with the air of a frightened child craving protection. But as he +spoke on, in his quiet, strong voice, she suddenly tore herself away, +sprang off to the other end of the pile of deals, and began to sob +violently. +</P> + +<P> +He followed her at once. But she thrust out both hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Go away. <I>Please</I> don't come near me," she appealed, somewhat wildly. +"You don't understand—<I>anything</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock looked puzzled. He seated himself at a distance of +several inches, and clasped his hands resolutely in his lap. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I won't tech you, Mary," said he, "if you don't want me to. +I don't want to do <I>anything</I> you don't want me to—<I>never</I>, Mary. But +I sure don't understand what you're crying for. <I>Please</I> don't. I'm +so sorry I teched you, dear. But if you knew how I love you, how I +would give my life for you, I think you'd forgive me, Mary." +</P> + +<P> +Mary gave a bitter little laugh, and choked her sobs. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't that, oh no, it isn't <I>that</I>!" she said. "I—I <I>liked</I> it. +There!" she panted. Then she sprang to her feet and faced him. And in +the gloom he could see her eyes flaming with some intense excitement, +from a face ghost-white. +</P> + +<P> +"But—I won't let you make me love you, Tug Blackstock. I won't!—I +won't! I won't let you change all my plans, all my ambitions. I won't +give up all I've worked for and schemed for and sold my very soul for, +just because at last I've met a real man. Oh, I'd soon spoil your +life, no matter how much you love me. You'd soon find how cruel, and +hard, and selfish I am. An' I'd ruin my own life, too. Do you think I +could settle down to spend my life in the backwoods? Do you think I +have no dreams beyond the spruce woods of Nipsiwaska County? Do you +think you could imprison <I>me</I> in Brine's Rip? I'd either kill your +brave, clean soul, Tug Blackstock, or I'd kill myself!" +</P> + +<P> +Utterly bewildered at this incomprehensible outburst, Blackstock could +only stammer lamely: +</P> + +<P> +"But—I thought—ye kind o' liked Brine's Rip." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Like</I> it!" The uttermost of scorn was in her voice. "I hate, hate, +hate it! I just live to get out into the great world, where I feel +that I belong. But I must have money first. And I'm going to study, +and I'm going to make myself somebody. I wasn't born for this." And +she waved her hand with a sweep that took in all the backwoods world. +"I'm getting out of it. It would drive me mad. Oh, I sometimes think +it has already driven me half mad." +</P> + +<P> +Her tense voice trailed off wearily, and she sat down again—this time +further away. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock sat quite still for a time. At last he said gently: +</P> + +<P> +"I do understand ye now, Mary." +</P> + +<P> +"You <I>don't</I>," interrupted Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"I felt, all along, I was somehow not good enough for you." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a million miles <I>too</I> good for me," she interrupted again, +energetically. +</P> + +<P> +"But," he went on without heeding the protest, "I hoped, somehow, that +I might be able to make you happy. An' that's what I want, more'n +anything else in the world. All I have is at your feet, Mary, an' I +could make' it more in time. But I'm not a big enough man for you. +I'm all yours—an' always will be—but I can't make myself no more than +I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you could, Tug Blackstock," she cried. "Real men are scarce, in +the great world and everywhere. You could make yourself a master +anywhere—if only you would tear yourself loose from here." +</P> + +<P> +He sprang up, and his arms went out as if to seize her. But, with an +effort, he checked himself, and dropped them stiffly to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm too old to change my spots, Mary," said he. "I'm stamped for good +an' all. I am some good here. I'd be no good there. An' I won't +never resk bein' a drag on yer plans." +</P> + +<P> +"You could—you could!" urged Mary almost desperately. +</P> + +<P> +But he turned away, with his lips set hard, not daring to look at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef ever ye git tired of it all out there, an' yer own kind calls ye +back—as it will, bein' in yer blood—I'll be waitin' for ye, Mary, +whatever happens." +</P> + +<P> +He strode off quickly up the shore. The girl stared after, him till he +was quite out of sight, then buried her face in the fur of Jim, who had +willingly obeyed a sign from his master and remained at her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my dear, if only you could have dared," she murmured. At last she +jumped up, with an air of resolve, and wandered off, apparently +aimlessly, into the recesses of the mill, with one hand resting firmly +on Jim's collar. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Two days later Mary Farrell left Brine's Rip. She hugged and kissed +Woolly Billy very hard before she left, and cried a little with him, +pretending to laugh, and she took her three big trunks with her, in the +long-bodied express waggon which carried the mails, although she said +she would not be gone more than a month at the outside. +</P> + +<P> +Tug Blackstock eyed those three trunks with a sinking heart. His only +comfort was that he had in his pocket the key of Mary's little shop, +which she had sent to him by Woolly Billy. When the express waggon had +rattled and bumped away out of sight there was a general feeling in +Brine's Rip that the whole place had gone flat, like stale beer, and +the saws did not seem to make as cheerful a shrieking as before, and +Black Saunders, expert runner of logs as he was, fell in because he +forgot to look where he was going, and knocked his head heavily in +falling, and was almost drowned before they could fish him out. +</P> + +<P> +"There's goin' to be some bad luck comin' to Brine's Rip afore long," +remarked Long Jackson in a voice of deepest pessimism. +</P> + +<P> +"It's come, Long," said the Deputy. +</P> + +<P> +That same day the wind changed, and blew steadily from the mills right +across the village. But it brought no change in the weather, except a +few light showers that did no more than lay the surface dust. About a +week later it shifted back again, and blew steadily away from the +village and straight across the river. And once more a single +night-watchman was regarded as sufficient safeguard against fire. +</P> + +<P> +A little before daybreak on the second night following this change of +wind, the watchman was startled by a shrill scream and a heavy splash +from the upper end of the great pool where the logs were gathered +before being fed up in the saws. It sounded like a woman's voice. As +fast as he could stumble over the intervening deals and rubbish he made +his way to the spot, waving his lantern and calling anxiously. There +was no sign of any one in the water. As he searched he became +conscious of a ruddy light at one corner of the mill. +</P> + +<P> +He turned and dashed back, yelling "Fire! Fire!" at the top of his +lungs. A similar ruddy light was spreading upward in two other corners +of the mill. Frantically he turned on the nearest chemical +extinguisher, yelling madly all the while. But he was already too +late. The flames were licking up the dry wood with furious appetite. +</P> + +<P> +In almost as little time as it takes to tell of it the whole great +structure was ablaze, with all Brine's Rip, in every varying stage of +<I>déshabille</I>, out gaping at it. The little hand-fire-engine worked +heroically, squirting a futile stream upon the flames for a while, and +then turning its attention to the nearest houses in order to keep them +drenched. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God the wind's in the right direction," muttered Zeb Smith, the +storekeeper and magistrate. And the pious ejaculation was echoed +fervently through the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime Tug Blackstock, seeing that there was nothing to do in +the way of fighting the fire—the mill being already devoured—was +interviewing the distracted watchman. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," he agreed, "it was a trick to git you away long enough for the +fires to git a start. Somebody yelled, an' chucked in a big stick, +that's all. An', o' course, you run to help. You couldn't naturally +do nothin' else." +</P> + +<P> +The watchman heaved a huge sigh of relief. If Blackstock exonerated +him from the charge of negligence, other people would. And his heart +had been very heavy at being so fatally fooled. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Harner's Bend all right, that's what it is!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef only we could prove it," said Blackstock, searching the damp ground +about the edges of the pool, which was lighted now as by day. +Presently he saw Jim sniffing excitedly at some tracks. He hurried +over to examine them. Jim looked up at him and wagged his tail, as +much as to say, "So you've found them, too! Interesting, ain't they!" +</P> + +<P> +"What d'ye make o' that?" demanded Blackstock of the watchman. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Boy's</I> tracks, sure," said the latter at once. +</P> + +<P> +The footprints were small and neat. They were of a double-soled +larrigan, with a low heel of a single welt. +</P> + +<P> +"None of <I>our</I> boys," said Blackstock, "wear a larrigan like that, +especially this time o' year. One could run light in that larrigan, +an' the sole's thick enough to save the foot. An' it's good for a +canoe, too." +</P> + +<P> +He rubbed his chin, thinking hard. +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday," said the watchman, "I mind seein' a young half-breed, he +looked like a slip of a lad, very dark complected, crossin' the road +half-a-mile up yonder. He was out o' sight in a second, like a +shadder, but I mind noticin' he had on larrigans—an' a brown slouch +hat down over his eyes, an' a dark red handkerchief roun' his neck. He +was a stranger in these parts." +</P> + +<P> +"That would account for the voice, like a woman's," said Blackstock, +following the tracks till they plunged through a tangle of tall bush. +"An' here's the handkerchief," he added triumphantly, grabbing up a +dark red thing that fluttered from a branch. "Harner's Bend knows +somethin' about that boy, I'm thinkin'. Now, Bill, you go along back, +an' don't say nothin' about this, <I>mind</I>! Me an' Jim, we'll look into +it. Tell old Mrs. Amos and Woolly Billy not to fret. We'll be back +soon." +</P> + +<P> +He slipped the leash into Jim's collar, gave him the red handkerchief +to smell, and said, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off eagerly, tugging +at the leash, because the trail was so fresh and plain to him, and he +hated to be held back. +</P> + +<P> +The trail led around behind the village, and back to the river bank +about a mile below. There it followed straight down the shore. It was +evident to Blackstock that his quarry would have a canoe in hiding some +distance further down. There was no time to be lost. It was now +almost full daybreak, and he could follow the trail by himself. After +all, it was only a boy he had to deal with. He could trust Jim to +delay him, to hold him at bay. He loosed the leash, and Jim bounded +forward at top speed. He himself followed at a leisurely loping stride. +</P> + +<P> +As he trotted on, thinking of many things, he took out the red +handkerchief and examined it again. He smelt it curiously. His nose +was keen, like a wild animal's. As he sniffed, a pang went through +him, clutching at his heart. He sniffed again. His long stride +shortened. He dropped into a walk. He thought over, word by word, his +conversation with Mary that night beside the mill. His face went grey. +After a brief struggle he shouted to Jim, trying to call him back. But +the eager dog was already far beyond hearing. Then Blackstock broke +into a desperate run, shouting from time to time. He thought of Jim's +ferocity when on the trail. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the figure of a slim boy, very light of foot, was speeding +far down the river bank, clutching a brown slouch hat in one hand as he +ran. He had an astonishing crop of hair, wound in tight coils about +his head. He was panting heavily, and seemed nearly spent. At last he +halted, drew a deep sigh of relief, pressed his hands to his heart, and +plunged into a clump of bushes. In the depth of the bushes lay a small +birch-bark canoe, carefully concealed. He tugged at it, but for the +moment he was too weary to lift it. He flung himself down beside it to +take breath. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence, his ears caught the sound of light feet padding down +the shore. He jumped up, and peered through the bushes. A big black +dog was galloping on his trail. He drew a long knife, and his mouth +set itself so hard that the lips went white. The dog reached the edge +of the bushes. The youth slipped behind the canoe. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-224"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-224.jpg" ALT=""He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 511px"> +"He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Jim," said he softly. The dog whined, wagged his tail, and plunged in +through the bushes. The youth's stern lips relaxed. He slipped the +knife back into its sheath, and fondled the dog, which was fawning upon +him eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd never go back on me, would you, Jim, no matter what I'd done?" +said he, in a gentle voice. Then, with an expert twist of his lithe +young body, he shouldered the canoe and bore it down to the water's +edge. One of his swarthy hands had suddenly grown much whiter, where +Jim had been licking it. +</P> + +<P> +Before stepping into the canoe, this peculiar youth took a scrap of +paper from his shirt pocket, and an envelope. He scribbled something, +sealed it up, addressed the envelope, marked it "private," and gave it +to Jim, who took it in his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Give that to Tug Blackstock," ordered the youth clearly. Then he +kissed the top of Jim's black head, pushed off, and paddled away +swiftly down river. Jim, proud of his commission, set off up the shore +at a gallop to meet his master. +</P> + +<P> +Half-a-mile back he met him. Blackstock snatched the letter from Jim's +mouth, praising Heaven that the dog had for once failed in his duty. +He tore open the letter. It said! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P STYLE="font-size: 85%"> +Yes, I did it. I had to do it. But <I>you</I> could have saved me, if +you'd <I>dared</I>—for I do love you, Tug Blackstock.—MARY. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A month later, a parcel came from New York for Woolly Billy, containing +an air-gun, and a toy steam-engine that would really go. But it +contained no address. And Brine's Rip said that Tug Blackstock had +been bested for once, because he never succeeded in finding out who +burnt down the mills. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0506"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI. The Man with the Dancing Bear +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +One day there arrived at Brine's Rip Mills, driving in a smart trap +which looked peculiarly unsuited to the rough backwoods roads, an +imposing gentleman who wore a dark green Homburg hat, heavy, tan, +gauntletted gloves, immaculate linen, shining boots, and a well-fitting +morning suit of dark pepper-and-salt, protected from the contaminations +of travel by a long, fawn-coloured dust-coat. He also wore a monocle +so securely screwed into his left eye that it looked as if it had been +born there. +</P> + +<P> +His red and black wheels labouring noiselessly through the sawdust of +the village road, he drove up to the front door of the barn-like wooden +structure, which staggered under the name, in huge letters, of the +CONTINENTAL HOTEL. There was no one in sight to hold the horse, so he +sat in the trap and waited, with severe impatience, for some one to +come out to him. +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the landlord strolled forth in his shirt-sleeves, +chewing tobacco, and inquired casually what he could do for his visitor. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm looking for Mr. Blackstock—Mr. J. T. Blackstock," said the +stranger with lofty politeness. "Will you be so good as to direct me +to him?" +</P> + +<P> +The landlord spat thoughtfully into the sawdust, to show that he was +not unduly impressed by the stranger's appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find him down to the furder end of the cross street yonder," he +answered pointing with his thumb. "Last house towards the river. +Lives with old Mrs. Amos—him an' Woolly Billy." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger found it without difficulty, and halted his trap in front +of the door. Before he could alight, a tall, rather gaunt woodsman, +with kind but piercing eyes and brows knitted in an habitual +concentration, appeared in the doorway and gave him courteous greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Blackstock, I presume? The Deputy Sheriff, I should say," +returned the stranger with extreme affability, descending from the trap. +</P> + +<P> +"The same," assented Blackstock, stepping forward to hitch the horse to +a fence post. A big black dog came from the house and, ignoring the +resplendent stranger, went up to Blackstock's side to superintend the +hitching. A slender little boy, with big china-blue eyes and a shock +of pale, flaxen curls, followed the dog from the house and stopped to +stare at the visitor. +</P> + +<P> +The latter swept the child with a glance of scrutiny, swift and intent, +then turned to his host. +</P> + +<P> +"I am extraordinarily glad to meet you, Mr. Blackstock," he said, +holding out his hand. "If, as I surmise, the name of this little boy +here is Master George Harold Manners Watson, then I owe you a debt of +gratitude which nothing can repay. I hear that you not only saved his +life, but have been as a father to him, ever since the death of his own +unhappy father." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock's heart contracted. He accepted the stranger's hand +cordially enough, but was in no hurry to reply. At last he said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Stranger, you've got Woolly Billy's reel name all O.K. But why +should you thank me? Whatever I've done, it's been for Woolly Billy's +own sake—ain't it, Billy?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, Woolly Billy snuggled up against his side and clutched his +great brown hand adoringly, while still keeping dubious eyes upon the +stranger. +</P> + +<P> +The latter took off his gloves, laughing amiably. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you see, Mr. Blackstock, I'm only his uncle, and his only uncle +at that. So I have a right to thank you, and I see by the way the +child clings to you how good you've been to him. My name is J. +Heathington Johnson, of Heathington Hall, Cramley, Blankshire. I'm his +mother's brother. And I fear I shall have to tear him away from you in +a great hurry, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Come inside, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock, "an' sit down. We must +talk this over a bit. It is kind o' sudden, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to seem unsympathetic," said the visitor kindly, "and I +know my little nephew is going to resent my carrying him off." (At +these words Woolly Billy began to realize what was in the air, and +clung to Blackstock with a storm of frightened tears.) "But you will +understand that I have to catch the next boat from New York—and I have +a thirty-mile drive before me now to the nearest railway station. You +know what the roads are! So I'm sure you won't think me unreasonable +if I ask you to get my nephew ready as soon as possible." +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock devoted a few precious moments to quieting the child's sobs +before replying. He remembered having found out in some way, from some +papers in the drowned Englishman's pockets or somewhere, that the name +of Woolly Billy's mother, before her marriage, was not Johnson, but +O'Neill. Of course that discrepancy, he realized, might be easily +explained, but his quick suspicions, sharpened by his devotion to the +child, were aroused. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not a rich family, by any means, Mr. Blackstock," continued the +stranger, after a pause. "But we have enough to be able to reward +handsomely those who have befriended us. All <I>possible</I> expense that +my nephew may have been to you, I want to reimburse you for at once. +And I wish also to make you a present as an expression of my +gratitude—not, I assure you, as a payment," he added, noticing that +Blackstock's face had hardened ominously. He took out a thick +bill-book, well stuffed with banknotes. +</P> + +<P> +"Put away your money, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock coldly. "I ain't +taking any, thank you, for what I may have done for Woolly Billy. But +what I want to know is, what authority have you to demand the child?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm his uncle, his mother's brother," answered the stranger sharply, +drawing himself up. +</P> + +<P> +"That may be, an' then again, it mayn't," said Blackstock. "Do you +think I'm goin' to hand over the child to a perfect stranger, just +because he comes and says he's the child's uncle? What proofs have +you?" +</P> + +<P> +The visitor glared angrily, but restrained himself and handed +Blackstock his card. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock read it carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"What does that prove?" he demanded sarcastically. "It might not be +your card! An' even if you are 'Mr. Johnson' all right, that's not +proving that Mr. Johnson is the little feller's uncle! I want legal +proof, that would hold in a court of law." +</P> + +<P> +"You insolent blockhead!" exclaimed the visitor. "How dare you +interfere between my nephew and me? If you don't hand him over at +once, I will make you smart for it. Come, child, get your cap and +coat, and come with me immediately. I have no more time to waste with +this foolery, my man." And he stepped forward as if to lay hands on +Woolly Billy. +</P> + +<P> +Blackstock interposed an inexorable shoulder. The big dog growled, and +stiffened up the hair on his neck ominously. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here," said Blackstock crisply, "you're goin' to git yourself +into trouble before you go much further, my lad. You jest mind your +manners. When you bring me them proofs, I'll talk to you, see!" +</P> + +<P> +He took Woolly Billy's hand, and turned towards the door. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger's righteous indignation, strangely enough, seemed to have +been allayed by this speech. He followed eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Don't</I> be unreasonable, Mr. Blackstock," he coaxed. "I'll send you +the documents, from my solicitors, at once. I'm sure you don't want to +stand in the dear child's light this way, and prevent him getting back +to his own people, and the life that is his right, a day longer than is +necessary. Do listen to reason, now." And he patted his wad of +bank-notes suggestively. +</P> + +<P> +But at this stage, Woolly Billy and the big dog having already entered +the cottage, Blackstock followed, and calmly shut the door. "You'll +smart for this, you ignorant clod-hopper!" shouted Mr. Heathington +Johnson. He clutched the door-knob. But for all his rage, prudence +came to his rescue. He did not turn the knob. After a moment's +hesitation he ground his heel upon the doorstep, stalked back to his +gig, and drove off furiously. The three at the window watched his +going. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't see <I>him</I> back here again," remarked the Deputy. "<I>He</I> +wasn't no uncle o' yours, Woolly Billy." +</P> + +<P> +That same evening he wrote to a reliable firm of lawyers at Exville, +telling them all he knew about Woolly Billy and Woolly Billy's father, +and also all he suspected, and instructed them to look into the matter +fully. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Several weeks went by, and the imposing stranger, as Blackstock had +anticipated, failed to return with his proofs. Then came a letter from +the lawyers at Exville, saying that they had something important to +communicate, and Blackstock hurried off to see them, planning to be +away for about a week. +</P> + +<P> +On the day following his departure, to the delight of all the children +and of most of the rest of the population as well, there arrived at +Brine's Rip Mills a man with a dancing bear. He was a black-eyed, +swarthy, merry fellow, with a most infectious laugh, and besides his +trained bear he possessed a pedlar's pack containing all sorts of +up-to-date odds and ends, not by any means to be found in the very +utilitarian miscellany of Zeb Smith's corner store. +</P> + +<P> +He talked a rather musical but very broken lingo that passed for +English, flashing a mouthful of splendid white teeth as he did so. He +appeared to be an Italian, and the men of Brine's Rip christened him a +"Dago" at once. There was no resisting his childlike bonhomie, or the +amiable antics of his great brown bear, which grinned through its +muzzle as if dancing to its master's merry piccolo were its one delight +in life. And the two did a roaring business from the moment they came +strolling into Brine's Rip. +</P> + +<P> +"Tony" was what the laughing vagabond called himself, and his bear +answered to the name of Beppo. Business being so good, Tony could +afford to be generous, and he was continually pressing peppermint +lozenges upon the rabble of children who formed a triumphal procession +for him wherever he moved. When Tony's eyes first fell on Woolly +Billy, standing just outside the crowd, with one arm over the neck of +the big black dog, he was delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"Com-a here, Bambino, com-a quick!" he cried, holding out some +peppermints. Woolly Billy liked him at once, and adored the bear, but +was too shy, or reserved, to push his way through the other children. +So Tony came to him, leading the bear. Woolly Billy stood his ground, +with a welcoming smile. The big black dog growled doubtfully, and then +lost his doubts in curious admiration of the bear, which plainly +fascinated him. +</P> + +<P> +Woolly Billy accepted the peppermints politely, and put one into his +mouth without delay. Then, with an apologetic air, the Italian laid +one finger softly on Woolly Billy's curls, and drew back at once, as if +fearing he had taken a liberty. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim likes the bear, sir, <I>doesn't</I> he?" suggested Woolly Billy, to +make conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody he like-a ze bear. Him vaira good bear," asserted the +bear's master, and laughed again, giving the bear a peppermint. "An' +you one vaira good bambino. Ze bear, he like-a you vaira much. See, +he shak-a you ze hand—good frens now." +</P> + +<P> +Encouraged by the warmth of his welcome, the Italian had from the first +made a practice of dropping in at certain houses of the village just at +meal times—when he was received always with true backwoods +hospitality. On Woolly Billy's invitation he had come to the house of +Mrs. Amos. The old lady, too rheumatic to get about much out of doors, +was delighted with such a unique and amusing guest. To all he +said—which, indeed, she never more than half understood—she kept +ejaculating. "Well, I never!" and "Did ye ever hear the likes o' that?" +</P> + +<P> +And the bear, chained to the gate-post and devouring her +pancakes-and-molasses, thrilled her with a sense of "furrin parts." In +fact, there was no other house at Brine's Rip where Tony and his bear +were made more warmly welcome than at Mrs. Amos'. The only member of +the household who lacked cordiality was Jim, whose coolness towards +Tony, however, was fully counter-balanced by his interest in the bear. +Towards Tony his attitude was one of armed neutrality. +</P> + +<P> +On the fourth evening after the arrival of Tony and Beppo, Jim +discovered a most tempting lump of meat in the corner of Mrs. Amos' +garden. Having something of an appetite at the moment, he was just +about to bolt the morsel. But no sooner had he set his teeth into it +than he conceived a prejudice against it. He dropped it, and sniffed +at it intently. The smell was quite all right. He turned it over with +his paw and sniffed at the under side. No, there was nothing the +matter with it. Nevertheless, his appetite had quite vanished. Well, +it would do for another time. He dug a hole and buried the morsel, and +then went back to the house to see what Woolly Billy and Mrs. Amos were +doing. +</P> + +<P> +A little later, just as Mrs. Amos was lighting the lamps in the +kitchen, the rattling of a chain was heard outside, followed by the +whimpering of Beppo, who objected to being tied up to the gate-post +when he wanted to come in and beg for pancakes. Woolly Billy ran to +the door and peered forth into the dusk. After a few moments Tony +entered, all his teeth agleam in his expansive smile. +</P> + +<P> +He had a little bag of bon-bons for Woolly Billy—something much more +fascinating than peppermints—which he doled out to the child one by +one, as a rare treat. And for himself he wanted a cup of tea, which +hospitable Mrs. Amos was only too eager to brew for him. Jim, seeing +that Woolly Billy was too interested to need <I>his</I> company, got up and +went out to inspect the bear. +</P> + +<P> +Tony was in gay spirits that evening. In his broken English, and +helping out his meaning with eloquent gestures, he told of adventures +which made Woolly Billy's eyes as round as saucers and reduced Mrs. +Amos to admiring speechlessness. He made Mrs. Amos drink tea with him, +pouring it out for her himself while she hobbled about to find him +something to eat. And once in a while, at tantalizing intervals, he +allowed Woolly Billy one more bon-bon. +</P> + +<P> +There was a chill in the night air, so Tony, who was always politeness +itself, asked leave to close the door. Mrs. Amos hastened also to +close the window. Or, rather, she tried to hasten, but made rather a +poor attempt, and sat down heavily in the big arm-chair beside it. +</P> + +<P> +"My legs is that heavy," she explained, laughing apologetically. So +Tony closed the window himself, and at the same time drew the curtains. +Then he went on talking. +</P> + +<P> +But apparently his conversation was less interesting than it had been. +There came a snore from Mrs. Amos' big chair. Tony glanced aside at +Woolly Billy, as if expecting the child to laugh. But Woolly Billy +took no notice of the sound. He was fast asleep, his fluffy fair head +fallen forward upon the red table-cloth. +</P> + +<P> +Tony looked at the clock on the mantel-piece. It was not as late as he +could have wished, but he had observed that Brine's Rip went to bed +early. He turned the lamp low, softly raised the window, and looked +out, listening. There were no lights in the village, and all was +silence save for the soft roar of the Rip. He extinguished the lamp, +and waited a few moments till his eyes got quite accustomed to the +gloom. +</P> + +<P> +At length he picked up the slight form of Woolly Billy (who was now in +a drugged stupor from which he would not awake for hours), and slung +him over his left shoulder. In his right hand he grasped his short +bear-whip, with its loaded butt. He stepped noiselessly to the door, +listened a few moments, and then opened it inch by inch with his left +hand, standing behind it, and grasping the whip so as to be ready to +strike with the butt. He was wondering where the big black dog was. +</P> + +<P> +The door was about half open, when a black shape, appearing suddenly, +launched itself at the opening. The loaded butt came crashing +down—and Jim dropped sprawling across the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +From the back of the bear Tony now unfastened a small pack, and +strapped it over his right shoulder. Then he unchained the great beast +noiselessly, and led it off to the waterside, to a spot where a heavy +log canoe was drawn up upon the beach. He hauled the canoe down, +making much disarrangement in the gravel, launched it, thrust it far +out into the water, and noted it being carried away by the current. He +had no wish to journey by that route himself, knowing that as soon as +the crime was discovered, which might chance at any moment, the +telephone would give the alarm all down the river. +</P> + +<P> +Next he undid the bear's chain, and took off its muzzle, and threw them +both into the water, knowing that when freed from these badges of +servitude the animal would wander further and more freely. At first +the good-natured creature was unwilling to leave him. Its master, from +policy, had always treated it kindly, and fed it well, and it was in no +hurry to profit by its freedom. +</P> + +<P> +However, the man ordered it off towards the woods, enforcing the +command by a vigorous push and a stroke of the whip. Shaking itself +till it realized its freedom, it slouched away a few paces down stream, +then turned into the woods. The man listened to its careless, crashing +progress. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll find it easy following <I>that</I> trail," he muttered with +satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +Assured that he had thus thrown out two false trails to distract +pursuers, the man now stepped into the water, and walked up stream for +several hundred yards, till he reached the spot which served as a ferry +landing. Here, in the multiplicity of footprints, he knew his own +would be indistinguishable to even the keenest of backwood eyes. He +came ashore, slipped through the slumbering village, and plunged into +the woods with the assurance of one to whom their mysteries were an +open book. +</P> + +<P> +He was shaping his course—by the stars at present, but by compass when +it should become necessary—for an inlet on the coast, where there +would be a sturdy fishing-smack awaiting him and his rich prize. All +was working smoothly—as most plans were apt to work under his swift, +resourceful hands—and his hard lips relaxed in triumphant +self-satisfaction. One of the most accomplished and relentless of the +desperadoes of the Great North-West, he had peculiarly enjoyed his pose +as the childlike Tony. +</P> + +<P> +For hour after hour he pushed on, till even his untiring sinews began +to protest. About the edge of dawn Woolly Billy awoke, but, still +stupid with the heavy drugging he had received, he did not seem to +realize what had happened. He cried a little, asking for Jim, and for +Tug Blackstock, and for Mrs. Amos, but was pacified by the most trivial +excuses. The man gave him some sweet biscuits, but he refused to eat +them, leaving them on the moss beside him. He hardly protested even +when the man cut off his bright hair, and proceeded to darken what was +left with some queer-smelling dye. +</P> + +<P> +When the man undressed him and proceeded to stain his face and his +whole body, he apparently thought he was being got ready for bed, and +to certain terrible threats as to what would happen if he tried to get +away, or to tell any one anything, he paid no attention whatever. He +went to sleep again in the middle of it all. +</P> + +<P> +Satisfied with his job, the man lay down beside him, knowing himself +secure from pursuit, and went to sleep himself. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, after lying motionless for several hours, where he had +dropped across the threshold, Jim at last began to stir. That crashing +blow, after all, had not fallen quite true. Jim was not dead, by any +means. He staggered to his feet, swayed a few moments, and then, for +all the pain in his head, he was practically himself again. He went +into the cottage, tried in vain to awaken Mrs. Amos in her chair, +hunted for Woolly Billy in his bed, and at last, realizing something of +what had happened, rushed forth in a panic of rage and fear and grief, +and remorse for a trust betrayed. +</P> + +<P> +It was a matter of a few minutes to trail the party down to the +waterside. Then he darted off after the bear. The latter, grubbing +delightedly in a rotten stump, greeted him with a friendly "Woof." A +glance and a sniff satisfied Jim that Woolly Billy was not there, and +his instinct assured him that the bear was void of offence in the whole +matter. He knew the enemy. He darted back to the waterside, ran on up +stream to the ferry-landing, picked up the trail of Tony's feet, +followed it unerringly through the confusion of other footprints, and +darted silently into the woods in pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +At daybreak an early riser, seeing the door of Mrs. Amos' cottage +standing open, looked in and saw the old lady still asleep in her +chair. She was awakened with difficulty, and could give but a vague +account of what had happened. The whole village turned out. Under the +leadership of Long Jackson, the big mill-hand who constituted himself +Woolly Billy's special guardian in Blackstock's absence, the "Dago" and +bear were traced down to the waterside. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, it was clear to almost every one that the "Dago"—who was +now due for lynching when caught—had carried Woolly Billy off down +river in the vanished canoe. Instantly the telephones were brought +into service, and half-a-dozen expert canoeists, in the swiftest canoes +to be had, started off in pursuit. But the more astute of the +woodsmen—including Long Jackson himself—held that this river clue was +a false one, a ruse to put them off the track. This group went after +the bear. +</P> + +<P> +In an hour or two they found him. And very glad to see them he +appeared to be. He was getting hungry, and a bit lonely. So without +waiting for an invitation, with touching confidence he attached himself +to the party, and accompanied it back to the village. There Big Andy, +who had always had a weakness for bears, took him home and fed him, and +shut him up in the back yard. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could not +hope to rival, had come soon after daybreak to the spot where the man +and Woolly Billy lay asleep. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-241"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-241.jpg" ALT=""In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could not hope to rival, had come to the right spot."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 614px"> +"In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could not hope to rival, had come to the right spot." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +He arrived as soundlessly as a shadow. At sight of his enemy—for he +knew well who had carried off the child, and who had dealt that almost +fatal blow—his long white fangs bared in a silent snarl of hate. But +he had learnt, well learnt, that this man was a dangerous antagonist. +He crouched, stiffened as if to stone, and surveyed the situation. +</P> + +<P> +His sensitive nose prevented him from being quite deceived by the +transformation in Woolly Billy's appearance. He was puzzled by it, but +he had no doubt as to the child's identity. Having satisfied himself +that the little fellow was asleep, and therefore presumably safe for +the moment, he turned his attention to his enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The man was sleeping almost on his back, one arm thrown above his head, +his chin up, his brown, sinewy throat exposed. That bare throat +riveted Jim's vengeful gaze. He knew well that the man, though asleep +and at an utter disadvantage, was the most dangerous adversary he could +possibly tackle. +</P> + +<P> +Step by step, so lightly, so smoothly, that not a twig crackled under +his feet, he crept up, his muzzle outstretched, his fangs gleaming the +hair rising along his back. When he was within a couple of paces of +his goal, the sleeper stirred slightly, as if about to wake up, or +growing conscious of danger. Instantly Jim sprang, and sank his fangs +deep, deep, into his enemy's throat. +</P> + +<A NAME="P253"></A> + +<P> +With a shriek the sleeper awoke, flinging wide his arms and legs +convulsively. But the shriek was strangled at its birth, as Jim's +implacable teeth crunched closer. The great dog shook his victim as a +terrier shakes a rat. There was a choked gurgle, and the threshing +arms and legs lay still. +</P> + +<P> +Jim continued his savage shaking till satisfied his foe was quite dead. +Then he let go, and turned his attention to Woolly Billy. +</P> + +<P> +The child was sitting up, staring at him with round eyes of question +and bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"Where am I, Jim?" he demanded. Then he gazed at the transformation in +himself—his clothes and his stained hands. He saw his old clothes +tossed aside, his curls lying near them in a bright, fluffy heap. He +felt his cropped head. And then his brain began to clear. He had a +dim memory of the man cutting his hair and changing his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +Upon his first glimpse of the man, lying there dead and covered with +blood, he felt a sharp pang of sorrow. He had liked Tony. But the +pang passed, as he began to understand. If <I>Jim</I> had killed Tony, Tony +must have been bad. It was evident that Tony had carried him off, and +that Jim had come to save him. Jim was licking his face now, +rapturously, and evidently coaxing him to get up and come away. +</P> + +<P> +He flung his arms around Jim's neck. Then he saw the biscuits. He +divided them evenly between himself and Jim, and ate his portion with +good appetite. Jim would not touch his share, so Woolly Billy tucked +them into his pocket. Then he got up and followed where Jim was trying +to lead him, keeping his face averted from the terrible, bleeding thing +sprawled there upon the moss. And Jim led him safely home. +</P> + +<P> +When Tug Blackstock, two days later, returned from his visit to +Exville, he brought news which explained why a certain gang of +criminals had planned to get possession of Woolly Billy. The child had +fallen heir to an immense property in England, and an ancient title, +and he was to have been held for ransom. From that moment Blackstock +never let him out of his sight, until, with a heavy heart, he handed +him over to his own people. +</P> + +<P> +Thereafter, as he sat brooding on a log beside the noisy river, with +Jim stretched at his feet, Tug Blackstock felt that Brine's Rip, for +the lack of a childish voice and a head of flaxen curls, had lost all +savour for him. And his thoughts turned more and more towards the +arguments of a grey-eyed girl, who had urged him to seek a wider sphere +for his energies than the confines of Nipsiwaska County could afford. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ledge on Bald Face, by Charles G. D. Roberts + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE *** + +***** This file should be named 35513-h.htm or 35513-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/1/35513/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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D. Roberts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ledge on Bald Face + +Author: Charles G. D. Roberts + +Release Date: March 7, 2011 [EBook #35513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "The great dog shook his victim as a terrier shakes a +rat." (Page 253.)] + + + + + +THE LEDGE ON + +BALD FACE + + +By + +CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS + + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + + +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + +LONDON AND MELBOURNE + +1918 + + + + +_Copyright in the United States of America_ + +_by Charles G. D. Roberts_ + + + + +Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London + + + + + POPULAR NATURE STORIES + BY + CHAS. G. D. ROBERTS + + PUBLISHED BY + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + + THE HOUSE IN THE WATER + KINGS IN EXILE + THE SECRET TRAILS + THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + II THE EAGLE + III COCK-CROW + IV THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST + V JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG + + PART I HOW WOOLLY BILLY CAME TO BRINE'S RIP + " II THE BOOK AGENT AND THE BUCKSKIN BELT + " III THE HOLE IN THE TREE + " IV THE TRAIL OF THE BEAR + " V THE FIRE AT BRINE'S RIP MILLS + " VI THE MAN WITH THE DANCING BEAR + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"The great dog shook his victim like a terrier shakes a rat" . . . +_Frontispiece_ + +"He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over the brink" + +"Then he spread his wings wide and let go" + +"He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the +wet fur" + +"'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel" + +"The door was flung open, and Black Dan with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight" + +"He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe" + +"In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could +not hope to rival, had come to the right spot" + + + + +I + +THE LEDGE ON BALD FACE + + + + +The Ledge on Bald Face + +That one stark naked side of the mountain which gave it its name of Old +Bald Face fronted full south. Scorched by sun and scourged by storm +throughout the centuries, it was bleached to an ashen pallor that +gleamed startlingly across the leagues of sombre, green-purple +wilderness outspread below. From the base of the tremendous bald steep +stretched off the interminable leagues of cedar swamp, only to be +traversed in dry weather or in frost. All the region behind the +mountain face was an impenetrable jumble of gorges, pinnacles, and +chasms, with black woods clinging in crevice and ravine and struggling +up desperately towards the light. + +In the time of spring and autumn floods, when the cedar swamps were +impenetrable to all save mink, otter, and musk-rat, the only way from +the western plateau to the group of lakes that formed the source of the +Ottanoonsis, on the east, was by a high, nerve-testing trail across the +wind-swept brow of Old Bald Face. The trail followed a curious ledge, +sometimes wide enough to have accommodated an ox-wagon, at other times +so narrow and so perilous that even the sure-eyed caribou went warily +in traversing it. + +The only inhabitants of Bald Face were the eagles, three pairs of them, +who had their nests, widely separated from each other in haughty +isolation, on jutting shoulders and pinnacles accessible to no one +without wings. Though the ledge-path at its highest point was far +above the nests, and commanded a clear view of one of them, the eagles +had learned to know that those who traversed the pass were not +troubling themselves about eagles' nests. They had also observed +another thing--of interest to them only because their keen eyes and +suspicious brains were wont to note and consider everything that came +within their purview--and that was that the scanty traffic by the pass +had its more or less regular times and seasons. In seasons of drought +or hard frost it vanished altogether. In seasons of flood it increased +the longer the floods lasted. And whenever there was any passing at +all, the movement was from east to west in the morning, from west to +east in the afternoon. This fact may have been due to some sort of +dimly recognized convention among the wild kindreds, arrived at in some +subtle way to avoid unnecessary--and necessarily +deadly--misunderstanding and struggle. For the creatures of the wild +seldom fight for fighting's sake. They fight for food, or, in the +mating season, they fight in order that the best and strongest may +carry off the prizes. But mere purposeless risk and slaughter they +instinctively strive to avoid. The airy ledge across Bald Face was not +a place where the boldest of the wild kindred--the bear or the +bull-moose, to say nothing of lesser champions--would wilfully invite +the doubtful combat. If, therefore, it had been somehow arrived at +that there should be no disastrous meetings, no face-to-face struggles +for the right of way, at a spot where dreadful death was inevitable for +one or both of the combatants, that would have been in no way +inconsistent with the accepted laws and customs of the wilderness. On +the other hand, it is possible that this alternate easterly and +westerly drift of the wild creatures--a scanty affair enough at best of +times--across the front of Bald Face was determined in the first place, +on clear days, by their desire not to have the sun in their eyes in +making the difficult passage, and afterwards hardened into custom. It +was certainly better to have the sun behind one in treading the +knife-edge pass above the eagles. Joe Peddler found it troublesome +enough, that strong, searching glare from the unclouded sun of early +morning full in his eyes, as he worked over toward the Ottanoonsis +lakes. He had never attempted the crossing of Old Bald Face before, +and he had always regarded with some scorn the stories told by Indians +of the perils of that passage. But already, though he had accomplished +but a small portion of his journey and was still far from the worst of +the pass, he had been forced to the conclusion that report had not +exaggerated the difficulties of his venture. However, he was steady of +head and sure of foot, and the higher he went in that exquisitely +clear, crisp air, the more pleased he felt with himself. His great +lungs drank deep of the tonic wind which surged against him +rhythmically, and seemed to him to come unbroken from the outermost +edges of the world. His eyes widened and filled themselves, even as +his lungs, with the ample panorama that unfolded before them. He +imagined--for the woodsman, dwelling so much alone, is apt to indulge +some strange imaginings--that he could feel his very spirit enlarging, +as if to take full measure of these splendid breadths of sunlit, +wind-washed space. + +Presently, with a pleasant thrill, he observed that just ahead of him +the ledge went round an abrupt shoulder of the rockface at a point +where there was a practically sheer drop of many hundreds of feet into +what appeared a feather-soft carpet of treetops. He looked shrewdly to +the security of his footing as he approached, and also to the +roughnesses of the rock above the ledge, in case a sudden violent gust +should chance to assail him just at the turn. He felt that at such a +spot it would be so easy--indeed, quite natural--to be whisked off by +the sportive wind, whirled out into space, and dropped into that green +carpet so far below. In his flexible oil-tanned "larrigans" of thick +cow-hide, Peddler moved noiselessly as a wild-cat, even over the bare +stone of the ledge. He was like a grey shadow drifting slowly across +the bleached face of the precipice. As he drew near the bend of the +trail, of which not more than eight or ten paces were now visible to +him, he felt every nerve grow tense with exhilarating expectation. +Yet, even so, what happened was the utterly unexpected. + +Around the bend before him, stepping daintily on her fine hooves, came +a young doe. She completely blocked the trail just on that dizzy edge. + +Peddler stopped short, tried to squeeze himself to the rock like a +limpet, and clutched with fingers of iron at a tiny projection. + +The doe, for one second, seemed petrified with amazement. It was +contrary to all tradition that she should be confronted on that trail. +Then, her amazement instantly dissolving into sheer madness of panic, +she wheeled about violently to flee. But there was no room for even +her lithe body to make the turn. The inexorable rock-face bounced her +off, and with an agonized bleat, legs sprawling and great eyes starting +from their sockets, she went sailing down into the abyss. + +With a heart thumping in sympathy, Peddler leaned outward and followed +that dreadful flight, till she reached that treacherously soft-looking +carpet of treetops and was engulfed by it. A muffled crash came up to +Peddler's ears. + +"Poor leetle beggar!" he muttered. "I wish't I hadn't scared her so. +But I'd a sight rather it was her than me!" + +Peddler's exhilaration was now considerably damped. He crept +cautiously to the dizzy turn of the ledge and peered around. The +thought upon which his brain dwelt with unpleasant insistence was that +if it had been a surly old bull-moose or a bear which had confronted +him so unexpectedly, instead of that nervous little doe, he might now +be lying beneath that deceitful green carpet in a state of dilapidation +which he did not care to contemplate. + +Beyond the turn the trail was clear to his view for perhaps a couple of +hundred yards. It climbed steeply through a deep re-entrant, a mighty +perpendicular corrugation of the rock-face, and then disappeared again +around another jutting bastion. He hurried on rather feverishly, not +liking that second interruption to his view, and regretting, for the +first time, that he had no weapon with him but his long hunting-knife. +He had left his rifle behind him as a useless burden to his climbing. +No game was now in season, no skins in condition to be worth the +shooting, and he had food enough for the journey in his light pack. He +had not contemplated the possibility of any beast, even bear or +bull-moose, daring to face him, because he knew that, except in +mating-time, the boldest of them would give a man wide berth. But, as +he now reflected, here on this narrow ledge even a buck or a lynx would +become dangerous, finding itself suddenly at bay. + +The steepness of the rise in the trail at this point almost drove +Peddler to helping himself with his hands. As he neared the next turn, +he was surprised to note, far out to his right, a soaring eagle, +perhaps a hundred feet below him. He was surprised, too, by the fact +that the eagle was paying no attention to him whatever, in spite of his +invasion of the great bird's aerial domain. Instinctively he inferred +that the eagle's nest must be in some quite inaccessible spot at safe +distance from the ledge. He paused to observe from above, and thus +fairly near at hand, the slow flapping of those wide wings, as they +employed the wind to serve the majesty of their flight. While he was +studying this, another deduction from the bird's indifference to his +presence flashed upon his mind. There must be a fairly abundant +traffic of the wild creatures across this pass, or the eagle would not +be so indifferent to his presence. At this thought he lost his +interest in problems of flight, and hurried forward again, anxious to +see what might be beyond the next turn of the trail. + +His curiosity was gratified all too abruptly for his satisfaction. He +reached the turn, craned his head around it, and came face to face with +an immense black bear. + +The bear was not a dozen feet away. At sight of Peddler's gaunt dark +face and sharp blue eyes appearing thus abruptly and without visible +support around the rock, he shrank back upon his haunches with a +startled "Woof!" + +As for Peddler, he was equally startled, but he had too much discretion +and self-control to show it. Never moving a muscle, and keeping his +body out of sight so that his face seemed to be suspended in mid-air, +he held the great beast's eyes with a calm, unwinking gaze. + +The bear was plainly disconcerted. After a few seconds he glanced back +over his shoulder, and seemed to contemplate a strategic movement to +the rear. As the ledge at this point was sufficiently wide for him to +turn with due care, Peddler expected now to see him do so. But what +Peddler did not know was that dim but cogent "law of the ledge," which +forbade all those who travelled by it to turn and retrace their steps, +or to pass in the wrong direction at the wrong time. He did not know +what the bear knew--namely, that if that perturbed beast should turn, +he was sure to be met and opposed by other wayfarers, and thus to find +himself caught between two fires. + +Watching steadily, Peddler was unpleasantly surprised to see the +perturbation in the bear's eyes slowly change into a savage +resentment--resentment at being baulked in his inalienable right to an +unopposed passage over the ledge. To the bear's mind that grim, +confronting face was a violation of the law which he himself obeyed +loyally and without question. To be sure, it was the face of man, and +therefore to be dreaded. It was also mysterious, and therefore still +more to be dreaded. But the sense of bitter injustice, with the +realization that he was at bay and taken at a disadvantage, filled him +with a frightened rage which swamped all other emotion. Then he came +on. + +His advance was slow and cautious by reason of the difficulty of the +path and his dread lest that staring, motionless face should pounce +upon him just at the perilous turn and hurl him over the brink. But +Peddler knew that his bluff was called, and that his only chance was to +avoid the encounter. He might have fled by the way he had come, +knowing that he would have every advantage in speed on that narrow +trail. But before venturing up to the turn he had noted a number of +little projections and crevices in the perpendicular wall above him. +Clutching at them with fingers of steel and unerring toes, he swarmed +upwards as nimbly as a climbing cat. He was a dozen feet up before the +bear came crawling and peering around the turn. + +Elated at having so well extricated himself from so dubious a +situation, Peddler gazed down upon his opponent and laughed mockingly. +The sound of that confident laughter from straight above his head +seemed to daunt the bear and thoroughly damp his rage. He crouched +low, and scurried past growling. As he hurried along the trail at a +rash pace, he kept casting anxious glances over his shoulder, as if he +feared the man were going to chase him. Peddler lowered himself from +his friendly perch and continued his journey, cursing himself more than +ever for having been such a fool as not to bring his rifle. + +In the course of the next half-hour he gained the highest point of the +ledge, which here was so broken and precarious that he had little +attention to spare for the unparalleled sweep and splendour of the +view. He was conscious, however, all the time, of the whirling eagles, +now far below him, and his veins thrilled with intense exhilaration. +His apprehensions had all vanished under the stimulus of that tonic +atmosphere. He was on the constant watch, however, scanning not only +the trail ahead--which was now never visible for more than a hundred +yards or so at a time--and also the face of the rock above him, to see +if it could be scaled in an emergency. + +He had no expectation of an emergency, because he knew nothing of the +law of the ledge. Having already met a doe and a bear, he naturally +inferred that he would not be likely to meet any other of the elusive +kindreds of the wild, even in a whole week of forest faring. The shy +and wary beasts are not given to thrusting themselves upon man's +dangerous notice, and it was hard enough to find them, with all his +woodcraft, even when he was out to look for them. He was, therefore, +so surprised that he could hardly believe his eyes when, on rounding +another corrugation of the rock-face, he saw another bear coming to +meet him. + +"Gee!" muttered Peddler to himself. "Who's been lettin' loose the +menagerie? Or hev I got the nightmare, mebbe?" + +The bear was about fifty yards distant--a smaller one than its +predecessor, and much younger also, as was obvious to Peddler's +initiated eye by the trim glossiness of its coat. It halted the +instant it caught sight of Peddler. But Peddler, for his part, kept +right on, without showing the least sign of hesitation or surprise. +This bear, surely, would give way before him. The beast hesitated, +however. It was manifestly afraid of the man. It backed a few paces, +whimpering in a worried fashion, then stopped, staring up the rock-wall +above it, as if seeking escape in that impossible direction. + +"If ye're so skeered o' me as ye look," demanded Peddler, in a crisp +voice, "why don't ye turn an' vamoose, 'stead o' backin' an' fillin' +that way? Ye can't git up that there rock, 'less ye're a fly!" + +The ledge at that point was a comparatively wide and easy path, and the +bear at length, as if decided by the easy confidence of Peddler's +tones, turned and retreated. But it went off with such reluctance, +whimpering anxiously the while, that Peddler was forced to the +conclusion there must be something coming up the trail which it was +dreading to meet. At this idea Peddler was delighted, and hurried on +as closely as possible at the retreating animal's heels. The bear, he +reflected, would serve him as an excellent advance guard, protecting +him perfectly from surprise, and perhaps, if necessary, clearing the +way for him. He chuckled to himself as he realized the situation, and +the bear, catching the incomprehensible sound, glanced nervously over +its shoulder and hastened its retreat as well as the difficulties of +the path would allow. + +The trail was now descending rapidly, though irregularly, towards the +eastern plateau. The descent was broken by here and there a stretch of +comparatively level going, here and there a sharp though brief rise, +and at one point the ledge was cut across by a crevice some four feet +in width. As a jump, of course, it was nothing to Peddler; but in +spite of himself he took it with some trepidation, for the chasm looked +infinitely deep, and the footing on the other side narrow and +precarious. The bear, however, had seemed to take it quite carelessly, +almost in its stride, and Peddler, not to be outdone, assumed a similar +indifference. + +It was not long, however, before the enigma of the bear's reluctance to +retrace its steps was solved. The bear, with Peddler some forty or +fifty paces behind, was approaching one of those short steep rises +which broke the general descent. From the other side of the rise came +a series of heavy breathings and windy grunts. + +"Moose, by gum!" exclaimed Peddler. "Now, I'd like to know if all the +critters hev took it into their heads to cross Old Bald Face to-day!" + +The bear heard the gruntings also, and halted unhappily, glancing back +at Peddler. + +"Git on with it!" ordered Peddler sharply. And the bear, dreading man +more than moose, got on. + +The next moment a long, dark, ominous head, with massive, overhanging +lip and small angry eyes, appeared over the rise. Behind this +formidable head laboured up the mighty humped shoulders and then the +whole towering form of a moose-bull. Close behind him followed two +young cows and a yearling calf. + +"Huh! I guess there's goin' to be some row!" muttered Peddler, and +cast his eyes up the rock-face, to look for a point of refuge in case +his champion should get the worst of it. + +At sight of the bear the two cows and the yearling halted, and stood +staring, with big ears thrust forward anxiously, at the foe that barred +their path. But the arrogant old bull kept straight on, though slowly, +and with the wariness of the practised duellist. At this season of the +year his forehead wore no antlers, indeed, but in his great knife-edged +fore-hooves he possessed terrible weapons which he could wield with +deadly dexterity. Marking the confidence of his advance, Peddler grew +solicitous for his own champion, and stood motionless, dreading to +distract the bear's attention. + +But the bear, though frankly afraid to face man, whom he did not +understand, had no such misgivings in regard to moose. He knew how to +fight moose, and he had made more than one good meal, in his day, on +moose calf. He was game for the encounter. Reassured to see that the +man was not coming any nearer, and possibly even sensing instinctively +that the man was on his side in this matter, he crouched close against +the rock and waited, with one huge paw upraised, like a boxer on guard, +for the advancing bull to attack. + +He had not long to wait. + +The bull drew near very slowly, and with his head held high as if +intending to ignore his opponent. Peddler, watching intently, felt +some surprise at this attitude, even though he knew that the deadliest +weapon of a moose was its fore-hooves. He was wondering, indeed, if +the majestic beast expected to press past the bear without a battle, +and if the bear, on his part, would consent to this highly reasonable +arrangement. Then like a flash, without the slightest warning, the +bull whipped up one great hoof to the height of his shoulder and struck +at his crouching adversary. + +The blow was lightning swift, and with such power behind it that, had +it reached its mark, it would have settled the whole matter then and +there. But the bear's parry was equally swift. His mighty forearm +fended the stroke so that it hissed down harmlessly past his head and +clattered on the stone floor of the trail. At the same instant, before +the bull could recover himself for another such pile-driving blow, the +bear, who had been gathered up like a coiled spring, elongated his body +with all the force of his gigantic hindquarters, thrusting himself +irresistibly between his adversary and the face of the rock, and +heaving outwards. + +These were tactics for which the great bull had no precedent in all his +previous battles. He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean +over the brink. By a terrific effort he turned, captured a footing +upon the edge with his fore-hooves, and struggled frantically to drag +himself up again upon the ledge. But the bear's paw struck him a +crashing buffet straight between the wildly staring eyes. He fell +backwards, turning clean over, and went bouncing, in tremendous +sprawling curves, down into the abyss. + +[Illustration: "He was thrown off his balance and shouldered clean over +the brink."] + +Upon the defeat of their leader the two cows and the calf turned +instantly--which the ledge at their point was wide enough to +permit--and fled back down the trail at a pace which seemed to threaten +their own destruction. The bear followed more prudently, with no +apparent thought of trying to overtake them. And Pedler kept on behind +him, taking care, however, after this exhibition of his champion's +prowess, not to press him too closely. + +The fleeing herd soon disappeared from view. It seemed to have +effectually cleared the trail before it, for the curious procession of +the bear and Peddler encountered no further obstacles. + +After about an hour the lower slopes of the mountain were reached. The +ledge widened and presently broke up, with trails leading off here and +there among the foothills. At the first of these that appeared to +offer concealment the bear turned aside and vanished into a dense grove +of spruce with a haste which seemed to Peddler highly amusing in a +beast of such capacity and courage. He was well content, however, to +be so easily quit of his dangerous advance guard. + +"A durn good thing for me," he mused, "that that there b'ar never got +up the nerve to call my bluff, or I might 'a' been layin' now where +that onlucky old bull-moose is layin', with a lot o' flies crawlin' +over me!" + +And as he trudged along the now easy and ordinary trail, he registered +two discreet resolutions--first, that never again would he cross Old +Bald Face without his gun and his axe; and, second, that never again +would he cross Old Bald Face at all, unless he jolly well had to. + + + + +II + +THE EAGLE + + + + +The Eagle + +He sat upon the very topmost perch under the open-work dome of his +spacious and lofty cage. This perch was one of three or four lopped +limbs jutting from a dead tree-trunk erected in the centre of the +cage--a perch far other than that great branch of thunder-blasted pine, +out-thrust from the seaward-facing cliff, whereon he had been wont to +sit in his own land across the ocean. + +He sat with his snowy, gleaming, flat-crowned head drawn back between +the dark shoulders of his slightly uplifted wings. His black and +yellow eyes, unwinking, bright and hard like glass, stared out from +under his overhanging brows with a kind of darting and defiant inquiry +quite unlike their customary expression of tameless despair. That dull +world outside the bars of his cage, that hated, gaping, inquisitive +world which he had ever tried to ignore by staring at the sun or gazing +into the deeps of sky overhead, how it had changed since yesterday! +The curious crowds, the gabbling voices were gone. Even the high +buildings of red brick or whitish-grey stone, beyond the iron palings +of the park, were going, toppling down with a slow, dizzy lurch, or +leaping suddenly into the air with a roar and a huge belch of brown and +orange smoke and scarlet flame. Here and there he saw men running +wildly. Here and there he saw other men lying quite still--sprawling, +inert shapes an the close-cropped grass, or the white asphalted walks, +or the tossed pavement of the street. He knew that these inert, +sprawling shapes were men, and that the men were dead; and the sight +filled his exile heart with triumph. Men were his enemies, his +gaolers, his opponents, and now at last--he knew not how--he was +tasting vengeance. The once smooth green turf around his cage was +becoming pitted with strange yellow-brown holes. These holes, he had +noticed, always appeared after a burst of terrific noise, and livid +flame, and coloured smoke, followed by a shower of clods and pebbles, +and hard fragments which sometimes flew right through his cage with a +vicious hum. There was a deadly force in these humming fragments. He +knew it, for his partner in captivity, a golden eagle of the Alps, had +been hit by one of them, and now lay dead on the littered floor below +him, a mere heap of bloody feathers. Certain of the iron bars of the +cage, too, had been struck and cut through, as neatly as his own hooked +beak would sever the paw of a rabbit. + +The air was full of tremendous crashing, buffeting sounds and sudden +fierce gusts, which forced him to tighten the iron grip of his talons +upon the perch. In the centre of the little park pond, some fifty feet +from his cage, clustered a panic-stricken knot of eight or ten fancy +ducks and two pairs of red-billed coot, all that remained of the flock +of water-birds which had formerly screamed and gabbled over the pool. +This little cluster was in a state of perpetual ferment, those on the +outside struggling to get into the centre, those on the inside striving +to keep their places. From time to time one or two on the outer ring +would dive under and force their way up in the middle of the press, +where they imagined themselves more secure. But presently they would +find themselves on the outside again, whereupon, in frantic haste, they +would repeat the manoeuvre. The piercing glance of the eagle took in +and dismissed this futile panic with immeasurable scorn. With like +scorn, too, he noted the three gaunt cranes which had been wont to +stalk so arrogantly among the lesser fowl and drive them from their +meals. These once domineering birds were now standing huddled, their +drooped heads close together, beneath a dense laurel thicket just +behind the cage, their long legs quaking at every explosion. + +Amid all this destroying tumult and flying death the eagle had no fear. +He was merely excited by it. If a fragment of shell sang past his +head, he never flinched, his level stare never even filmed or wavered. +The roar and crash, indeed, and the monstrous buffetings of tormented +air, seemed to assuage the long ache of his home-sickness. They +reminded him of the hurricane racing past his ancient pine, of the +giant waves shattering themselves with thunderous jar upon the cliff +below. From time to time, as if his nerves were straining with +irresistible exultation, he would lift himself to his full height, half +spread his wings, stretch forward his gleaming white neck, and give +utterance to a short, strident, yelping cry. Then he would settle back +upon his perch again, and resume his fierce contemplation of the ruin +that was falling on the city. + +Suddenly an eleven-inch shell dropped straight in the centre of the +pool and exploded on the concrete bottom which underlay the mud. Half +the pool went up in the colossal eruption of blown flame and steam and +smoke. Even here on his perch the eagle found himself spattered and +drenched. When the shrunken surface of the pool had closed again over +the awful vortex, and the smoke had drifted off to join itself to the +dark cloud which hung over the city, the little flock of ducks and coot +was nowhere to be seen. It simply was not. But a bleeding fragment of +flesh, with some purple-and-chestnut feathers clinging to it, lay upon +the bottom of the cage. This morsel caught the eagle's eye. He had +been forgotten for the past two days--the old one-legged keeper of the +cages having vanished--and he was ravenous with hunger. He hopped down +briskly to the floor, grabbed the morsel, and gulped it. Then he +looked around hopefully for more. There were no more such opportune +tit-bits within the cage, but just outside he saw the half of a big +carp, which had been torn in twain by a caprice of the explosion and +tossed up here upon the grass. This was just such a morsel as he was +craving. He thrust one great talon out between the bars and clutched +at the prize. But it was beyond his reach. Disappointed, he tried the +other claw, balancing himself on one leg with widespread wings. +Stretch and struggle as he would, it was all in vain. The fish lay too +far off. Then he tried reaching through the bars with his head. He +elongated his neck till he almost thought he was a heron, and till his +great beak was snapping hungrily within an inch or two of the prize. +But not a hair's-breadth closer could he get. At last, in a cold fury, +he gave it up, and drew back, and shook himself to rearrange the much +dishevelled feathers of his neck. + +Just at this moment, while he was still on the floor of the cage, a +high-velocity shell came by. With its flat trajectory it passed just +overhead, swept the dome of the cage clean out of existence, and +whizzed onwards to explode, with a curious grunting crash, some +hundreds of yards beyond. The eagle looked up and gazed for some +seconds before realizing that his prison was no longer a prison. The +path was clear above him to the free spaces of the air. But he was in +no unseemly haste. His eye measured accurately the width of the exit, +and saw that it was awkwardly narrow for his great spread of wing. He +could not essay it directly from the ground, his quarters being too +straitened for free flight. Hopping upwards from limb to limb of the +roosting-tree, he regained the topmost perch, and found that, though +split by a stray splinter of the cage, it was still able to bear his +weight. From this point he sprang straight upwards, with one beat of +his wings. But the wing-tips struck violently against each side of the +opening, and he was thrown back with such force that only by a furious +flopping and struggle could he regain his footing on the perch. + +After this unexpected rebuff he sat quiet for perhaps half a minute, +staring fixedly at the exit. He was not going to fail again through +misjudgment. The straight top of the roosting-tree extended for about +three feet above his perch, but this extension being of no use to him, +he had never paid any heed to it hitherto. Now, however, he marked it +with new interest. It was close below the hole in the roof. He +flopped up to it, balanced himself for a second, and once more sprang +for the opening, but this time with a short, convulsive beat of wings +only half spread. The leap carried him almost through, but not far +enough for him to get another stroke of his wings. Clutching out +wildly with stretched talons, he succeeded in catching the end of a +broken bar. Desperately he clung to it, resisting the natural impulse +to help himself by flapping his wings. Reaching out with his beak, he +gripped another bar, and so steadied himself till he could gain a +foothold with both talons. Then slowly, like a dog getting over a +wall, he dragged himself forth, and stood at last free on the outer +side of the bars which had been so long his prison. + +But the first thing he thought of was not freedom. It was fish. For +perhaps a dozen seconds he gazed about him majestically, and scanned +with calm the toppling and crashing world. Then spreading his splendid +wings to their fullest extent, with no longer any fear of them striking +against iron bars, he dropped down to the grass beside the cage and +clutched the body of the slain carp. He was no more than just in time, +for a second later a pair of mink, released from their captivity in +perhaps the same way as he had been, came gliding furtively around the +base of the cage, intent upon the same booty. He turned his head over +his shoulder and gave them one look, then fell to tearing and gulping +his meal as unconcernedly as if the two savage little beasts had been +field mice. The mink stopped short, flashed white fangs at him in a +soundless snarl of hate, and whipped about to forage in some more +auspicious direction. + +When the eagle had finished his meal--which took him, indeed, scarcely +more time than takes to tell of it--he wiped his great beak +meticulously on the turf. While he was doing so, a shell burst so near +him that he was half smothered in dry earth. Indignantly he shook +himself, hopped a pace or two aside, ruffled up his feathers, and +proceeded to make his toilet as scrupulously as if no shells or sudden +death were within a thousand miles of him. + +The toilet completed to his satisfaction, he took a little flapping run +and rose into the air. He flew straight for the highest point within +his view, which chanced to be the slender, soaring spire of a church +somewhere about the centre of the city. As he mounted on a long slant, +he came into the level where most of the shells were travelling, for +their objective was not the little park with its "Zoo," but a line of +fortifications some distance beyond. Above, below, around him streamed +the terrible projectiles, whinnying or whistling, shrieking or roaring, +each according to its calibre and its type. It seemed a miracle that +he should come through that zone unscathed; but his vision was so +powerful and all-embracing, his judgment of speed and distance so +instantaneous and unerring, that he was able to avoid, without apparent +effort, all but the smallest and least visible shells, and these +latter, by the favour of Fate, did not come his way. He was more +annoyed, indeed, by certain volleys of debris which occasionally +spouted up at him with a disagreeable noise, and by the evil-smelling +smoke clouds, which came volleying about him without any reason that he +could discern. He flapped up to a higher level to escape these +annoyances, and so found himself above the track of the shells. Then +he made for the church spire, and perched himself upon the tip of the +great weather-vane. It was exactly what he wanted--a lofty observation +post from which to view the country round about before deciding in +which direction he would journey. + +From this high post he noticed that, while he was well above one zone +of shells, there was still another zone of them screaming far overhead. +These projectiles of the upper strata of air were travelling in the +opposite direction. He marked that they came from a crowded line of +smoke-bursts and blinding flashes just beyond the boundary of the city. +He decided that, upon resuming his journey, he would fly at the present +level, and so avoid traversing again either of the zones of death. + +Much to his disappointment, he found that his present observation post +did not give him as wide a view as he had hoped for. The city of his +captivity, he now saw, was set upon the loop of a silver stream in the +centre of a saucer-like valley. In every direction his view was +limited by low, encircling hills. Along one sector of this +circuit--that from which the shells of the lower stratum seemed to him +to be issuing--the hill-rim and the slopes below it were fringed with +vomiting smoke-clouds and biting spurts of fire. This did not, +however, influence in the least his choice of the direction in which to +journey. Instinct, little by little, as he sat there on the slowly +veering vane, was deciding that point for him. His gaze was fixing +itself more and more towards the north, or, rather, the north-west; for +something seemed to whisper in his heart that there was where he would +find the wild solitudes which he longed for. The rugged and +mist-wreathed peaks of Scotland or North Wales, though he knew them +not, were calling to him in his new-found freedom. + +The call, however, was not yet strong enough to be determining, so, +having well fed and being beyond measure content with his liberty, he +lingered on his skyey perch and watched the crash of the opposing +bombardments. The quarter of the town immediately beneath him had so +far suffered little from the shells, and the church showed no signs of +damage except for one gaping hole in the roof. But along the line of +the fortifications there seemed to be but one gigantic boiling of smoke +and flames, with continual spouting fountains of debris. This +inexplicable turmoil held his interest for a few moments. Then, while +he was wondering what it all meant, an eleven-inch shell struck the +church spire squarely about thirty feet below him. + +The explosion almost stunned him. The tip of the spire--with the +weather-cock, and the eagle still clinging to it--went rocketing +straight up into the air amid a stifling cloud of black smoke, while +the rest of the structure, down to a dozen feet below the point of +impact, was blown to the four winds. Half stunned though he was, the +amazed bird kept his wits about him, and clutched firmly to his flying +perch till it reached the end of its flight and turned to fall. Then +he spread his wings wide and let go. The erratic mass of wood and +metal dropped away, and left him floating, half-blinded, in the heart +of the smoke-cloud. A couple of violent wing-beats, however, carried +him clear of the cloud; and at once he shaped his course upwards, as +steeply as he could mount, smitten with a sudden desire for the calm +and the solitude which were associated in his memory with the uppermost +deeps of air. + +[Illustration: "Then he spread his wings wide and let go."] + +The fire from the city batteries had just now slackened for a little, +and the great bird's progress carried him through the higher shell zone +without mishap. In a minute or two he was far above those strange +flocks which flew so straight and swift, and made such incomprehensible +noises in their flight. Presently, too, he was above the smoke, the +very last wisps of it having thinned off into the clear, dry air. He +now began to find that he had come once more into his own peculiar +realm, the realm of the upper sky, so high that, as he thought, no +other living creature could approach him. He arrested his ascent, and +began to circle slowly on still wings, surveying the earth. + +But now he received, for the first time, a shock. Hitherto the most +astounding happenings had failed to startle him, but now a pang of +something very like fear shot through his stout heart. A little to +southward of the city he saw a vast pale-yellow elongated form rising +swiftly, without any visible effort, straight into the sky. Had he +ever seen a sausage, he would have thought that this yellow monster was +shaped like one. Certain fine cords descended from it, reaching all +the way to the earth, and below its middle hung a basket, with a man in +it. It rose to a height some hundreds of feet beyond the level on +which the eagle had been feeling himself supreme. Then it came to +rest, and hung there, swaying slowly in the mild wind. + +His apprehension speedily giving way to injured pride, the eagle flew +upwards, in short, steep spirals, as fast as his wings could drive him. +Not till he could once more look down upon the fat back of the +glistening yellow monster did he regain his mood of unruffled calm. +But he regained it only to have it stripped from him, a minute later, +with tenfold lack of ceremony. For far above him--so high that even +his undaunted wings would never venture thither--he heard a fierce and +terrible humming sound. He saw something like a colossal bird--or +rather, it was more suggestive of a dragonfly than a bird--speeding +towards him with never a single beat of its vast, pale wings. Its +speed was appalling. The eagle was afraid, but not with any foolish +panic. He knew that even as a sparrow would be to him, so would he be +to this unheard-of sovereign of the skies. Therefore it was possible +the sovereign of the skies would ignore him and seek a more worthy +opponent. Yes, it was heading towards the giant sausage. And the +sausage, plainly, had no stomach for the encounter. It seemed to +shrink suddenly; and with sickening lurches it began to descend, as if +strong hands were tugging upon the cords which anchored it to earth. +The eagle winged off modestly to one side, but not far enough to miss +anything of the stupendous encounter which he felt was coming. Here, +at last, were events of a strangeness and a terror to move even his +cool spirit out of its indifference. + +Now the giant insect was near enough for the eagle to mark that it had +eyes on the under-sides of its wings--immense, round, coloured eyes of +red and white and blue. Its shattering hum shook the eagle's nerves, +steady and seasoned though they were. Slanting slightly downwards, it +darted straight toward the sausage, which was now wallowing fatly in +its convulsive efforts to descend. At the same time the eagle caught +sight of another of the giant birds, or insects, somewhat different in +shape and colour from the first, darting up from the opposite +direction. Was it, too, he wondered, coming to attack the terrified +sausage, or to defend it? + +Before he could find an answer to this exciting question, the first +monster had arrived directly above the sausage and was circling over it +at some height, glaring down upon it with those great staring eyes of +its wings. Something struck the sausage fairly in the back. +Instantly, with a tremendous windy roar, the sausage vanished in a +sheet of flame. The monster far above it rocked and plunged in the +uprush of tormented air, the waves of which reached even to where the +eagle hung poised, and forced him to flap violently in order to keep +his balance against them. + +A few moments later the second monster arrived. The eagle saw at once +that the two were enemies. The first dived headlong at the second, +spitting fire, with a loud and dreadful rap-rap-rapping noise, from its +strange blunt muzzle. The two circled around each other, and over and +under each other, at a speed which made even the eagle dizzy with +amazement; and he saw that it was something more deadly than fire which +spurted from their blunt snouts; for every now and then small things, +which travelled too fast for him to see, twanged past him with a +vicious note which he knew for the voice of death. He edged discreetly +farther away. Evidently this battle of the giants was dangerous to +spectators. His curiosity was beginning to get sated. He was on the +point of leaving the danger area altogether, when the dreadful duel +came suddenly to an end. He saw the second monster plunge drunkenly, +in wild, ungoverned lurches, and then drop head first, down, down, +down, straight as a stone, till it crashed into the earth and instantly +burst into flame. He saw the great still eyes of the victor staring +down inscrutably upon the wreck of its foe. Then he saw it whirl +sharply--tilting its rigid wings at so steep an angle that it almost +seemed about to overturn--and dart away again in the direction from +which it had come. He saw the reason for this swift departure. A +flock of six more monsters, of the breed of the one just slain, came +sweeping up from the south to take vengeance for their comrade's defeat. + +The eagle had no mind to await them. He had had enough of wonders, and +the call in his heart had suddenly grown clear and intelligible. +Mounting still upward till he felt the air growing thin beneath his +wing-beats, he headed northwards as fast as he could fly. He had no +more interest now in the amazing panorama which unrolled beneath him, +in the thundering and screaming flights of shell which sped past in the +lower strata of the air. He was intent only upon gaining the wild +solitudes of which he dreamed. He marked others of the monsters which +he so dreaded, journeying sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks, but +always with the same implacable directness of flight, always with that +angry and menacing hum which, of all the sounds he had ever heard, +alone had power to shake his bold heart. He noticed that sometimes the +sky all about these monsters would be filled with sudden bursts of +fleecy cloud, looking soft as wool; and once he saw one of these +apparently harmless clouds burst full on the nose of one of the +monsters, which instantly flew apart and went hurtling down to earth in +revolving fragments. But he was no longer curious. He gave them all +as wide a berth as possible, and sped on, without delaying to note +their triumphs or their defeats. + +At last the earth grew green again below him. The monsters, the smoke, +the shells, the flames, the thunders, were gradually left behind, and +far ahead at last he saw the sea, flashing gold and sapphire beneath +the summer sun. Soon--for he flew swiftly--it was almost beneath him. +His heart exulted at the sight. Then across that stretch of gleaming +tide he saw a dim line of cliffs--white cliffs, such cliffs as he +desired. + +But at this point, when he was so near his goal, that Fate which had +always loved to juggle with him decided to show him a new one of her +tricks. Two more monsters appeared, diving steeply from the blue above +him. One was pursuing the other. Quite near him the pursuer overtook +its quarry, and the two spat fire at each other with that strident +rap-rap-rapping sound which he so disliked. He swerved as wide as +possible from the path of their terrible combat, and paid no heed to +its outcome. But, as he fled, something struck him near the tip of his +left wing. + +The shock went through him like a needle of ice or fire, and he +dropped, leaving a little cloud of feathers in the air above to settle +slowly after him. He turned once completely over as he fell. But +presently; with terrific effort, he succeeded in regaining a partial +balance. He could no longer fully support himself, still less continue +his direct flight; but he managed to keep on an even keel and to delay +his fall. He knew that to drop into the sea below him was certain +death. But he had marked that the sea was dotted with peculiar-looking +ships--long, narrow, dark ships--which travelled furiously, vomiting +black smoke and carrying a white mass of foam in their teeth, +Supporting himself, with the last ounce of his strength, till one of +these rushing ships was just about to pass below him, he let himself +drop, and landed sprawling on the deck. + +Half stunned though he was, he recovered himself almost instantly, +clawed up to his feet, steadied himself with one outstretched wing +against the pitching of the deck, and defied, with hard, undaunted eye +and threatening beak, a tall figure in blue, white-capped and +gold-braided, which stood smiling down upon him. + + * * * * * + +"By Jove," exclaimed Sub-Lieutenant James Smith, "here's luck: Uncle +Sam's own chicken, which he's sent us as a mascot till his ships can +get over and take a hand in the game with us: Delighted to see you, old +bird: You've come to the right spot, you have, and we'll do the best we +can to make you comfortable." + + + + +III + +COCK-CROW + + + + +Cock-Crow + +He was a splendid bird, a thoroughbred "Black-breasted Red" game-cock, +his gorgeous plumage hard as mail, silken with perfect condition, and +glowing like a flame against the darkness of the spruce forest. His +snaky head--the comb and wattles had been trimmed close, after the mode +laid down for his aristocratic kind--was sharp and keen, like a living +spearpoint. His eyes were fierce and piercing, ready ever to meet the +gaze of bird, or beast, or man himself with the unwinking challenge of +their full, arrogant stare. Perched upon a stump a few yards from the +railway line, he turned that bold stare now, with an air of unperturbed +superciliousness, upon the wreck of the big freight-car from which he +had just escaped. He had escaped by a miracle, but little effect had +that upon his bold and confident spirit. The ramshackle, overladen +freight train, labouring up the too-steep gradient, had broken in two, +thanks to a defective coupler, near the top of the incline a mile and a +half away. The rear cars--heavy box-cars--had, of course, run back, +gathering a terrific momentum as they went. The rear brakeman, his +brakes failing to hold, had discreetly jumped before the speed became +too great. At the foot of the incline a sharp curve had proved too +much for the runaways to negotiate. With a screech of tortured metal +they had jumped the track and gone crashing down the high embankment. +One car, landing on a granite boulder, had split apart like a cleft +melon. The light crate in which our game-cock, a pedigree bird, was +being carried to a fancier in the nearest town, some three score miles +away, had survived by its very lightness. But its door had been +snapped open. The cock walked out deliberately, uttered a long, low +_krr-rr-ee_ of ironic comment upon the disturbance, hopped delicately +over the tangle of boxes and crates and agricultural implements, and +flew to the top of the nearest stump. There he shook himself, his +plumage being disarrayed, though his spirit was not. He flapped his +wings. Then, eyeing the wreckage keenly, he gave a shrill, triumphant +crow, which rang through the early morning stillness of the forest like +a challenge. He felt that the smashed car, so lately his prison, was a +foe which he had vanquished by his own unaided prowess. His pride was +not altogether unnatural. + +The place where he stood, preening the red glory of his plumage, was in +the very heart of the wilderness. The only human habitation within a +dozen miles in either direction was a section-man's shanty, guarding a +siding and a rusty water tank. The woods--mostly spruce in that +region, with patches of birch and poplar--had been gone over by the +lumbermen some five years before, and still showed the ravages of the +insatiable axe. Their narrow "tote-roads," now deeply mossed and +partly overgrown by small scrub, traversed the lonely spaces in every +direction. One of these roads led straight back into the wilderness +from the railway--almost from the stump whereon the red cock had his +perch. + +The cock had no particular liking for the neighbourhood of the +accident, and when his fierce, inquiring eye fell upon this road, he +decided to investigate, hoping it might lead him to some flock of his +own kind, over whom he would, as a matter of course, promptly establish +his domination. That there would be other cocks there, already in +charge, only added to his zest for the adventure. He was raising his +wings to hop down from his perch, when a wide-winged shadow passed over +him, and he checked himself, glancing upwards sharply. + +A foraging hawk had just flown overhead. The hawk had never before +seen a bird like the bright figure standing on the stump, and he paused +in his flight, hanging for a moment on motionless wing to scrutinize +the strange apparition. But he was hungry, and he considered himself +more than a match for anything in feathers except the eagle, the +goshawk, and the great horned owl. His hesitation was but for a +second, and, with a sudden mighty thrust of his wide wings, he swooped +down upon this novel victim. + +The big hawk was accustomed to seeing every quarry he stooped at cower +paralysed with terror or scurry for shelter in wild panic. But, to his +surprise, this infatuated bird on the stump stood awaiting him, with +wings half lifted, neck feathers raised in defiant ruff, and one eye +cocked upwards warily. He was so surprised, in fact, that at a +distance of some dozen or fifteen feet he wavered and paused in his +downward rush. But it was surprise only, fear having small place in +his wild, marauding heart. In the next second he swooped again and +struck downwards at his quarry with savage, steel-hard talons. + +He struck but empty air. At exactly the right fraction of the instant +the cock had leapt upwards on his powerful wings, lightly as a +thistle-seed, but swift as if shot from a catapult. He passed straight +over his terrible assailant's back. In passing he struck downwards +with his spurs, which were nearly three inches long, straight, and +tapered almost to a needle-point. One of these deadly weapons found +its mark, as luck would have it, fair in the joint of the hawk's +shoulder, putting the wing clean out of action. + +The marauder turned completely over and fell in a wild flutter to the +ground, the cock, at the same time, alighting gracefully six or eight +feet away and wheeling like a flash to meet a second attack. The hawk, +recovering with splendid nerve from the amazing shock of his overthrow, +braced himself upright on his tail by the aid of the one sound +wing--the other wing trailing helplessly--and faced his strange +adversary with open beak and one clutching talon uplifted. + +The cock, fighting after the manner of his kind, rushed in to within a +couple of feet of his foe and there paused, balanced for the next +stroke or parry, legs slightly apart, wings lightly raised, neck +feathers ruffed straight out, beak lowered and presented like a rapier +point. Seeing that his opponent made no demonstration, but simply +waited, watching him with eyes as hard and bright and dauntless as his +own, he tried to provoke him to a second attack. With scornful +insolence he dropped his guard and pecked at a twig or a grass blade, +jerking the unconsidered morsel aside and presenting his point again +with lightning swiftness. + +The insult, however, was lost upon the hawk, who had no knowledge of +the cock's duelling code. He simply waited, motionless as the stump +beside him. + +The cock, perceiving that taunt and insolence were wasted, now began to +circle warily toward the left, as if to take his opponent in the flank. +The hawk at once shifted front to face him. But this was the side of +his disabled wing. The sprawling member would not move, would not get +out of the way. In the effort to manage it, he partly lost his +precarious balance. The cock saw his advantage instantly. He dashed +in like a feathered and flaming thunderbolt, leaping upwards and +striking downwards with his destroying heels. The hawk was hurled over +backwards, with one spur through his throat, the other through his +lungs. As he fell he dragged his conqueror down with him, and one +convulsive but blindly-clutching talon ripped away a strip of flesh and +feathers from the victor's thigh. There was a moment's flapping, a few +delicate red feathers floated off upon the morning air, then the hawk +lay quite still, and the red cock, stepping haughtily off the body of +his foe, crowed long and shrill, three times, as if challenging any +other champions of the wilderness to come and dare a like fate. + +For a few minutes he stood waiting and listening for an answer to his +challenge. As no answer came, he turned, without deigning to glance at +his slain foe, and stalked off, stepping daintily, up the old wood-road +and into the depths of the forest. To the raw, red gash in his thigh +he paid no heed whatever. + +Having no inkling of the fact that the wilderness, silent and deserted +though it seemed, was full of hostile eyes and unknown perils, he took +no care at all for the secrecy of his going. Indeed, had he striven +for concealment, his brilliant colouring, so out of key with the forest +gloom, would have made it almost impossible. Nevertheless, his +keenness of sight and hearing, his practised and unsleeping vigilance +as protector of his flock, stood him in good stead, and made up for his +lack of wilderness lore. It was with an intense interest and +curiosity, rather than with any apprehension, that his bold eyes +questioned everything on either side of his path through the dark +spruce woods. Sometimes he would stop to peck the bright vermilion +bunches of the pigeon-berry, which here and there starred the hillocks +beside the road. But no matter how interesting he found the novel and +delicious fare, his vigilance never relaxed. It was, indeed, almost +automatic. The idea lurking in his subconscious processes was probably +that he might at any moment be seen by some doughty rival of his own +kind, and challenged to the great game of mortal combat. But whatever +the object of his watchfulness, it served him as well against the +unknown as it could have done against expected foes. + +Presently he came to a spot where an old, half-rotted stump had been +torn apart by a bear hunting for wood-ants. The raw earth about the +up-torn roots tempted the wanderer to scratch for grubs. Finding a fat +white morsel, much too dainty to be devoured alone, he stood over it +and began to call _kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt, kt-kt-kt,_ in his most alluring +tones, hoping that some coy young hen would come stealing out of the +underbrush in response to his gallant invitation. There was no such +response; but as he peered about hopefully, he caught sight of a +sinister, reddish-yellow shape creeping towards him behind the shelter +of a withe-wood bush. He gulped down the fat grub, and stood warily +eyeing the approach of this new foe. + +It looked to him like a sharp-nosed, bushy-tailed yellow dog--a very +savage and active one. He was not afraid, but he knew himself no match +for a thoroughly ferocious dog of that size. This one, it was clear, +had evil designs upon him. He half crouched, with wings loosed and +every muscle tense for the spring. + +The next instant the fox pounced at him, darting through the green +edges of the withe-wood bush with most disconcerting suddenness. The +cock sprang into the air, but only just in time, for the fox, leaping +up nimbly at him with snapping jaws, captured a mouthful of glossy fail +feathers. The cock alighted on a branch overhead, some seven or eight +feet from the ground, whipped around, stretched his neck downwards, and +eyed his assailant with a glassy stare. "_Kr-rr-rr-eee?_" he murmured +softly, as if in sarcastic interrogation. The fox, exasperated at his +failure, and hating, above all beasts, to be made a fool of, glanced +around to see if there were any spectators. Then, with an air of +elaborate indifference, he pawed a feather from the corner of his mouth +and trotted away as if he had just remembered something. + +He had not gone above thirty yards or so, when the cock flew down again +to the exact spot where he had been scratching. He pretended to pick +up another grub, all the time keeping an eye on the retiring foe. He +crowed with studied insolence; but the fox, although that long and +shrill defiance must have seemed a startling novelty, gave no sign of +having heard it. The cock crowed again, with the same lack of result. +He kept on crowing until the fox was out of sight. Then he returned +coolly to his scratching. When he had satisfied his appetite for fat +white grubs, he flew up again to his safe perch and fell to preening +his feathers. Five minutes later the fox reappeared, creeping up with +infinite stealth from quite another direction. The cock, however, +detected his approach at once, and proclaimed the fact with another +mocking crow. Disgusted and abashed, the fox turned in his tracks and +crept away to stalk some less sophisticated quarry. + +The wanderer, for all his fearlessness, was wise. He suspected that +the vicious yellow dog with the bushy tail might return yet again to +the charge. For a time, therefore, he sat on his perch, digesting his +meal and studying with keen, inquisitive eyes his strange surroundings. +After ten minutes or so of stillness and emptiness, the forest began to +come alive. He saw a pair of black-and-white woodpeckers running up +and down the trunk of a half-dead tree, and listened with tense +interest to their loud rat-tat-tattings. He watched the shy wood-mice +come out from their snug holes under the tree-roots, and play about +with timorous gaiety and light rustlings among the dead leaves. He +scrutinized with appraising care a big brown rabbit which came bounding +in a leisurely fashion down the tote-road and sat up on its +hindquarters near the stump, staring about with its mild, bulging eyes, +and waving its long ears this way and that, to question every minutest +wilderness sound; and he decided that the rabbit, for all its bulk and +apparent vigour of limb, would not be a dangerous opponent. In fact, +he thought of hopping down from his perch and putting the big innocent +to flight, just to compensate himself for having had to flee from the +fox. + +But while he was meditating this venture, the rabbit went suddenly +leaping off at a tremendous pace, evidently in great alarm. A few +seconds later a slim little light-brownish creature, with short legs, +long, sinuous body, short, triangular head, and cruel eyes that glowed +like fire, came into view, following hard upon the rabbit's trail. It +was nothing like half the rabbit's size, but the interested watcher on +the branch overhead understood at once the rabbit's terror. He had +never seen a weasel before, but he knew that the sinuous little beast +with the eyes of death would be as dangerous almost as the fox. He +noted that here was another enemy to look out for--to be avoided, if +possible, to be fought with the utmost wariness if fighting should be +forced upon him. + +Not long after the weasel had vanished, the cock grew tired of waiting, +and restless to renew the quest for the flock on which his dreams were +set. He started by flying from tree to tree, still keeping along the +course of the tote-road. But after he had covered perhaps a half-mile +in this laborious fashion, he gave it up and hopped down again into the +road. Here he went now with new caution, but with the same old +arrogance of eye and bearing. He went quickly, however, for the gloom +of the spruce wood had grown oppressive to him, and he wanted open +fields and the unrestricted sun. + +He had not gone far when he caught sight of a curious-looking animal +advancing slowly down the path to meet him. It was nearly as big as +the rabbit, but low on the legs; and instead of leaping along, it +crawled with a certain heavy deliberation. Its colour was a dingy, +greyish black-and-white, and its short black head was crowned with what +looked like a heavy iron-grey pompadour brushed well back. The cock +stood still, eyeing its approach suspiciously. It did not look capable +of any very swift demonstration, but he was on his guard. + +When it had come within three or four yards of him, he said +"_Kr-rr-rr-eee!_" sharply, just to see what it would do, at the same +time lowering his snaky head and ruffing out his neck feathers in +challenge. The stranger seemed then to notice him for the first time, +and instantly, to the cock's vast surprise, it enlarged itself to fully +twice its previous size. Its fur, which was now seen to be quills +rather than fur, stood up straight on end all over its head and body, +and the quills were two or three inches in length. At this amazing +spectacle the cock involuntarily backed away several paces. The +stranger came straight on, however, without hastening his deliberate +steps one jot. The cock waited, maintaining his attitude of challenge, +till not more than three or four feet separated him from the +incomprehensible apparition. Then he sprang lightly over it and turned +in a flash, expecting the stranger to turn also and again confront him. +The stranger, however, did nothing of the kind, but simply continued +stolidly on his way, not even troubling to look round. Such stolidity +was more than the cock could understand, having never encountered a +porcupine before. He stared after it for some moments. Then he crowed +scornfully, turned about, and resumed his lonely quest. + +A little farther on, to his great delight, he came out into a small +clearing with a log cabin in the centre of it. A house! It was +associated in his mind with an admiring, devoted flock of hens, and +rivals to be ignominiously routed, and harmless necessary humans whose +business it was to supply unlimited food. He rushed forward eagerly, +careless as to whether he should encounter love or war. + +Alas, the cabin was deserted! Even to his inexperienced eye it was +long deserted. The door hung on one hinge, half open; the one small +window had no glass in it. Untrodden weeds grew among the rotting +chips up to and across the threshold. The roof--a rough affair of +poles and bark--sagged in the middle, just ready to fall in at the +smallest provocation. A red squirrel, his tail carried jauntily over +his back, sat on the topmost peak of it and shrilled high derision at +the wanderer as he approached. + +The cock was acquainted with squirrels, and thought less than nothing +of them. Ignoring the loud chatter, he tip-toed around the cabin, +dejected but still inquisitive. Returning at length to the doorway, he +peered in, craning his neck and uttering a low _kr-rr_. Finally, with +head held high, he stalked in. The place was empty, save for a long +bench with a broken leg and a joint of rust-eaten stove-pipe. Along +two of the walls ran a double tier of bunks, in which the lumbermen had +formerly slept. The cock stalked all around the place, prying in every +corner and murmuring softly to himself. At last he flew up to the +highest bunk, perched upon the edge of it, flapped his wings, and +crowed repeatedly, as if announcing to the wilderness at large that he +had taken possession. This ceremony accomplished, he flew down again, +stalked out into the sunlight, and fell to scratching among the chips +with an air of assured possession. And all the while the red squirrel +kept on hurling shrill, unheeded abuse at him, resenting him as an +intruder in the wilds. + +Whenever the cock found a particularly choice grub or worm or beetle, +he would hold it aloft in his beak, then lay it down and call loudly +_kt-kt-kt-kt-kt-kt_, as if hoping thus to lure some flock of hens to +the fair domain which he had seized. He had now dropped his quest, and +was trusting that his subjects would come to him. That afternoon his +valiant calls caught the ear of a weasel--possibly the very one which +he had seen in the morning trailing the panic-stricken rabbit. The +weasel came rushing upon him at once, too ferocious in its blood-lust +for any such emotions as surprise or curiosity, and expecting an easy +conquest. The cock saw it coming, and knew well the danger. But he +was now on his own ground, responsible for the protection of an +imaginary flock. He faced the peril unwavering. Fortunately for him, +the weasel had no idea whatever of a fighting-cock's method of warfare. +When the cock evaded the deadly rush by leaping straight at it and over +it, instead of dodging aside or turning tail, the weasel was nonplussed +for just a fraction of a second, and stood snarling. In that instant +of hesitation the cock's keen spur struck it fairly behind the ear, and +drove clean into the brain. The murderous little beast stiffened out, +rolled gently over upon its side, and lay there with the soundless +snarl fixed upon its half-opened jaws. Surprised at such an easy +victory, the cock spurred the carcase again, just to make sure of it. +Then he kicked it to one side, crowed, of course, and stared around +wistfully for some appreciation of his triumph. He could not know with +what changed eyes the squirrel--who feared weasels more than anything +else on earth--was now regarding him. + +The killing of so redoubtable an adversary as the weasel must have +become known, in some mysterious fashion, for thenceforward no more of +the small marauders of the forest ventured to challenge the new +lordship of the clearing. For a week the cock ruled his solitude +unquestioned, very lonely, but sleeplessly alert, and ever hoping that +followers of his own kind would come to him from somewhere. In time, +doubtless, his loneliness would have driven him forth again upon his +quest; but Fate had other things in store for him. + +Late one afternoon a grizzled woodsman in grey homespun, and carrying a +bundle swung from the axe over his shoulder, came striding up to the +cabin. The cock, pleased to see a human being once more, stalked forth +from the cabin door to meet him. The woodsman was surprised at the +sight of what he called a "reel barn-yard rooster" away off here in the +wilds, but he was too tired and hungry to consider the question +carefully. His first thought was that there would be a pleasant +addition to his supper of bacon and biscuits. He dropped his axe and +bundle, and made a swift grab at the unsuspecting bird. The latter +dodged cleverly, ruffed his neck feathers with an angry _kr-rr-rr_, +hopped up, and spurred the offending hand severely. + +The woodsman straightened himself up, taken by surprise, and sheepishly +shook the blood from his hand. + +"Well, I'll be durned!" he muttered, eyeing the intrepid cock with +admiration. "You're some rooster, you are! I guess you're all right. +Guess I deserved that, for thinkin' of wringin' the neck o' sech a +handsome an' gritty bird as you, an' me with plenty o' good bacon in me +pack. Guess we'll call it square, eh?" + +He felt in his pocket for some scraps of biscuits, and tossed them to +the cock, who picked them up greedily and then strutted around him, +plainly begging for more. The biscuit was a delightful change after an +unvarying diet of grubs and grass. Thereafter he followed his visitor +about like his shadow, not with servility, of course, but with a +certain condescending arrogance which the woodsman found hugely amusing. + +Just outside the cabin door the woodsman lit a fire to cook his evening +rasher and brew his tin of tea. The cock supped with him, striding +with dignity to pick up the scraps which were thrown to him, and then +resuming his place at the other side of the fire. By the time the man +was done, dusk had fallen; and the cock, chuckling contentedly in his +throat, tip-toed into the cabin, flew up to the top bunk, and settled +himself on his perch for the night. He had always been taught to +expect benefits from men, and he felt that this big stranger who had +fed him so generously would find him a flock to preside over on the +morrow. + +After a long smoke beside his dying fire, till the moon came up above +the ghostly solitude, the woodsman turned in to sleep in one of the +lower bunks, opposite to where the cock was roosting. He had heaped an +armful of bracken and spruce branches into the bunk before spreading +his blanket. And he slept very soundly. + +Even the most experienced of woodsmen may make a slip at times. This +one, this time, had forgotten to make quite sure that his fire was out. +There was no wind when he went to bed, but soon afterwards a wind +arose, blowing steadily toward the cabin. It blew the darkened embers +to a glow, and little, harmless-looking flames began eating their way +over the top layer of tinder-dry chips to the equally dry wall of the +cabin. + + * * * * * + +The cock was awakened by a bright light in his eyes. A fiery glow, +beyond the reddest of sunrises, was flooding the cabin. Long tongues +of flame were licking about the doorway. He crowed valiantly, to greet +this splendid, blazing dawn. He crowed again and yet again, because he +was anxious and disturbed. As a sunrise, this one did not act at all +according to precedent. + +The piercing notes aroused the man, who was sleeping heavily. In one +instant he was out of his bunk and grabbing up his blanket and his +pack. In the next he had plunged out through the flaming doorway, and +thrown down his armful at a safe distance, cursing acidly at such a +disturbance to the most comfortable rest he had enjoyed for a week. + +From within the doomed cabin came once more the crow of the cock, +shrilling dauntlessly above the crackle and venomous hiss of the flames. + +"Gee whizz!" muttered the woodsman, or, rather, that may be taken as +the polite equivalent of his untrammelled backwoods expletive. "That +there red rooster's game. Ye can't leave a pardner like that to roast!" + +With one arm shielding his face, he dashed in again, grabbed the cock +by the legs, and darted forth once more into the sweet, chill air, none +the worse except for frizzled eyelashes and an unceremonious trimming +of hair and beard. The cock, highly insulted, was flapping and pecking +savagely, but the man soon reduced him to impotence, if not submission, +holding him under one elbow while he tied his armed heels together, and +then swaddling him securely in his coat. + +"There," said he, "I guess we'll travel together from this out, +pardner. Ye've sure saved my life; an' to think I had the notion, for +a minnit, o' makin' a meal offen ye! I'll give ye a good home, +anyways, an' I guess ye'll lick the socks offen every other rooster in +the whole blame Settlement!" + + + + +IV + +THE MORNING OF THE SILVER FROST + + + + +The Morning of the Silver Frost + +All night the big buck rabbit--he was really a hare, but the +backwoodsmen called him a rabbit--had been squatting on his form under +the dense branches of a young fir tree. The branches grew so low that +their tips touched the snow all round him, giving him almost perfect +shelter from the drift of the storm. The storm was one of icy rain, +which everywhere froze instantly as it fell. All night it had been +busy encasing the whole wilderness--every tree and bush and stump, and +the snow in every open meadow or patch of forest glade--in an armour of +ice, thick and hard and glassy clear. And the rabbit, crouching +motionless, save for an occasional forward thrust of his long, +sensitive ears, had slept in unwonted security, knowing that none of +his night-prowling foes would venture forth from their lairs on such a +night. + +At dawn the rain stopped. The cold deepened to a still intensity. The +clouds lifted along the eastern horizon, and a thin, icy flood of +saffron and palest rose washed down across the glittering desolation. +The wilderness was ablaze on the instant with elusive tongues and +points of coloured light--jewelled flames, not of fire, but of frost. +The world had become a palace of crystal and opal, a dream-palace that +would vanish at a touch, a breath. And indeed, had a wind arisen then +to breathe upon it roughly, the immeasurable crystal would have +shattered as swiftly as a dream, the too-rigid twigs and branches would +have snapped and clattered down in ruin. + +The rabbit came out from under his little ice-clad fir tree, and, for +all his caution, the brittle twigs broke about him as he emerged, and +tinkled round him sharply. The thin, light sound was so loud upon the +stillness that he gave a startled leap into the air, landing many feet +away from his refuge. He slipped and sprawled, recovered his foothold, +and stood quivering, his great, prominent eyes trying to look in every +direction at once, his ears questioning anxiously to and fro, his +nostrils twitching for any hint of danger. + +There was no sight, sound, or scent, however, to justify his alarm, and +in a few seconds, growing bolder, he remembered that he was hungry. +Close by he noticed the tips of a little birch sapling sticking up +above the snow. These birch-tips, in winter, were his favourite food. +He hopped toward them, going circumspectly over the slippery surface, +and sat up on his hindquarters to nibble at them. To his intense +surprise and disappointment, each twig and aromatic bud was sealed +away, inaccessible, though clearly visible, under a quarter inch of +ice. Twig after twig he investigated with his inquiring, sensitive +cleft nostrils, which met everywhere the same chill reception. Round +and round the tantalizing branch he hopped, unable to make out the +situation. At last, thoroughly disgusted, he turned his back on the +treacherous birch bush and made for another, some fifty yards down the +glade. + +As he reached it he stopped short, suddenly rigid, his head half turned +over his shoulder, every muscle gathered like a spring wound up to +extreme tension. His bulging eyes had caught a movement somewhere +behind him, beyond the clump of twigs which he had just left. Only for +a second did he remain thus rigid. Then the spring was loosed. With a +frantic bound he went over and through the top of the bush. The +shattered and scattered crystals rang sharply on the shining +snow-crust. And he sped away in panic terror among the silent trees. + +From behind the glassy twigs emerged another form, snow-white like the +fleeting rabbit, and sped in pursuit--not so swiftly, indeed, as the +rabbit, but with an air of implacable purpose that made the quarry seem +already doomed. The pursuer was much smaller than his intended victim, +very low on the legs, long-bodied, slender, and sinuous, and he moved +as if all compacted of whipcord muscle. The grace of his long, +deliberate bounds was indescribable. His head was triangular in shape, +the ears small and close-set, the black-tipped muzzle sharply pointed, +with the thin, black lips upcurled to show the white fangs; and the +eyes glowed red with blood-lust. Small as it was, there was something +terrible about the tiny beast, and its pursuit seemed as inevitable as +Fate. At each bound its steel-hard claws scratched sharply on the +crystal casing of the snow, and here and there an icicle from a snapped +twig went ringing silverly across the gleaming surface. + +For perhaps fifty yards the weasel followed straight upon the rabbit's +track. Then he swerved to the right. He had lost sight of his quarry. +But he knew its habits in flight. He knew it would run in a circle, +and he took a chord of that circle, so as to head the fugitive off. He +knew he might have to repeat this manoeuvre several times, but he had +no doubts as to the result. In a second or two he also had disappeared +among the azure shadows and pink-and-saffron gleams of the ice-clad +forest. + +For several minutes the glade was empty, still as death, with the +bitter but delicate glories of the winter dawn flooding ever more +radiantly across it. On a sudden the rabbit appeared again, this time +at the opposite side of the glade. He was running irresolutely now, +with little aimless leaps to this side and to that, and his leaps were +short and lifeless, as if his nerve-power were getting paralysed. +About the middle of the glade he seemed to give up altogether, as if +conquered by sheer panic. He stopped, hesitated, wheeled round, and +crouched flat upon the naked snow, trembling violently, and staring, +with eyes that started from his head, at the point in the woods which +he had just emerged from. + +A second later the grim pursuer appeared. He saw his victim awaiting +him, but he did not hurry his pace by a hair's-breadth. With the same +terrible deliberation he approached. Only his jaws opened, his long +fangs glistened bare; a blood-red globule of light glowed redder at the +back of his eyes. + +One more of those inexorable bounds, and he would have been at his +victim's throat. The rabbit screamed. + +At that instant, with a hissing sound, a dark shadow dropped out of the +air. It struck the rabbit. He was enveloped in a dreadful flapping of +wings. Iron talons, that clutched and bit like the jaws of a trap, +seized him by the back. He felt himself partly lifted from the snow. +He screamed again. But now he struggled convulsively, no longer +submissive to his doom, the hypnotic spell cast upon him by the weasel +being broken by the shock of the great hawk's unexpected attack. + +But the weasel was not of the stuff or temper to let his prey be +snatched thus from his jaws. Cruel and wanton assassin though he was, +ever rejoicing to kill for the lust of killing long after his hunger +was satisfied, he had the courage of a wounded buffalo. A mere darting +silver of white, he sprang straight into the blinding confusion of +those great wings. + +He secured a hold just under one wing, where the armour of feathers was +thinnest, and began to gnaw inwards with his keen fangs. With a +startled cry, the hawk freed her talons from the rabbit's back and +clutched frantically at her assailant. The rabbit, writhing out from +under the struggle, went leaping off into cover, bleeding copiously, +but carrying no fatal hurt. He had recovered his wits, and had no idle +curiosity as to how the battle between his enemies would turn out. + +The hawk, for all her great strength and the crushing superiority of +her weapons, had a serious disadvantage of position. The weasel, +maintaining his deadly grip and working inwards like a bull-dog, had +hunched up his lithe little body so that she could not reach it with +her talons. She tore furiously at his back with her rending beak, but +the amazingly tough, rubbery muscles resisted even that weapon to a +certain degree. At last, securing a grip with her beak upon her +adversary's thigh, she managed to pull the curled-up body out almost +straight, and so secured a grip upon it with one set of talons. + +That grip was crushing, irresistible, but it was too far back to be +immediately fatal. The weasel's lithe body lengthened out under the +agonizing stress of it, but it could not pull his jaws from their grip. +They continued inexorably their task of gnawing inwards, ever inwards, +seeking a vital spot. + +The struggle went on in silence, as far as the voices of both +combatants were concerned. But the beating of the hawk's wings +resounded on the glassy-hard surface of the snow. As the struggle +shifted ground, those flapping wings came suddenly in contact with a +bush, whose iced twigs were brittle as glass and glittering like the +prisms of a great crystal candelabrum. There was a shrill crash and a +thin, ringing clatter as the twigs shattered off and spun flying across +the crust. + +The sound carried far through the still iridescent spaces of the +wilderness. It reached the ears of a foraging fox, who was tiptoeing +with dainty care over the slippery crust. He turned hopefully to +investigate, trusting to get a needed breakfast out of some +fellow-marauder's difficulties. At the edge of the glade he paused, +peering through a bush of crystal fire to size up the situation before +committing himself to the venture. + +Desperately preoccupied though she was, the hawk's all-seeing eyes +detected the red outlines of the fox through the bush. With a frantic +beating of her wings she lifted herself from the snow. The fox darted +upon her with a lightning rush and a shattering of icicles. He was +just too late. The great bird was already in the air, carrying her +deadly burden with her. The fox leapt straight upwards, hoping to pull +her down, but his clashing jaws just failed to reach her talons. +Labouring heavily in her flight, she made off, striving to gain a +tree-top, where she might perch and once more give her attention to the +gnawing torment which clung beneath her wing. + +The fox, being wise, and seeing that the hawk was in extremest straits, +ran on beneath her as she flew, gazing upwards expectantly. + +The weasel, meanwhile, with that deadly concentration of purpose which +characterizes his tribe, paid no heed to the fact that he was +journeying through the air. And he knew nothing of what was going on +below. His flaming eyes were buried in his foe's feathers, his jaws +were steadily working inwards toward her vitals. + +Just at the edge of the glade, immediately over the top of a branchy +young paper-birch which shot a million coloured points of light in the +sunrise, the end came. The fangs of the weasel met in the hawk's +wildly throbbing heart. With a choking burst of scarlet blood it +stopped. + +Stone dead, the great marauder of the air crashed down through the slim +birch-top, with a great scattering of gleams and crystals. With +wide-sprawled wings she thudded down upon the snow-crust, almost under +the fox's complacent jaws. The weasel's venomous head, covered with +blood, emerged triumphant from the mass of feathers. + +As the victor writhed free, the fox, pouncing upon him with a careless +air, seized him by the neck, snapped it neatly, and tossed the long, +limp body, aside upon the snow. He had no use for the rank, stringy +meat of the weasel when better fare was at hand. Then he drew the hawk +close to the trunk of the young birch, and lay down to make a leisurely +breakfast. + + + + +V + +JIM, THE BACKWOODS POLICE DOG + + + + +How Woolly Billy Came to Brine's Rip + +I + +Jim's mother was a big cross-bred bitch, half Newfoundland and half +bloodhound, belonging to Black Saunders, one of the hands at the +Brine's Rip Mills. As the mills were always busy, Saunders was always +busy, and it was no place for a dog to be around, among the screeching +saws, the thumping, wet logs, and the spurting sawdust. So the big +bitch, with fiery energy thrilling her veins and sinews and the +restraint of a master's hand seldom exercised upon her, practically ran +wild. + +Hunting on her own account in the deep wilderness which surrounded +Brine's Rip Settlement, she became a deadly menace to every wild thing +less formidable than a bear or a bull moose, till at last, in the early +prime of her adventurous career, she was shot by an angry game warden +for her depredations among the deer and the young caribou. + +Jim's father was a splendid and pedigreed specimen of the old English +sheep-dog. From a litter of puppies of this uncommon parentage, Tug +Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, chose out the one +that seemed to him the likeliest, paid Black Saunders a sovereign for +him, and named him Jim. To Tug Blackstock, for some unfathomed reason, +the name of "Jim" stood for self-contained efficiency. + +It was efficiency, in chief, that Tug Blackstock, as Deputy Sheriff, +was after. He had been reading, in a stray magazine with torn cover +and much-thumbed pages, an account of the wonderful doings of the +trained police-dogs of Paris. The story had fired his imagination and +excited his envy. + +There was a lawless element in some of the outlying corners of +Nipsiwaska County, with a larger element of yet more audacious +lawlessness beyond the county line from which to recruit. Throughout +the wide and mostly wilderness expanse of Nipsiwaska County the +responsibility for law and order rested almost solely upon the +shoulders of Tug Blackstock. His chief, the Sheriff, a prosperous +shopkeeper who owed his appointment to his political pull, knew little +and thought less of the duties of his office. + +As soon as Jim was old enough to have an interest beyond his breakfast +and the worrying of his rag ball, Tug Blackstock set about his +training. It was a matter that could not be hurried. Tug had much +work to do and Jim, as behoved a growing puppy, had a deal of play to +get through in the course of each twenty-four hours. Then so hard was +the learning, so easy, alas! the forgetting. Tug Blackstock was kind +to all creatures but timber thieves and other evil-doers of like +kidney. He was patient, with the long patience of the forest. But he +had a will like the granite of old Bald Face. + +Jim was quick of wit, willing to learn, intent to please his master. +But it was hard for him to concentrate. It was hard to keep his mind +off cats, and squirrels, the worrying of old boots, and other doggish +frivolities. Hence, at times, some painful misunderstandings between +teacher and pupil. In the main, however, the education of Jim +progressed to a marvel. + +They were a pair, indeed, to strike the most stolid imagination, let +alone the sensitive, brooding, watchful imagination of the backwoods. +Tug Blackstock was a tall, spare figure of a man, narrow of hip, deep +of chest, with something of a stoop to his mighty shoulders, and his +head thrust forward as if in ceaseless scrutiny of the unseen. His +hair, worn somewhat short and pushed straight back, was faintly +grizzled. His face, tanned and lean, was markedly wide at the eyes, +with a big, well-modelled nose, a long, obstinate jaw, and a wide mouth +whimsically uptwisted at one corner. + +Except on the trail--and even then he usually carried a razor in his +pack--he was always clean-shaven, just because he didn't like the curl +of his beard. His jacket, shirt, and trousers were of browny-grey +homespun, of much the same hue as his soft slouch hat, all as +inconspicuous as possible. But at his throat, loosely knotted under +his wide-rolling shirt collar, he wore usually an ample silk +handkerchief of vivid green spattered with big yellow spots, like +dandelions in a young June meadow. + +As for Jim, at first glance he might almost have been taken for a slim, +young black bear rather than a dog. The shaggy coat bequeathed to him +by his sheep-dog sire gave to his legs and to his hindquarters an +appearance of massiveness that was almost clumsy. But under this dense +black fleece his lines were fine and clean-drawn as a bull-terrier's. + +The hair about his eyes grew so long and thick that, if left to itself, +it would have seriously interfered with his vision. This his master +could not think of permitting, so the riotous hair was trimmed down +severely, till Jim's large, sagacious eyes gazed out unimpeded from +ferocious, brush-like rims of stubby fur about half an inch in length. + + +II + +For some ten miles above the long, white, furrowed race of Brine's Rip, +where Blue Forks Brook flows in, the main stream of the Ottanoonsis is +a succession of mad rapids and toothed ledges and treacherous, +channel-splitting shoals. These ten miles are a trial of nerve and +water-craft for the best canoists on the river. In the spring, when +the river was in freshet and the freed logs were racing, battering, and +jamming, the whole reach was such a death-trap for the stream-drivers +that it had come to be known as Dead Man's Run. + +Now, in high summer, when the stream was shrunken in its channel and +the sunshine lay golden over the roaring, creamy chutes and the dancing +shallows, the place looked less perilous. But it was full of snares +and hidden teeth. It was no place for the canoist, however expert with +pole and paddle, unless he knew how to read the water unerringly for +many yards ahead. It is this reading of the water, this instantaneous +solving of the hieroglyphics of foam and surge and swirl and glassy +lunge, that makes the skilled runner of the rapids. + +A light birch-bark canoe, with a man in the stern and a small child in +the bow, was approaching the head of the rapids, which were hidden from +the paddler's view by a high, densely-wooded bend of the shore. The +canoe leapt forward swiftly on the smooth, quiet current, under the +strong drive of the paddle. + +The paddler was a tall, big-limbed man, with fair hair fringing out +under his tweed cap, and a face burnt red rather than tanned by the +weather. He was dressed roughly but well, and not as a woodsman, and +he had a subtle air of being foreign to the backwoods. He knew how to +handle his paddle, however, the prow of his craft keeping true though +his strokes were slow and powerful. + +The child who sat facing him on a cushion in the bow was a little boy +of four or five years, in a short scarlet jacket and blue knickers. +His fat, bare legs were covered with fly-bites and scratches, his baby +face of the tenderest cream and pink, his round, interested eyes as +blue as periwinkle blossoms. But the most conspicuous thing about him +was his hair. He was bareheaded--his little cap lying in the bottom of +the canoe among the luggage--and the hair, as white as tow, stood out +like a fleece all over his head, enmeshing the sunlight in its silken +tangle. + +When the canoe shot round the bend, the roar of the rapids smote +suddenly upon the voyagers' ears. The child turned his bright head +inquiringly, but from his low place could see nothing to explain the +noise. His father, however, sitting up on the hinder bar of the canoe, +could see a menacing white line of tossing crests, aflash in the +sunlight, stretching from shore to shore. Backing water vigorously to +check his headway, he stood up to get a better view and choose his way +through the surge. + +The stranger was master of his paddle, but he had had no adequate +experience in running rapids. Such light and unobstructed rips as he +had gone through had merely sufficed to make him regard lightly the +menace confronting him. He had heard of the perils of Dead Man's Run, +but that, of course, meant in time of freshet, when even the mildest +streams are liable to go mad and run amuck. This was the season of +dead low water, and it was hard for him to imagine there could be +anything really to fear from this lively but shrunken stream. He was +strong, clear-eyed, steady of nerve, and he anticipated no great +trouble in getting through. + +As the light craft dipped into the turmoil; jumping as if buffeted from +below, and the wave-tops slapped in on either side of the bow, the +little lad gave a cry of fear. + +"Sit tight, boy. Don't be afraid," said the father, peering ahead with +intent, narrowed eyes and surging fiercely on his blade to avoid a +boiling rock just below the first chute. As he swept past in safety he +laughed in triumph, for the passage had been close and exciting, and +the conquest of a mad rapid is one of the thrilling things in life, and +worth going far for. His laugh reassured the child, who laughed also, +but cowered low in the canoe and stared over the gunwale with wide eyes +of awe. + +But already the canoe was darting down toward a line of black rocks +smothered in foam. The man paddled desperately to gain the other +shore, where there seemed to be a clear passage. Slanting sharply +across the great current, surging with short terrific strokes upon his +sturdy maple blade, his teeth set and his breath coming in grunts, he +was swept on downward, sideways toward the rocks, with appalling speed. +But he made the passage, swept the bow around, and raced through, +shaving the rock so narrowly that his heart paused and the sweat jumped +out suddenly cold on his forehead. + +Immediately afterwards the current swept him to mid-stream. Just here +the channel was straight and clear of rocks, and though the rips were +heavy the man had a few minutes' respite, with little to do but hold +his course. + +With a stab at the heart he realized now into what peril he had brought +his baby. Eagerly he looked for a chance to land, but on neither side +could he make shore with any chance of escaping shipwreck. A woodsman, +expert with the canoe-pole, might have managed it, but the stranger had +neither pole nor skill to handle one. He was in the grip of the wild +current and could only race on, trusting to master each new emergency +as it should hurl itself upon him. + +Presently the little one took alarm again at his father's stern-set +mouth and preoccupied eyes. The man had just time to shout once more, +"Don't be afraid, son. Dad'll take care of you," when the canoe was +once more in a yelling chaos of chutes and ledges. And now there was +no respite. Unable to read the signs of the water, he was full upon +each new peril before he recognized it, and only his great muscular +strength and instant decision saved them. + +Again and again they barely, by a hair's-breadth, slipped through the +jaws of death, and it seemed to the man that the gnashing ledges raved +and yelled behind him at each miracle of escape. Then hissing +wave-crests cut themselves off and leapt over the racing gunwale, till +he feared the canoe would be swamped. Once they scraped so savagely +that he thought the bottom was surely ripped from the canoe. But still +he won onward, mile after roaring mile, his will fighting doggedly to +keep his eyesight from growing hopelessly confused with the hellish, +sliding dazzle and riot of waters. + +But at last the fiend of the flood, having played with its prey long +enough, laid bare its claws and struck. The bow of the canoe, in +swerving from one foam-curtained rock, grounded heavily upon another. +In an instant the little craft was swung broadside on, and hung there. +The waves piled upon her in a yelling pack. She was smothered down, +and rolled over helplessly. + +As they shot out into the torrent the man, with a terrible cry, sprang +toward the bow, striving to reach his son. He succeeded in catching +the little one, with one hand, by the back of the scarlet jacket. The +next moment he went under and the jacket came off over the child's +head. A whimsical cross-current dragged the little boy twenty feet off +to one side, and shot him into a shallow side channel. + +When the man came to the surface again his eyes were shut, his face +stark white, his legs and arms flung about aimlessly as weeds; but fast +in his unconscious grip he held the little red jacket. The canoe, its +side stove in, and full of water, was hurrying off down the rapid amid +a fleet of paddles, cushions, blankets, boxes, and bundles. The body +of the man, heavy and inert and sprawling, followed more slowly. The +waves rolled it over and trampled it down, shouldered it up again, and +snatched it away viciously whenever it showed an inclination to hang +itself up on some projecting ledge. It was long since they had had +such a victim on whom to glut their rancour. + +The child, meanwhile, after being rolled through the laughing shallows +of the side channel and playfully buffeted into a half-drowned +unconsciousness, was stranded on a sand spit some eight or ten yards +from the right-hand shore. There he lay, half in the water, half out +of it, the silken white floss of his hair all plastered down to his +head, the rippled current tugging at his scratched and bitten legs. + +The unclouded sun shone down warmly upon his face, slowly bringing back +the rose to his baby lips, and a small, paper-blue butterfly hovered +over his head for a few seconds, as if puzzled to make out what kind of +being he was. + +The sand spit which had given the helpless little one refuge was close +to the shore, but separated from it by a deep and turbulent current. A +few minutes after the blue butterfly had flickered away across the +foam, a large black bear came noiselessly forth from the fir woods and +down to the water's edge. He gazed searchingly up and down the river +to see if there were any other human creatures in sight, then stretched +his savage black muzzle out over the water toward the sand spit, eyeing +and sniffing at the little unconscious figure there in the sun. He +could not make out whether it was dead or only asleep. In either case +he wanted it. He stepped into the foaming edge of the sluice, and +stood there whimpering with disappointed appetite, daunted by the snaky +vehemence of the current. + +Presently, as the warmth of the flooding sun crept into his veins, the +child stirred, and opened his blue eyes. He sat up, noticed he was +sitting in the water, crawled to a dry spot, and snuggled down into the +hot sand. For the moment he was too dazed to realize where he was. +Then, as the life pulsed back into his veins, he remembered how his +father's hand had caught him by the jacket just as he went plunging +into the awful waves. Now, the jacket was gone. His father was gone, +too. + +"Daddy! Daddee-ee!" he wailed. And at the sound of that wailing cry, +so unmistakably the cry of a youngling for its parent, the bear drew +back discreetly behind a bush, and glanced uneasily up and down the +stream to see if the parent would come in answer to the appeal. He had +a wholesome respect for the grown-up man creature of either sex, and +was ready to retire on the approach of one. + +But no one came. The child began to sob softly, in a lonesome, +frightened, suppressed way. In a minute or two, however, he stopped +this, and rose to his feet, and began repeating over and over the +shrill wail of "Daddy, Daddee-ee, Daddee-ee!" At the same time he +peered about him in every direction, almost hopefully, as if he thought +his father must be hiding somewhere near, to jump out presently for a +game of bo-peep with him. + +His baby eyes were keen. They did not find his father, but they found +the bear, its great black head staring at him from behind a bush. + +His cries stopped on the instant, in the middle of a syllable, frozen +in his throat with terror. He cowered down again upon the sand, and +stared, speechless, at the awful apparition. The bear, realizing that +the little one's cries had brought no succour, came out from its hiding +confidently, and down to the shore, and straight out into the water +till the current began to drag too savagely at its legs. Here it +stopped, grumbling and baffled. + +The little one, unable any longer to endure the dreadful sight, backed +to the extreme edge of the sand, covered his face with his hands, and +fell to whimpering piteously, an unceasing, hopeless, monotonous little +cry, as vague and inarticulate as the wind. + +The bear, convinced at length that the sluice just here was too strong +for to cross, drew back to the shore reluctantly, It moved slowly +up-stream some forty or fifty yards, looking for a feasible crossing. +Disappointed in this direction, it then explored the water's edge for a +little distance down stream, but with a like result. But it would not +give up. Up and down, up and down, it continued to patrol the shore +with hungry obstinacy. And the piteous whimpering of the little figure +that cowered, with hidden face upon the sand spit, gradually died away. +That white fleece of silken locks, dried in the sun and blown by the +warm breeze, stood out once more in its radiance on the lonely little +slumbering head. + + +III + +Tug Blackstock sat on a log, smoking and musing, on the shore of that +wide, eddying pool, full of slow swirls and spent foam clusters, in +which the tumbling riot of Brine's Rip came to a rest. From the mills +behind him screeched the untiring saws. Outstretched at his feet lay +Jim, indolently snapping at flies. The men of the village were busy in +the mills, the women in their cottages, the children in their schools; +and the stretch of rough shore gave Tug Blackstock the solitude which +he loved. + +Down through the last race of the rapids came a canoe paddle, and began +revolving slowly in the eddies. Blackstock pointed it out to Jim, and +sent him in after it. The dog swam for it gaily, grabbed it by the top +so that it could trail at his side, and brought it to his master's +feet. It was a good paddle, of clean bird's-eye maple and Melicite +pattern, and Tug Blackstock wondered who could have been so careless as +to lose it. Carelessness is a vice regarded with small leniency in the +backwoods. + +A few minutes later down the rapids came wallowing a water-logged +birch-canoe. The other things which had started out with it, the +cushions and blankets and bundles, had got themselves tangled in the +rocks and left behind. + +At sight of the wrecked canoe, Tug Blackstock rose to his feet. He +began to suspect another of the tragedies of Dead Man's Run. But what +river-man would come to grief in the Run at this stage of the water? +Blackstock turned to an old dug-out which lay hauled up on the shore, +ran it down into the water and paddled out to salvage the wrecked +canoe. He towed it to shore, emptied it, and scrutinized it. He +thought he knew every canoe on the river, but this one was a stranger +to him. It had evidently been brought across the Portage from the east +coast. Then he found, burnt into the inside of the gunwale near the +bow, the letters J.C.M.W. + +"The Englishman," he muttered. "He's let the canoe git away from him +at the head of the Run, likely, when he's gone ashore. He'd never have +tried to shoot the Run alone, an' him with no experience of rapids." + +But he was uneasy. He decided that he would get his own canoe and pole +up through the rapids, just to satisfy himself. + +Tug Blackstock's canoe, a strong and swift "Fredericton" of polished +canvas, built on the lines of a racing birch, was kept under cover in +his wood shed at the end of the village street. He shouldered it, +carrying it over his head with the mid bar across his shoulders, and +bore it down to the water's edge. Then he went back and fetched his +two canoe poles and his paddles. + +Waving Jim into the bow, he was just about to push off when his +narrowed eyes caught sight of something else rolling and threshing +helplessly down the rapid. Only too well he saw what it was. His face +pale with concern, he thrust the canoe violently up into the tail of +the rapid, just in time to catch the blindly sprawling shape before it +could sink to the depths of the pool. Tenderly he lifted it out upon +the shore. It was battered almost out of recognition, but he knew it. + +"Poor devil! Poor devil!" he muttered sorrowfully. "He was a man all +right, but he didn't understand rapids for shucks!" + +Then he noticed that in the dead man's right hand was clutched a tiny +child's jacket. He understood--he saw the whole scene, and he swore +compassionately under his breath, as he unloosed the rigid fingers. +Alive or dead, the little one must be found at once. + +He called Jim sharply, and showed him the soaked red jacket. Jim +sniffed at it, but the wearer's scent was long ago soaked out of it. +He looked it over, and pawed it, wagging his tail doubtfully. He could +see it was a small child's jacket, but what was he expected to do with +it? + +After a few moments, Tug Blackstock patted the jacket vigorously, and +then waved his arm up-stream. + +"Go, find him, Jim!" he ordered. Jim, hanging upon each word and +gesture, comprehended instantly. He was to find the owner of the +little jacket--a child--somewhere up the river. With a series of eager +yelps--which meant that he would do all that living dog could do--he +started up the shore, on the full run. + +By this time the mill whistles had blown, the screaming of the saws had +stopped, the men, powdered with yellow sawdust, were streaming out from +the wide doors. They flocked down to the water. + +In hurried words Blackstock explained the situation. Then he stepped +once more into his canoe, snatched his long, steel-shod pole, and +thrust his prow up into the wild current, leaving the dead man to the +care of the coroner and the village authorities. Before he had battled +his way more than a few hundred yards upwards through the raging +smother, two more canoes, with expert polers standing poised in them +like statues, had pushed out to follow him in his search. + +The rest of the crowd picked up the body and bore it away reverently to +the court-room, with sympathetic women weeping beside it. + +Racing along the open edge of the river where it was possible, tearing +fiercely through thicket and underbrush where rapids or rocks made the +river's edge impassable, the great black dog panted onwards with the +sweat dripping from jaws and tongue. Whenever he was forced away from +the river, he would return to it at every fifty yards or so, and scan +each rock, shoal or sand spit with keen, sagacious eyes. He had been +told to search the river--that was the plain interpretation of the wet +jacket and of Tug Blackstock's gesture--so he wasted no time upon the +woods and the undergrowth. + +At last he caught sight of the little fluffy-headed figure huddled upon +the sand spit far across the river. He stopped, stared intently, and +then burst into loud, ecstatic barkings as an announcement that his +search had been successful. But the noise did not carry across the +tumult of the ledge, and the little one slept on, exhausted by his +terror and his grief. + +It was not only the sleeping child that Jim saw. He saw the bear, and +his barking broke into shrill yelps of alarm and appeal. He could not +see that the sluice between the sand spit and the bank was an effective +barrier, and he was frantic with anxiety lest the bear should attack +the little one before he could come to the rescue. + +His experienced eye told him in a moment that the river was impassable +for him at this point. He dashed on up-stream for another couple of +hundred yards, and then, where a breadth of comparatively slack water +beneath a long ledge extended more than half-way across, he plunged in, +undaunted by the clamour and the jumping, boiling foam. + +Swimming mightily, he gained a point directly above the sand spit. +Then, fighting every inch of the way to get across the terrific draft +of the main current, he was swept downward at a tremendous speed. But +he had carried out his plan. He gained the shallow side channel, +splashed down it, and darted up the sand spit with a menacing growl at +the bear across the sluice. + +At the sound of that harsh growl close to his ears the little one woke +up and raised his head. Seeing Jim, big and black and dripping, he +thought it was the bear. With a piercing scream he once more hid his +face in his hands, rigid with horror. Puzzled at this reception, Jim +fell to licking his hands and his ears extravagantly, and whining and +thrusting a coaxing wet nose under his arms. + +At last the little fellow began to realize that these were not the +actions of a foe. Timidly he lowered his hands from his face, and +looked around. Why, there was the bear, on the other side of the +water, tremendous and terrible, but just where he had been this ever so +long. This creature that was making such a fuss over him was plainly a +dog--a kind, good dog, who was fond of little boys. + +With a sigh of inexpressible relief his terror slipped from him. He +flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried his face in the wet +fur. And Jim, his heart swelling with pride, stood up and barked +furiously across at the bear. + +[Illustration: "He flung his arms about Jim's shaggy neck and buried +his face in the wet fur."] + +Tug Blackstock, standing in the stern of his canoe, plied his pole with +renewed effort. Reaching the spit he strode forward, snatched the +child up in his arms, and passed his great hand tenderly through that +wonderful shock of whitey-gold silken curls. His eyes were moist, but +his voice was hearty and gay, as if this meeting were the most ordinary +thing in the world. + +"Hullo, Woolly Billy!" he cried. "What are you doin' here?" + +"Daddy left me here," answered the child, his lip beginning to quiver. +"Where's he gone to?" + +"Oh," replied Tug Blackstock hurriedly, "yer dad was called away rather +sudden, an' he sent me an' Jim, here, to look after you till he gits +back. An' we'll do it, too, Woolly Billy; don't you fret." + +"My name's George Harold Manners Watson," explained the child politely. + +"But we'll just call you Woolly Billy for short," said Tug Blackstock. + + + + +II. The Book Agent and the Buckskin Belt + +I + +A big-framed, jaunty man with black side-whiskers, a long black frock +coat, and a square, flat case of shiny black leather strapped upon his +back, stepped into the Corner Store at Brine's Rip Mills. + +He said: "Hullo, boys! Hot day!" in a big voice that was intentionally +hearty, ran his bulging eyes appraisingly over every one present, then +took off his wide-brimmed felt hat and mopped his glistening forehead +with a big red and white handkerchief. Receiving a more or less +hospitable chorus of grunts and "hullos" in response, he seated himself +on a keg of nails, removed the leather case from his back, and asked +for ginger beer, which he drank noisily from the bottle. + +"Name of Byles," said he at length, introducing himself with a sweeping +nod. "Hot tramp in from Cribb's Ridge. Thirsty, you bet. Never drink +nothing stronger'n ginger pop or soft cider. Have a round o' pop on +me, boys. A1 pop this o' yours, mister. A dozen more bottles, please, +for these gentlemen." + +He looked around the circle with an air at once assured and persuasive. +And the taciturn woodsmen, not wholly at ease under such sudden +cordiality from a stranger, but too polite to rebuff him, muttered +"Thank ye, kindly," or "Here's how," as they threw back their heads and +poured the weak stuff down their gaunt and hairy throats. + +It was a slack time at Brine's Rip, the mills having shut down that +morning because the river was so low that there were no more logs +running. The shrieking saws being silent for a little, there was +nothing for the mill hands to do but loaf and smoke. The hot air was +heavily scented with the smell of fresh sawdust mixed with the strong +honey-perfume of the flowering buckwheat fields beyond the village. +The buzzing of flies in the windows of the store was like a fine +arabesque of sound against the ceaseless, muffled thunder of the rapids. + +The dozen men gathered here at Zeb Smith's store--which was, in effect, +the village club--found it hard to rouse themselves to a conversational +effort in any way worthy the advances of the confident stranger. They +all smoked a little harder than usual, and looked on with courteous but +noncommittal interest while he proceeded to unstrap his shiny black +leather case. + +In his stiff and sombre garb, so unsuited to the backwoods trails, the +stranger had much the look of one of those itinerant preachers who +sometimes busy themselves with the cure of souls in the remoter +backwoods settlements. But his eye and his address were rather those +of a shrewd and pushing commercial traveller. + +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, felt a vague +antagonism toward him, chiefly on the ground that his speech and +bearing did not seem to consort with his habiliments. He rather liked +a man to look what he was or be what he looked, and he did not like +black side whiskers and long hair. This antagonism, however, he felt +to be unreasonable. The man had evidently had a long and tiring tramp, +and was entitled to a somewhat friendlier reception than he was getting. + +Swinging his long legs against the counter, on which he sat between a +pile of printed calicoes and a box of bright pink fancy soap, Tug +Blackstock reached behind him and possessed himself of a box of long, +black cigars. Having selected one critically for himself, he proffered +the box to the stranger. + +"Have a weed?" said he cordially. "They ain't half bad." + +But the stranger waved the box aside with an air at once grand and +gracious. + +"I never touch the weed, thank you kindly just the same," said he. +"But I've nothing agin it. It goes agin my system, that's all. If +it's all the same to you, I'll take a bite o' cheese an' a cracker +'stead o' the cigar." + +"Sartain," agreed Blackstock, jumping down to fetch the edibles from +behind the counter. Like most of the regular customers, he knew the +store and its contents almost as well as Zeb Smith himself. + +During the last few minutes an immense, rough-haired black dog had been +sniffing the stranger over with suspicious minuteness. The stranger at +first paid no attention whatever, though it was an ordeal that many +might have shrunk from. At last, seeming to notice the animal for the +first time, he recognized his presence by indifferently laying his hand +upon his neck. Instead of instantly drawing off with a resentful +growl, after his manner with strangers, the dog acknowledged the casual +caress by a slight wag of the tail, and then, after a few moments, +turned away amicably and lay down. + +"If Jim finds him all right," thought Blackstock to himself, "ther' +can't be much wrong with him, though I can't say I take to him myself." +And he weighed off a much bigger piece of cheese than he had at first +intended to offer, marking down his indebtedness on a slate which +served the proprietor as a sort of day-book. The stranger fell to +devouring it with an eagerness which showed that his lunch must have +been of the lightest. + +"Ye was sayin' as how ye'd jest come up from Cribb's Ridge?" put in a +long-legged, heavy-shouldered man who was sprawling on a cracker box +behind the door. He had short sandy hair, rapidly thinning, eyes of a +cold grey, set rather close together, and a face that suggested a cross +between a fox and a fish-hawk. He was somewhat conspicuous among his +fellows by the trimness of his dress, his shirt being of dark blue +flannel with a rolled-up collar and a scarlet knotted kerchief, while +the rest of the mill hands wore collarless shirts of grey homespun, +with no thought of neckerchiefs. + +His trousers were of brown corduroy, and were held up by a broad belt +of white dressed buckskin, elaborately decorated with Navajo designs in +black and red. He stuck to this adornment tenaciously as a sort of +inoffensive proclamation of the fact that he was not an ordinary +backwoods mill hand, but a wanderer, one who had travelled far, and +tried his wits at many ventures in the wilder West. + +"Right you are," assented the stranger, brushing some white cracker +crumbs out of his black whiskers. + +"I was jest a-wonderin'," went on Hawker, giving a hitch to the +elaborate belt and leaning forward a little to spit out through the +doorway, "if ye've seed anything o' Jake Sanderson on the road." + +The stranger, having his mouth full of cheese, did not answer for a +moment. + +"The boys are lookin' for him rather anxious," explained Blackstock +with a grin. "He brings the leetle fat roll that pays their wages here +at the mill, an' he's due some time to day." + +"I seen him at Cribb's Ridge this morning," answered the stranger at +last. "Said he'd hurt his foot, or strained his knee, or something, +an' would have to come on a bit slow. He'll be along some time +to-night, I guess. Didn't seem to me to have much wrong with him. No, +ye can't have none o' that cheese. Go 'way an' lay down," he added +suddenly to the great black dog, who had returned to his side and laid +his head on the stranger's knee. + +With a disappointed air the dog obeyed. + +"'Tain't often Jim's so civil to a stranger," muttered Blackstock to +himself. + +A little boy in a scarlet jacket, with round eyes of china blue, and an +immense mop of curly, fluffy, silky hair so palely flaxen as to be +almost white, came hopping and skipping into the store. He was greeted +with friendly grins, while several voices drawled, "Hullo, Woolly +Billy!" He beamed cheerfully upon the whole company, with a special +gleam of intimate confidence for Tug Blackstock and the big black dog. +Then he stepped up to the stranger's knee, and stood staring with +respectful admiration at those flowing jet-black side-whiskers. + +The stranger in return looked with a cold curiosity at the child's +singular hair. Neither children nor dogs had any particular appeal for +him, but that hair was certainly queer. + +"Most an albino, ain't he?" he suggested. + +"No, he ain't," replied Tug Blackstock curtly. The dog, detecting a +note of resentment in his master's voice, got up and stood beside the +child, and gazed about the circle with an air of anxious interrogation. +Had any one been disagreeable to Woolly Billy? And if so, who? + +But the little one was not in the least rebuffed by the stranger's +unresponsiveness. + +"What's that?" he inquired, patting admiringly the stranger's shiny +leather case. + +The stranger grew cordial to him at once. + +"Ah, now ye're talkin'," said he enthusiastically, undoing the flap of +the case. "It's a book, sonny. The greatest book, the most +_interestin'_ book, the most useful book--and next to the Bible the +most high-toned, uplifting book that was ever written. Ye can't read +yet, sonny, but this book has the loveliest pictures ye ever seen, and +the greatest lot of 'em for the money." + +He drew reverently forth from the case a large, fat volume, bound +sumptuously in embossed sky-blue imitation leather, lavishly gilt, and +opened it upon his knees with a spacious gesture. + +"There," he continued proudly. "It's called 'Mother, Home, and +Heaven!' Ain't that a title for ye? Don't it show ye right off the +kind of book it is? With this book by ye, ye don't need any other book +in the house at all, except maybe the almanack an' the Bible--an' this +book has lots o' the best bits out of the Bible in it, scattered +through among the receipts an' things to keep it all wholesome an' +upliftin'. + +"It'll tell ye such useful things as how to get a cork out of a bottle +without breakin' the bottle, when he haven't got a corkscrew, or what +to do when the baby's got croup, and there ain't a doctor this side of +Tourdulac. An' it'll tell ye how to live, so as when things happen +that no medicines an' no doctors and no receipts--not even such great +receipts as these here ones" (and he slapped his hand on the counter) +"can help ye through--such as when a tree falls on to ye, or you trip +and stumble on to the saws, or git drawn down under half-a-mile o' +raft--then ye'll be ready to go right up aloft, an' no questions asked +ye at the Great White Gate. + +"An' it has po'try in it, too, reel heart po'try, such as'll take ye +back to the time when ye was all white an' innocent o' sin at yer +mother's knee, an' make ye wish ye was like that now. In fact, boys, +this book I'm goin' to show ye, with your kind permission, is handier +than a pocket in a shirt, an' at the same time the blessed fragrance of +it is like a rose o' Sharon in the household. It's in three styles o' +bindin', all _reel_ handsome, but----" + +"I want to look at another picture now," protested Woolly Billy. "I'm +tired of this one of the angels sayin' their prayers." + +His amazing shock of silver-gold curls was bent intently over the book +in the stranger's lap. The woodsmen, on the other hand, kept on +smoking with a far-off look, as if they heard not a word of the fluent +harangue. They had a deep distrust and dread of this black-whiskered +stranger, now that he stood revealed as the +Man-Wanting-to-Sell-Something. The majority of them would not even +glance in the direction of the gaudy book, lest by doing so they should +find themselves involved in some expensive and complicated obligation. + +The stranger responded to Woolly Billy's appeal by shutting the book +firmly. "There's lots more pictures purtier than that one, sonny," +said he. "But ye must ask yer dad to buy it fer ye. He won't regret +it." And he passed the volume on to Hawker, who, having no dread of +book-agents, began to turn over the leaves with a superior smile. + +"Dad's gone away ever so far," answered Woolly Billy sadly. "It's an +awfully pretty book." And he looked at Tug Blackstock appealingly. + +"Look here, mister," drawled Blackstock, "I don't take much stock +myself in those kind of books, an' moreover (not meanin' no offence to +you), any man that's sellin' 'em has got to larn to do a sight o' +lyin'. But as Woolly Billy here wants it so bad I'll take a copy, if +'tain't too dear. All the same, it's only fair to warn ye that ye'll +not do much business in Brine's Rip, for there was a book agent here +last year as got about ha'f the folks in the village to sign a crooked +contract, and we was all stung bad. I'd advise ye to move on, an' not +really tackle Brine's Rip fer another year or so. Now, what's the +price?" + +The stranger's face had fallen during this speech, but it brightened at +the concluding question. + +"Six dollars, four dollars, an' two dollars an' a half, accordin' to +style of bindin'," he answered, bringing out a handful of leaflets and +order forms and passing them round briskly. "An' ye don't need to pay +more'n fifty cents down, an' sign this order, an' ye pay the balance in +a month's time, when the books are delivered. I'll give ye my receipt +for the fifty cents, an' ye jest fill in this order accordin' to the +bindin' ye choose. Let me advise ye, as a friend, to take the six +dollar one. It's the best value." + +"Thanks jest the same," said Blackstock drily, pulling out his wallet, +"but I guess Woolly Billy'd jest as soon have the two-fifty one. An' +I'll pay ye the cash right now. No signin' orders fer me. Here's my +name an' address." + +"Right ye are," agreed the stranger cordially, pocketing the money and +signing the receipt. "Cash payments for me every time, if I could have +my way. Now, if some o' you other gentlemen will follow Mr. +Blackstock's fine example, ye'll never regret it--an' neither will I." + +"Come on, Woolly Billy. Come on, Jim," said Blackstock, stepping out +into the street with the child and the dog at his heels. "We'll be +gittin' along home, an' leave this gentleman to argy with the boys." + + +II + +Jake Sanderson, with the pay for the mill-hands, did not arrive that +night, nor yet the following morning. Along toward noon, however, +there arrived a breathless stripling, white-faced and wild-eyed, with +news of him. The boy was young Stephens, son of Andy Stephens, the +game-warden. He and his father, coming up from Cribb's Ridge, had +found the body of Sanderson lying half in a pool beside the road, +covered with blood. Near at hand lay the bag, empty, slashed open with +a bloody knife. Stephens had sent his boy on into the Settlement for +help, while he himself had remained by the body, guarding it lest some +possible clue should be interfered with. + +Swift as a grass fire, the shocking news spread through the village. +An excited crowd gathered in front of the store, every one talking at +once, trying to question young Stephens. The Sheriff was away, down at +Fredericton for a holiday from his arduous duties. But nobody lamented +his absence. It was his deputy they all turned to in such an emergency. + +"Where's Tug Blackstock?" demanded half a dozen awed voices. And, as +if in answer, the tall, lean figure of the Deputy Sheriff of Nipsiwaska +County came striding in haste up the sawdusty road, with the big, black +dog crowding eagerly upon his heels. + +The clamour of the crowd was hushed as Blackstock put a few questions, +terse and pertinent, to the excited boy. The people of Nipsiwaska +County in general had the profoundest confidence in their Deputy +Sheriff. They believed that his shrewd brain and keen eye could find a +clue to the most baffling of mysteries. Just now, however, his face +was like a mask of marble, and his eyes, sunk back into his head, were +like points of steel. The murdered man had been one of his best +friends, a comrade and helper in many a hard enterprise. + +"Come," said he to the lad, "we'll go an' see." And he started off +down the road at that long loose stride of his, which was swifter than +a trot and much less tiring. + +"Hold on a minute, Tug," drawled a rasping nasal voice. + +"What is it, Hawker?" demanded Blackstock, turning impatiently on his +heel. + +"Ye hain't asked no thin' yet about the Book Agent, Mister Byles, him +as sold ye 'Mother, Home, an' Heaven.' Mebbe he could give us some +information. He said as how he'd had some talk with poor old Jake." + +Blackstock's lips curled slightly. He had not read the voluble +stranger as a likely highwayman in any circumstances, still less as one +to try issues with a man like Jake Sanderson. But the crowd, eager to +give tongue on any kind of a scent, and instinctively hostile to a book +agent, seized greedily upon the suggestion. + +"Where is he?" "Send for him." "Did anybody see him this mornin'?" +"Rout him out!" "Fetch him along!" The babel of voices started afresh. + +"He's cleared out," cried a woman's shrill voice. It was the voice of +Mrs. Stukeley, who kept the boarding-house. Every one else was silent +to hear what she had to say. + +"He quit my place jest about daylight this morning," continued the +woman virulently. She had not liked the stranger's black whiskers, nor +his ministerial garb, nor his efforts to get a subscription out of her, +and she was therefore ready to believe him guilty without further +proof. "He seemed in a powerful hurry to git away, sayin' as how the +Archangel Gabriel himself couldn't do business in this town." + +Seeing the effect her words produced, and that even the usually +imperturbable and disdainful Deputy Sheriff was impressed by them, she +could not refrain from embroidering her statement a little. + +"Now ez I come to think of it," she went on, "I did notice as how he +seemed kind of excited an' nervous like, so's he could hardly stop to +finish his breakfus'. But he took time to make me knock half-a-dollar +off his bill." + +"Mac," said Blackstock sharply, turning to Red Angus MacDonald, the +village constable, "you take two of the boys an' go after the Book +Agent. Find him, an' fetch him back. But no funny business with him, +mind you. We hain't got a spark of evidence agin him. We jest want +him as a witness, mind." + +The crowd's excitement was somewhat damped by this pronouncement, and +Hawker's exasperating voice was heard to drawl: + +"No _evidence_, hey? Ef that ain't _evidence_, him skinnin' out that +way afore sun-up, I'd like to know what is!" + +But to this and similar comments Tug Blackstock paid no heed whatever. +He hurried on down the road toward the scene of the tragedy, his lean +jaws working grimly upon a huge chew of tobacco, the big, black dog not +now at his heels but trotting a little way ahead and casting from one +side of the road to the other, nose to earth. The crowd came on +behind, but Blackstock waved them back. + +"I don't want none o' ye to come within fifty paces of me, afore I tell +ye to," he announced with decision. "Keep well back, all of ye, or +ye'll mess up the tracks." + +But this proved a decree too hard to be enforced for any length of time. + +When he arrived at the place where the game-warden kept watch beside +the murdered man, Blackstock stood for a few moments in silence, +looking down upon the body of his friend with stony face and brooding +eyes. In spite of his grief, his practised observation took in the +whole scene to the minutest detail, and photographed it upon his memory +for reference. + +The body lay with face and shoulder and one leg and arm in a deep, +stagnant pool by the roadside. The head was covered with black, +clotted blood from a knife-wound in the neck. Close by, in the middle +of the road, lay a stout leather satchel, gaping open, and quite empty. +Two small memorandum books, one shut and the other with white leaves +fluttering, lay near the bag. Though the roadway at this point was dry +and hard, it bore some signs of a struggle, and toward the edge of the +water there were several little, dark, caked lumps of puddled dust. + +Blackstock first examined the road minutely, all about the body, but +the examination, even to such a practised eye as his, yielded little +result. The ground was too hard and dusty to receive any legible +trail, and, moreover, it had been carelessly over-trodden by the +game-warden and his son. But whether he found anything of interest or +not, Blackstock's grim, impassive face gave no sign. + +At length he went over to the body, and lifted it gently. The coat and +shirt were soaked with blood, and showed marks of a fierce struggle. +Blackstock opened the shirt, and found the fatal wound, a knife-thrust +which had been driven upwards between the ribs. He laid the body down +again, and at the same time picked up a piece of paper, crumpled and +blood-stained, which had lain beneath it. He spread it open, and for a +moment his brows contracted as if in surprise and doubt. It was one of +the order forms for "Mother, Home and Heaven." + +He folded it up and put it carefully between the leaves of the +note-book which he always carried in his pocket. + +Stephens, who was close beside him, had caught a glimpse of the paper, +and recognized it. + +"Say!" he exclaimed, under his breath. "I never thought o' _him_!" + +But Blackstock only shook his head slowly, and called the big black +dog, which had been waiting all this time in an attitude of keen +expectancy, with mouth open and tail gently wagging. + +"Take a good look at him, Jim," said Blackstock. + +The dog sniffed the body all over, and then looked up at his master as +if for further directions. + +"An' now take a sniff at this." And he pointed to the rifled bag. + +"What do you make of it?" he inquired when the dog had smelt it all +over minutely. + +Jim stood motionless, with ears and tail drooping, the picture of +irresolution and bewilderment. + +Blackstock took out again the paper which he had just put away, and +offered it to the clog, who nosed it carefully, then looked at the dead +body beside the pool, and growled softly. + +"Seek him, Jim," said Blackstock. + +At once the dog ran up again to the body, and back to the open book. +Then he fell to circling about the bag, nose to earth, seeking to pick +up the elusive trail. + +At this point the crowd from the village, unable longer to restrain +their eagerness, surged forward, led by Hawker, and closed in, +effectually obliterating all trails. Jim growled angrily, showing his +long white teeth, and drew back beside the body as if to guard it. +Blackstock stood watching his action with a brooding scrutiny. + +"What's that bit o' paper ye found under him, Tug?" demanded Hawker +vehemently. + +"None o' yer business, Sam," replied the deputy, putting the +blood-stained paper back into his pocket. + +"I seen what it was," shouted Hawker to the rest of the crowd. "It was +one o' them there dokyments that the book agent had, up to the store. +I always _said_ as how 'twas him." + +"We'll ketch him!" "We'll string him up!" yelled the crowd, starting +back along the road at a run. + +"Don't be sech fools!" shouted Blackstock. "Hold on! Come back I tell +ye!" + +But he might as well have shouted to a flock of wild geese on their +clamorous voyage through the sky. Fired by Sam Hawker's exhortations, +they were ready to lynch the black-whiskered stranger on sight. + +Blackstock cursed them in a cold fury. + +"I'll hev to go after them, Andy," said he, "or there'll be trouble +when they find that there book agent." + +"Better give 'em their head, Tug," protested the warden. "Guess he +done it all right. He'll git no more'n's good for him." + +"_Maybe_ he did it, an' then agin, maybe he didn't," retorted the +Deputy, "an' anyways, they're jest plumb looney now. You stay here, +an' I'll follow them up. Send Bob back to the Ridge to fetch the +coroner." + +He turned and started on the run in pursuit of the shouting crowd, +whistling at the same time for the dog to follow him. But to his +surprise Jim did not obey instantly. He was very busy digging under a +big whitish stone at the other side of the pool. Blackstock halted. + +"Jim," he commanded angrily, "git out o' that! What d'ye mean by +foolin' about after woodchucks a time like this? Come here!" + +Jim lifted his head, his muzzle and paws loaded with fresh earth, and +gazed at his master for a moment. Then, with evident reluctance, he +obeyed. But he kept looking back over his shoulder at the big white +stone, as if he hated to leave it. + +"There's a lot o' ordinary pup left in that there dawg yet," explained +Blackstock apologetically to the game-warden. + +"There ain't a dawg ever lived that wouldn't want to dig out a +woodchuck," answered Stephens. + + +III + +The black-whiskered stranger had been overtaken by his pursuers about +ten miles beyond Brine's Rip, sleeping away the heat of the day under a +spreading birch tree a few paces off the road. He was sleeping +soundly--too soundly indeed, as thought the experienced constable, for +a man with murder on his soul. + +But when he was roughly aroused and seized, he seemed so terrified that +his captors were all the more convinced of his guilt. He made no +resistance as he was being hurried along the road, only clinging firmly +to his black leather case, and glancing with wild eyes from side to +side as if nerving himself to a desperate dash for liberty. + +When he had gathered, however, a notion of what he was wanted for, to +the astonishment of his captors, his terror seemed to subside--a fact +which the constable noted narrowly. He steadied his voice enough to +ask several questions about the murder--questions to which reply was +curtly refused. Then he walked on in a stolid silence, the ruddy +colour gradually returning to his face. + +A couple of miles before reaching Brine's Rip, the second search party +came in sight, the Deputy Sheriff at the head of it and the shaggy +black form of Jim close at his heels. With a savage curse Hawker +sprang forward, and about half the party with him, as if to snatch the +prisoner from his captors and take instant vengeance upon him. + +But Blackstock was too quick for them. The swiftest sprinter in the +county, he got to the other party ahead of the mob and whipped around +to face them, with one hand on the big revolver at his hip and Jim +showing his teeth beside him. The constable and his party, hugely +astonished, but confident that Blackstock's side was the right one to +be on, closed protectingly around the prisoner, whose eyes now almost +bulged from his head. + +"You keep right back, boys," commanded the Deputy in a voice of steel. +"The law will look after this here prisoner, if he's the guilty one." + +[Illustration: "'You keep right back, boys,' commanded the Deputy in a +voice of steel."] + +"Fur as we kin see, there ain't no 'if' about it," shouted Hawker, +almost frothing at the mouth. "That's the man as done it, an' we're +agoin' to string 'im up fer it right now, for fear he might git off +some way atween the jedges an' the lawyers. You keep out of it now, +Tug." + +About half the crowd surged forward with Hawker in front. Up came +Blackstock's gun. + +"Ye know me, boys," said he. "Keep back." + +They kept back. They all fell back, indeed, some paces, except Hawker, +who held his ground, half crouching, his lips distorted in a snarl of +rage. + +"Aw now, quit it, Sam," urged one of his followers. "'Tain't worth it. +An' Tug's right, anyways. The law's good enough, with Tug to the back +of it." And putting forth a long arm he dragged Hawker back into the +crowd. + +"Put away yer gun, Tug," expostulated another. "Seein's ye feel that +way about it, we won't interfere." + +Blackstock stuck the revolver back into his belt with a grin. + +"Glad ye've come back to yer senses, boys," said he, perceiving that +the crisis was over. "But keep an eye on Hawker for a bit yet. Seems +to 'ave gone clean off his head." + +"Don't fret, Tug. We'll look after him," agreed several of his +comrades from the mill, laying firmly persuasive hands upon the excited +man, who cursed them for cowards till they began to chaff him roughly. + +"What's makin' you so sore, Sam?" demanded one. "Did the book agent +try to make up to Sis Hopkins?" + +"No, it's Tug that Sis is making eyes at now," suggested another. +"That's what's puttin' Sam so off his nut." + +"Leave the lady's name out of it, boys," interrupted Blackstock, in a +tone that carried conviction. + +"Quit that jaw now, Sam," interposed another, changing the subject, +"an' tell us what ye've done with that fancy belt o' yourn 'at ye're so +proud of. We hain't never seen ye without it afore." + +"That's so," chimed in the constable. "That accounts for his +foolishness. Sam ain't himself without that fancy belt." + +Hawker stopped his cursing and pulled himself together with an effort, +as if only now realizing that his followers had gone over completely to +the side of the law and Tug Blackstock. + +"Busted the buckle," he explained quickly. "Mend it when I git time." + +"Now, boys," said Blackstock presently, "we'll git right back along to +where poor Jake's still layin', and there we'll ask this here stranger +what he knows about it. It's there, if anywheres, where we're most +likely to git some light on the subject. I've sent over to the Ridge +fer the coroner, an' poor Jake can't be moved till he comes." + +The book agent, his confidence apparently restored by the attitude of +Blackstock, now let loose a torrent of eloquence to explain how glad he +would be to tell all he knew, and how sorry he was that he knew +nothing, having merely had a brief conversation with poor Mr. Sanderson +on the morning of the previous day. + +"Ye'll hev lots o' time to tell us all that when we're askin' ye," +answered Blackstock. "Now, take my advice an' keep yer mouth shet." + +As Blackstock was speaking, Jim slipped in alongside the prisoner and +rubbed against him with a friendly wag of the tail as if to say: + +"Sorry to see you in such a hole, old chap." + +Some of the men laughed, and one who was more or less a friend of +Hawker's, remarked sarcastically: + +"Jim don't seem quite so discriminatin' as usual, Tug." + +"Oh, I don't know," replied the Deputy drily, noting the dog's attitude +with evident interest. "Time will show. Ye must remember a man ain't +_necessarily_ a murderer jest because he wears black side-lights an' +tries to sell ye a book that ain't no good." + +"No good!" burst out the prisoner, reddening with indignation. "You +show me another book that's half as good, at double the price, an' I'll +give you----" + +"Shet up, you!" ordered the Deputy, with a curious look. "This ain't +no picnic ye're on, remember." + +Then some one, as if for the first time, thought of the money for which +Sanderson had been murdered. + +"Why don't ye search him, Tug?" he demanded. "Let's hev a look in that +there black knapsack." + +"Ye bloomin' fool," shouted Hawker, again growing excited, "ye don't +s'pose he'd be carryin' it on him, do ye? He'd hev it buried +somewheres in the woods, where he could git it later." + +"Right ye are, Sam," agreed the Deputy. "The man as done the deed +ain't likely to carry the evidence around on him. But all the same, +we'll search the prisoner bime-by." + +By the time the strange procession had got back to the scene of the +tragedy it had been swelled by half the population of the village. At +Blackstock's request, Zeb Smith, the proprietor of the store, who was +also a magistrate, swore in a score of special constables to keep back +the crowd while awaiting the arrival of the coroner. Under the +magistrate's orders--which satisfied Blackstock's demand for strict +formality of procedure--the prisoner was searched, and could not +refrain from showing a childish triumph when nothing was found upon him. + +Passing from abject terror to a ridiculous over-confidence, he with +difficulty restrained himself from seizing the opportunity to harangue +the crowd on the merits of "Mother, Home, and Heaven." His face was +wreathed in fatuous smiles as he saw the precious book snatched from +its case and passed around mockingly from hand to hand. He certainly +did not look like a murderer, and several of the crowd, including +Stephens, the game-warden, began to wonder if they had not been barking +up the wrong tree. + +"I've got the idee," remarked Stephens, "it'd take a baker's dozen o' +that chap to do in Jake Sanderson that way. The skate as killed Jake +was some man, anyways." + +"I'd like to know," sneered Hawker, "how ye're going to account for +that piece o' paper, the book-agent's paper, 'at Tug Blackstock found +there under the body." + +"Aw, shucks!" answered the game-warden, "that's easy. He's been +a-sowin' 'em round the country so's anybody could git hold of 'em, +same's you er me, Sam!" + +This harmless, if ill-timed pleasantry appeared to Hawker, in his +excitement, a wanton insult. His lean face went black as thunder, and +his lips worked with some savage retort that would not out. But at +that instant came a strange diversion. The dog Jim, who under +Blackstock's direction had been sniffing long and minutely at the +clothes of the murdered man, at the rifled leather bag, and at the +ground all about, came suddenly up to Hawker and stood staring at him +with a deep, menacing growl, while the thick hair rose stiffly along +his back. + +For a moment there was dead silence save for that strange accusing +growl. Hawker's face went white to the lips. Then, in a blaze, of +fury he yelled! + +"Git out o' that! I'll teach ye to come showin' yer teeth at me!" And +he launched a savage kick at the animal. + +"JIM!! Come here!" rapped out the command of Tug Blackstock, sharp as +a rifle shot. And Jim, who had eluded the kick, trotted back, still +growling, to his master. + +"Whatever ye been doin' to Jim, Sam?" demanded one of the mill hands. +"I ain't never seen him act like that afore." + +"He's _always_ had a grudge agin me," panted Hawker, "coz I had to give +him a lickin' once." + +"Now ye're lyin', Sam Hawker," said Blackstock quietly. "Ye know right +well as how you an' Jim were good friends only yesterday at the store, +where I saw ye feedin' him. An' I don't think likely ye've ever given +Jim a lickin'. It don't sound probable." + +"Seems to me there's a lot of us has gone a bit off their nut over this +thing, an' not much wonder, neither," commented the game-warden. +"Looks like Sam Hawker has gone plumb crazy. An' now there's Jim, the +sensiblest dog in the world, with lots more brains than most men-kind, +foolin' away his time like a year-old pup a-tryin' dig out a darn old +woodchuck hole." + +Such, in fact, seemed to be Jim's object. He was digging furiously +with both forepaws beneath the big white stone on the opposite side of +the pool. + +"He's bit me. I'll kill him," screamed Hawker, his face distorted and +foam at the corners of his lips. He plucked his hunting-knife from its +sheath, and leapt forward wildly, with the evident intention of darting +around the pool and knifing the dog. + +But Blackstock, who had been watching him intently, was too quick for +him. + +"No, ye don't, Sam!" he snapped, catching him by the wrist with such a +wrench that the bright blade fell to the ground. With a scream, Hawker +struck at his face, but Blackstock parried the blow, tripped him +neatly, and fell on him. + +"Hold him fast, boys," he ordered. "Seems like he's gone mad. Don't +let him hurt himself." + +In five seconds the raving man was trussed up helpless as a chicken, +his hands tied behind his back, his legs lashed together at the knees, +so that he could neither run nor kick. Then he was lifted to his feet, +and held thus, inexorably but with commiseration. + +"Sorry to be rough with ye, Sam," said one of the constables, "but +ye've gone crazy as a bed-bug." + +"Never knowed Sam was such a friend o' Jake's!" muttered another, with +deepest pity. + +But Blackstock stood close beside the body of the murdered man, and +watched with a face of granite the efforts of Jim to dig under the big +white stone. His absorption in such an apparently frivolous matter +attracted the notice of the crowd. A hush fell upon them all, broken +only by the hoarse, half-smothered ravings of Sam Hawker. + +"'Tain't no woodchuck Jim's diggin' for, you see!" muttered one of the +constables to the puzzled Stephens. + +"Tug don't seem to think so, neither," agreed Stephens. + +"Angus," said Blackstock in a low, strained voice to the constable who +had just spoken, "would ye mind stepping round an' givin' Jim a lift +with that there stone!" + +The constable hastened to obey. As he approached, Jim looked up, his +face covered thickly with earth, wagged his tail in greeting, then fell +to work again with redoubled energy. + +The constable set both hands under the stone, and with a huge heave +turned it over. With a yelp of delight Jim plunged his head into the +hole, grabbed something in his mouth, and tore around the pool with it. +The something was long and whitish, and trailed as he ran. He laid it +at Blackstock's feet. + +Blackstock held it up so that all might see it. It was a painted +Indian belt, and it was stained and smeared with blood. The constable +picked out of the hole a package of bills. + +For some moments no one spoke, and even the ravings of Hawker were +stilled. + +Then Tug Blackstock spoke, while every one, as if with one consent, +turned his eyes away from the face of Sam Hawker, unwilling to see a +comrade's shame and horror. + +"This is a matter now for jedge and jury, boys," said he in a voice +that was grave and stern. "But I think you'll all agree that we hain't +no call to detain this gentleman, who's been put to so much +inconvenience all on account of our little mistake." + +"Don't mention it, don't mention it," protested the book agent, as his +guards, with profuse apologies, released him. "That's a mighty +intelligent dawg o' yours, Mr. Blackstock." + +"He's sure done _you_ a good turn this day, mister," replied the Deputy +grimly. + + + + +III. The Hole in the Tree + +I + +It was Woolly Billy who discovered the pile--notes and silver, with a +few stray gold pieces--so snugly hidden under the fishhawk's nest. + +The fish-hawk's nest was in the crotch of the old, half-dead rock-maple +on the shore of the desolate little lake which lay basking in the +flat-lands about a mile back, behind Brine's Rip Mills. + +As the fish-hawk is one of the most estimable of all the wilderness +folk, both brave and inoffensive, troubling no one except the fat and +lazy fish that swarmed in the lake below, and as he is protected by a +superstition of the backwoodsmen, who say it brings ill-luck to disturb +the domestic arrangements of a fish-hawk, the big nest, conspicuous for +miles about, was never disturbed by even the most amiable curiosity. + +But Woolly Billy, not fully acclimatized to the backwoods tradition and +superstition, and uninformed as to the firmness and decision with which +the fish-hawks are apt to resent any intrusion, had long hankered to +explore the mysteries of that great nest. One morning he made up his +mind to try it. + +Tug Blackstock, Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County, was away for a day +or two, and old Mrs. Amos, his housekeeper, was too deaf and rheumatic +to "fuss herself" greatly about the "goings-on" of so fantastic a child +as Woolly Billy, so long as she knew he had Jim to look after him. +This serves to explain how a small boy like Woolly Billy, his +seven-years-and-nine-months resting lightly on his amazingly fluffy +shock of pale flaxen curls, could be trotting off down the lonely +backwoods trail with no companion or guardian but a big, black dog. + +Woolly Billy was familiar with the mossy old trail to the lake, and did +not linger upon it. Reaching the shore, he wasted no time throwing +sticks in for Jim to retrieve, but, in spite of the dog's eager +invitations to this pastime, made his way along the dry edge between +undergrowth and water till he came to the bluff. Pushing laboriously +through the hot, aromatic-scented tangle of bushes, he climbed to the +foot of the old maple, which looked dwarfed by the burden of the huge +nest carried in its crotch. + +Woolly Billy was an expert tree-climber, but this great trunk presented +new problems. Twice he went round it, finding no likely spot to begin. +Then, certain roughnesses tempted him, and he succeeded in drawing +himself up several feet. Serene in the consciousness of his good +intentions, he struggled on. He gained perhaps another foot. Then he +stuck. He pulled hard upon a ragged edge of bark, trying to work his +way further around the trunk. A patch of bark came away suddenly in +his grip and he fell backwards with a startled cry. + +He fell plump on Jim, rolled off into the bushes, picked himself up, +shook the hair out of his eyes and stood staring up at a round hole in +the trunk where the patch of bark had been. + +A hole in a tree is always interesting. It suggests such +possibilities. Forgetting his scratches, Woolly Billy made haste to +climb up again, in spite of Jim's protests. He peered eagerly into the +hole. But he could see nothing. And he was cautious--for one could +never tell what lived in a hole like that--or what the occupant, if +there happened to be any, might have to say to an intruder. He would +not venture his hand into the unknown. He slipped down, got a bit of +stick, and thrust that into the hole. There was no result, but he +learnt that the hole was shallow. He stirred the stick about. There +came a slight jingling sound in return. + +Woolly Billy withdrew the stick and thought for a moment. He reasoned +that a thing that jingled was not at all likely to bite. He dropped +the stick and cautiously inserted his hand to the full length of his +little arm. His fingers grasped something which felt more or less +familiar, and he drew forth a bank-note and several silver coins. + +Woolly Billy's eyes grew very round and large as he stared at his +handful. He was sure that money did not grow in hollow trees. Tug +Blackstock kept his money in an old black wallet. Woolly Billy liked +money because it bought peppermints, and molasses candy, and gingerpop. +But this money was plainly not his. He reluctantly put it back into +the hole. + +Thoughtfully he climbed down. He knew that money was such a desirable +thing that it led some people--bad people whom Tug Blackstock hated--to +steal what did not belong to them. He picked up the patch of bark and +laboriously fitted it back into its place over the hole, lest some of +these bad people should find the money and appropriate it. + +"Not a word, now, not one single word," he admonished Jim, "till Tug +comes home. We'll tell him all about it." + + +II + +It was five o'clock in the sleepy summer afternoon, and the flies +buzzed drowsily among the miscellaneous articles that graced the +windows of the Corner Store. The mills had shut down early, because +the supply of logs was running low in the boom, and no more could be +expected until there should be a rise of water. Some half-dozen of the +mill hands were sitting about the store on nail-kegs and soap-boxes, +while Zeb Smith, the proprietor, swung his long legs lazily from the +edge of the littered counter. + +Woolly Billy came in with a piece of silver in his little fist to buy a +packet of tea for Mrs. Amos. Jim, not liking the smoke, stayed outside +on the plank sidewalk, and snapped at flies. The child, who was +regarded as the mascot of Brine's Rip Mills, was greeted with a fire of +solemn chaff, which he received with an impartial urbanity. + +"Oh, quit coddin' the kiddie, an' don't try to be so smart," growled +Long Jackson, the Magadavy river-man, lifting his gaunt length from a +pile of axe-handles, and thrusting his fist deep into his trousers' +pocket. "Here, Zeb, give me a box of peppermints for Woolly Billy. He +hain't been in to see us this long while." + +He pulled out a handful of coins and dollar bills, and proceeded to +select a silver bit from the collection. The sight was too much for +Woolly Billy, bursting with his secret. + +"I know where there's lots more money like that," he blurted out +proudly, "in a hole in a tree." + +During the past twelve months or more there had been thefts of money, +usually of petty sums, in Brine's Rip Mills and the neighbourhood, and +all Tug Blackstock's detective skill had failed to gain the faintest +clue to the perpetrator. Suspicions there had been, but all had +vanished into thin air at the touch of investigation. Woolly Billy's +amazing statement, therefore, was like a little bombshell in the shop. + +Every one of his audience stiffened up with intense interest. + +One swarthy, keen-featured, slim-waisted, half-Indian-looking fellow, +with the shapely hands and feet that mark so many of the Indian +mixed-bloods, was sitting on a bale of homespun behind Long Jackson, +and smoking solemnly with half-closed lids. His eyes opened wide for a +fraction of a second, and darted one searching glance at the child's +face. Then he dropped his lids slowly once more till the eyes were all +but closed. The others all stared eagerly at Woolly Billy. + +Pleased with the interest he had excited, Woolly Billy glanced about +him, and shook back his mop of pale curls self-consciously. + +"Lots more!" he repeated. "Big handfuls." + +Then he remembered his discretion, his resolve to tell no one but Tug +Blackstock about his discovery. Seeking to change the subject, he +beamed upon Long Jackson. + +"Thank you, Long," he said politely. "I _love_ peppermints. An' Jim +loves them, too." + +"_Where_ did you say that hole in the tree was?" asked Long Jackson, +reaching for the box that held the peppermints, and ostentatiously +filling a generous paper-bag. + +Woolly Billy looked apologetic and deprecating. + +"Please, Long, if you don't mind very much, I can't tell anybody but +Tug Blackstock _that_." + +Jackson laid the bag of peppermints a little to one side, as if to +convey that their transfer was contingent upon Woolly Billy's behaviour. + +The child looked wistfully at the coveted sweets; then his red lips +compressed themselves with decision and resentment. + +"I won't tell anybody but Tug Blackstock, _of course_," said he. "An' +I don't want any peppermints, thank you, Long." + +He picked up his package of tea and turned to leave the shop, angry at +himself for having spoken of the secret and angry at Jackson for trying +to get ahead of Tug Blackstock. Jackson, looking annoyed at the +rebuff, extended his leg and closed the door. Woolly Billy's blue eyes +blazed. One of the other men strove to propitiate him. + +"Oh, come on, Woolly Billy," he urged coaxingly, "don't git riled at +Long. You an' him's pals, ye know. We're all pals o' yourn, an' of +Tug's. An' there ain't no harm _at all_, at all, in yer showin' us +this 'ere traysure what you've lit on to. Besides, you know there's +likely some o' that there traysure belongs to us 'uns here. Come on +now, an' take us to yer hole in the tree." + +"Ye ain't agoin' to git out o' this here store, Woolly Billy, I tell ye +that, till ye promise to take us to it right off," said Long Jackson +sharply. + +Woolly Billy was not alarmed in the least by this threat. But he was +so furious that for a moment he could not speak. He could do nothing +but stand glaring up at Long Jackson with such fiery defiance that the +good-natured mill-hand almost relented. But it chanced that he was one +of the sufferers, and he was in a hurry to get his money back. At this +point the swarthy woodsman on the bale of homespun opened his narrow +eyes once again, took the pipe from his mouth, and spoke up. + +"Quit plaguin' the kid, Long," he drawled. "The cash'll be all there +when Tug Blackstock gits back, an' it'll save a lot of trouble an' +misunderstandin', havin' him to see to dividin' it up fair an' square. +Let Woolly Billy out." + +Long Jackson shook his head obstinately, and opened his mouth to reply, +but at this moment Woolly Billy found his voice. + +"Let me out! Let me out! _Let me out!_" he screamed shrilly, stamping +his feet and clenching his little fists. + +Instantly a heavy body was hurled upon the outside of the door, +striving to break it in. + +Zeb Smith swung his long legs down from the counter hurriedly. + +"The kid's right, an' Black Dan's right. Open the door, Long, an' do +it quick. I don't want that there dawg comin' through the winder. An' +he'll be doin' it, too, in half a jiff." + +"Git along, then, Woolly, if ye insist on it. But no more peppermints, +mind," growled Jackson, throwing open the door and stepping back +discreetly. As he did so, Jim came in with a rush, just saving himself +from knocking Woolly Billy over. One swift glance assured him that the +child was all right, but very angry about something. + +"It's all right, Jim. Come with me," said Woolly Billy, tugging at the +animal's collar. And the pair stalked away haughtily side by side. + + +III + +Tug Blackstock arrived the next morning about eleven. Before he had +time to sit down for a cup of that strenuous black tea which the +woodsmen consume at all hours, he had heard from Woolly Billy's eager +lips the story of the hole in the tree beneath the fish-hawk's nest. +He heard also of the episode at Zeb Smith's store, but Woolly Billy by +this time had quite forgiven Long Jackson, so the incident was told in +such a way that Blackstock had no reason to take offence. + +"Long tried _hard_," said the child, "to get me to tell where that hole +was, but I _wouldn't_. And Black Dan was awful nice, an' made him stop +botherin' me, an' said I was quite right not to tell _anybody_ till you +came home, coz you'd know just what to do." + +"H'm!" said the Deputy-Sheriff thoughtfully, "Long's had a lot of money +stole from him, so, of course, he wanted to git his eyes on to that +hole quick. But 'tain't like Black Dan to be that thoughtful. Maybe +he _hasn't_ had none taken." + +While he was speaking, a bunch of the mill-hands arrived at the door, +word of Blackstock's return having gone through the village. + +"We want to go an' help ye find that traysure, Tug," said Long Jackson, +glancing somewhat sheepishly at Woolly Billy. A friendly grin from the +child reassured him, and he went on with more confidence: + +"We tried to git the kiddie to tell us where 'twas, but wild steers +wouldn't drag it out o' him till you got back." + +"That's right, Long," agreed Blackstock, "but it don't need to be no +expedition. We don't want the whole village traipsin' after us. You +an' three or four more o' the boys that's lost money come along, with +Woolly Billy an' me, an' the rest o' you meet us at the store in about +a couple o' hours' time. Tell any other folks you see that I don't +want 'em follerin' after us, because it may mix up things--an' anyways, +I don't want it, see!" + +After a few moments' hesitation and consultation the majority of the +mill-hands turned away, leaving Long Jackson and big Andy Stevens, the +blue-eyed giant from the Oromocto (who had been one of the chief +victims), and MacDonald, and Black Saunders, and Black Dan (whose name +had been Dan Black till the whim of the woodsmen turned it about). +Blackstock eyed them appraisingly. + +"I didn't know as _you'd_ bin one o' the victims too, Dan," he remarked. + +"Didn't ye, Tug?" returned Black with a short laugh. "Well, I didn't +say nawthin about it, coz I was after doin' a leetle detective work on +me own, an' mebbe I'd 'ave got in ahead o' ye if Woolly Billy here +hadn't 'a' been so smart. But I tell ye, Tug, if that there traysure's +the lot we're thinkin' it is, there'd ought ter be a five-dollar bill +in it what I've marked." + +"H'm!" grunted the Deputy, hastily gulping down the last of his tea, +and rising to his feet. "But Woolly Billy an' me and Jim's a +combination pretty hard to git ahead of, I'm thinkin'." + +As the party neared the bluff whereon the tree of the fish-hawk's nest +stood ragged against the sky, the air grew rank with the pungent odour +of skunk. Now skunks were too common in the region of Brine's Rip +Mills for that smell, as a rule, to excite any more comment than an +occasional disgusted execration when it became too concentrated. But +to-day it drew more than passing attention. MacDonald sniffed intently. + +"It's deuced queer," said he, "but I've noticed that there's always +been a smell of skunk round when anybody's lost anything. Did it ever +strike you that way, Tug?" + +"Yes, some!" assented the Deputy curtly. + +"It's a skunk, all right, that's been takin' our money," said big Andy, +"ef he _don't_ carry his tail over his back." + +Every one of the party was sniffing the tainted air as if the familiar +stench were some rare perfume--all but Jim. He had had an encounter +with a skunk, once in his impulsive puppy days, and the memory was too +painful to be dwelt upon. + +As they climbed the slope, one of the fish-hawks came swooping down +from somewhere high in the blue, and began circling on slow wings about +the nest. + +"That cross old bird doesn't like visitors," remarked Woolly Billy. + +"You wouldn't, neether, Woolly Billy, if you was a fish-hawk," said +Jackson. + +Arrived at the tree, Woolly Billy pointed eagerly to a slightly broken +piece of bark a little above the height of the Deputy's head. + +"_There's_ the hole!" he cried, clapping his hands in his excitement as +if relieved to find it had not vanished. + +"Keep off a bit now, boys," cautioned Blackstock. Drawing his long +hunting-knife, he carefully loosened the bark without letting his hand +come in contact with it, and on the point of the blade laid it aside +against the foot of the trunk. + +"Don't any of you tech it," he admonished. + +Then he slipped his hand into the hole, and felt about. + +A look of chagrin came over his face, and he withdrew his hand--empty. + +"Nothin' there!" said he. + +"It was there yesterday morning," protested Woolly Billy, his blue eyes +filling with tears. + +"Yes, yes, of course," agreed Blackstock, glancing slowly around the +circle of disappointed faces. + +"Somebody from the store's been blabbin'," exclaimed Black Dan, in a +loud and angry voice. + +"An' why not?" protested Big Andy, with a guilty air. "We never said +nawthin' about keepin' it a secret." + +In spite of their disappointment, the millhands laughed. Big Andy was +not one to keep a secret in any case, and his weakness for a certain +pretty widow who kept the postoffice was common comment. Big Andy +responded by blushing to the roots of his blonde hair. + +"Jim!" commanded the Deputy. And the big black dog bounded up to him, +his eyes bright with expectation. The Deputy picked him up, and held +him aloft with his muzzle to the edges of the hole. + +"Smell that," he ordered, and Jim sniffed intently. Then he set him +down, and directed him to the piece of bark. That, too, Jim's nose +investigated minutely, his feathered tail slowly wagging. + +"Seek him," ordered Blackstock. + +Jim whined, looked puzzled, and sniffed again at the bark. The +information which his subtle nose picked up there was extremely +confusing. First, there was the smell of skunk--but that smell of +skunk was everywhere, dulling the keenness of his discrimination. +Then, there was a faint, faint reminiscence of Woolly Billy. But there +was Woolly Billy, at Tug Blackstock's side. Certainly, there could be +no reason for him to seek Woolly Billy. Then there was an elusive, +tangled scent, which for some moments defied him. At last, however, he +got a clue to it. With a pleased bark--his way of saying "Eureka!"--he +whipped about, trotted over to big Andy Stevens, sat down in front of +him, and gazed up at him, with tongue hanging and an air of friendly +inquiry, as much as to say: "Here I am, Andy. But I don't know what +Tug Blackstock wants me to seek you for, seein' as you're right here +alongside him." + +Big Andy dropped his hand on the dog's head familiarly; then noticing +the sudden tense silence of the party, his eyes grew very big and round. + +"What're you all starin' at me fer, boys?" he demanded, with a sort of +uneasy wonder. + +"Ax Jim," responded Black Dan, harshly. + +"I reckon old Jim's makin' a mistake fer once, Tug," drawled Long +Jackson, who was Andy's special pal. + +The Deputy rubbed his lean chin reflectively. There could be no one +more above suspicion in his eyes than this transparently honest young +giant from the Oromocto. But Jim's curious action had scattered to the +winds, at least for a moment, a sort of hypothesis which he had been +building up in his mind. At the same time, he felt dimly that a new +clue was being held out to him, if he could only grasp it. He wanted +time to think. + +"We kin all make mistakes," he announced sententiously. "Come here, +Jim. Seek 'im, boy, seek 'im." And he waved his hand at large. + +Jim bounced off with a joyous yelp, and began quartering the ground, +hither and thither, all about the tree. Big Andy, at a complete loss +for words, stood staring from one to another with eyes of indignant and +incredulous reproach. + +Suddenly a yelp of triumph was heard in the bushes, a little way down +towards the lake, and Jim came racing back with a dark magenta article +in his mouth. At the foot of the tree he stopped, and looked at +Blackstock interrogatively. Receiving no sign whatever from his +master, whose face had lit up for an instant, but was now as impassive +as a hitching-post, he stared at Black Dan for a few seconds, and then +let his eyes wander back to Andy's face. In the midst of his obvious +hesitation the Oromocto man stepped forward. + +"Durned ef that ain't one o' my old mittens," he exclaimed eagerly, +"what Sis knit fer me. I've been lookin' fer 'em everywheres. Bring +it here, Jim." + +As the dog trotted up with it obediently, the Deputy intervened and +stopped him. "You shall have it bime-by, Andy," said he, "ef it's +yourn. But jest now I don't want nobody to tech it except Jim. Ef you +acknowledge it's yourn----" + +"_Of course_ it's mine," interrupted Andy resentfully. "An' I want to +find the other one." + +"So do I," said Blackstock. "Drop it, Jim. Go find the other mitt." + +As Jim went ranging once more through the bushes, the whole party moved +around to the other side of the tree to get out of the downpour of the +noon sun. As they passed the magenta mitten Black Dan picked it up and +examined it ostentatiously. + +"How do ye know it's yourn, Andy?" he demanded. "There's lots of +magenta mitts in the world, I reckon." + +Tug Blackstock turned upon him. + +"I said I didn't want no one to tech that mitt," he snapped. + +"Oh, beg pardon, Tug," said Dan, dropping the mitt. "I forgot. 'Spose +it might kind o' confuse Jim's scent, gittin' another smell besides +Andy's on to it." + +"It might," replied the Deputy coolly, "an' then agin, it mightn't." + +For a little while every one was quiet, listening to Jim as he crashed +about through the bushes, and confidently but unreasonably expecting +him to reappear with the other mitten. Or, at least, that was what Big +Andy and Woolly Billy expected. The Deputy, at least, did not. At +last he spoke. + +"I agree with Mac here, boys," said he, "that there may be somethin' +more'n skunk in this skunk smell. We'll jest look into it a bit. You +all keep back a ways--an' you, Long, jest keep an eye on Woolly Billy +ef ye don't mind, while I go on with Jim." + +He whistled to the dog, and directed his attention to a spot at the +foot of the tree exactly beneath the hole. Jim sniffed hard at the +spot, then looked up at his master with tail drooping despondently. + +"Yes, I know it's skunk, plain skunk," agreed the Deputy. "But I want +him. Seek him, Jim--_seek him_, boy." + +Thus reassured, Jim's tail went up again. He started off through the +bushes, down towards the lake, with his master close behind him. The +rest of the party followed thirty paces or so behind. + +The trail led straight down to the lake's edge. Here Jim stopped short. + +"_That_ skunk's a kind o' water-baby," remarked Long Jackson. + +"Oh, do you think so?" queried Woolly Billy, much interested. + +"Of course," answered Jackson. "Don't you see he's took to the water? +Now, yer common, no-account skunk hates wettin' his fur like pizen." + +The Deputy examined the hard, white sand at the water's edge. It +showed faint traces of moccasined feet. He pursed his lips. It was an +old game, but a good one, this breaking a trail by going into the +water. He had no way of deciding whether his quarry had turned up the +lake shore or down towards the outlet. He guessed at the latter as the +more likely alternative. + +Jim trotted slowly ahead, sniffing every foot of ground along the +water's edge. As they approached the outlet the shore became muddy, +and Jackson swung Woolly Billy up on to his shoulder. Once in the +outlet, the foreshore narrowed to a tiny strip of bare rock between the +water and an almost perpendicular bank covered with shrubs and vines. +All at once the smell of skunk, which had been almost left behind, +returned upon the air with fresh pungency. Blackstock stopped short +and scanned the bank with narrowed eyes. + +A second or two later, Jim yelped his signal, and his tail went up. He +sniffed eagerly across the ribbon of rock, and then leapt at the face +of the bank. + +The Deputy called him off and hurried to the spot. The rest of the +party, much excited, closed up to within four or five paces, when a +wave of the Deputy's hand checked them. + +"Phew!" ejaculated Black Dan, holding his nose. "There's a skunk hole +in that there bank. Ye'll be gittin' somethin' in the eye, Tug, ef ye +don't keep off." + +Blackstock, who was busy pulling apart the curtain of vines, paid no +attention, but Long Jackson answered sarcastically: + +"Ye call yerself a woodsman, Dan," said he, "an' ye don't know that the +hole where a skunk lives _don't_ smell any. Yer _reel_ skunk's quite a +gentleman and keeps his home always clean an' tidy. Tug Blackstock +ain't a-goin' to git nawthin' in the eye." + +"Well, I reckon we'd better smoke," said Black Dan amiably, pulling out +his pipe and filling it. And the others followed his example. + +Blackstock thrust his hand into a shallow hole in the bank quite hidden +by the foliage. He drew out a pair of moccasins, water-soaked, and +hurriedly set them down on the rock. For all their soaking, they +reeked of skunk. He picked up one on the point of a stick and examined +it minutely. In spite of all the soaking, the sole, to his initiated +eye, still bore traces of that viscous, oily liquid which no water will +wash off--the strangling exudation of the skunk's defensive gland. It +was just what he had expected. The moccasin was neat and slim and of +medium size--not more than seven at most. He held it up, that all +might see it clearly. + +"Does this belong to you, Andy Stevens?" he asked. + +There was a jeer from the group, and Big Andy held up an enormous foot, +which might, by courtesy, have been numbered a thirteen. It was a +point upon which the Oromocto man was usually sensitive, but to-day he +was proud of it. + +"Ye'll hev to play Cinderella, Tug, an' find out what leetle foot it +fits on to," suggested MacDonald. + +The Deputy fished again in the hole. He drew forth a magenta mitten, +dropped it promptly, then held it up on the point of his stick at arm's +length. It had been with the moccasins. Big Andy stepped forward to +claim it, then checked himself. + +"It's a mite too strong fer me now," he protested. "I'll hev to git +Sis to knit me another pair, I guess." + +Blackstock dropped the offensive thing beside the moccasins at his +feet, and reached once more into the hole. + +"He ain't takin' no risks this time, boys," said Blackstock. "He's +took the swag with him." + +There was a growl of disappointment. Long Jackson could not refrain +from a reproachful glance at Woolly Billy, but refrained from saying +the obvious. + +"What are ye goin' to do about it, Tug?" demanded Black Dan. "Hev ye +got any kind of a _reel_ clue, d'ye think, now?" + +"Wait an' see," was Blackstock's noncommittal reply. He picked up the +moccasins and mitten again on the point of his stick, scanned the bank +sharply to make sure his quarry had not gone that way, and led the +procession once more down along the rocky shore of the stream. "Seek +him," he said again to Jim, and the dog, as before, trotted on ahead, +sniffing along by the water's edge to intercept the trail of whoever +had stepped ashore. + +The party emerged at length upon the bank of the main stream, and +turned upwards towards Brine's Rip. After they had gone about half a +mile they rounded a bend and came in sight of a violent rapid which cut +close inshore. At this point it would be obviously impossible for any +one walking in the shallow water to avoid coming out upon dry ground. +Tug Blackstock quickened his pace, and waved Jim forward. + +A sharp oath broke from Black Dan's lips. + +"I've been an' gone an' left my 'baccy-pooch behind, by the skunk's +hole," he announced. And grumbling under his breath he turned back +down the shore. + +Blackstock ran on, as if suddenly in a great hurry. Just where the +shallow water ended, at the foot of the rapid, Jim gave his signal with +voice and tail. He raced up the bank to a clump of bushes and began +thrashing about in them. + +"What d'ye suppose he's found there?" asked Big Andy. + +"Scent, and lots of it. No mistake this time," announced MacDonald. +"Hain't ye caught on to Jim's signs yet?" + +"Jim," said the Deputy, sharply but not loud, "_fetch him!_" + +Jim, with nose in air instead of to the ground, set off at a gallop +down the shore in the direction of the outlet. + +The Deputy turned about. + +"Dan," he shouted peremptorily. "Come back here. I want ye!" + +Instead of obeying, Black Dan dashed up the bank, running like a deer, +and vanished into the bushes. + +"_I knew it_! That's the skunk, boys. Go home, you Billy!" cried +Blackstock, and started after the fugitive. The rest followed close on +his heels. But Jackson cried: + +"Ye'd better call off Jim quick. Dan's got a gun on him." + +The Deputy gave a shrill whistle, and Jim, who was just vanishing into +the bush, stopped short. At the same instant a shot rang out from the +bushes, and the dog dropped in his tracks with a howl of anguish. + +Blackstock's lean jaws set themselves like iron. He whipped out his +own heavy "Colt's," and the party tore on, till they met Jim dragging +himself towards them with a wounded hind-leg trailing pitifully. + +The Deputy gave one look at the big black dog, heaved a breath of +relief, and stopped. + +"'Tain't no manner o' use chasin' him now, boys," he decreed, "because, +as we all know, Dan kin run right away from the best runner amongst us. +But now I know him--an' I've suspicioned him this two month, only I +couldn't git no clue--_I'll git him_, never you fear. Jest now, ye'd +better help me carry Jim home, so's we kin git him doctored up in good +shape. I reckon Nipsiwaska County can't afford to lose Mr. +Assistant-Deputy Sheriff. That there skunk-oil on Dan's moccasins +fooled _both_ Jim an' me, good an' plenty, didn't it?" + +"But whatever did he want o' my mitts?" demanded Big Andy. + +"Now ye _air_ a sap-head, Andy Stevens," growled MacDonald, "ef ye +can't see _that_!" + + + + +IV. The Trail of the Bear + +I + +The Deputy-Sheriff of Nipsiwaska County had spent half an hour at the +telephone. In the backwoods the telephone wires go everywhere. In +that half-hour every settlement, every river-crossing, every +lumber-camp, and most of the wide-scattered pioneer cabins had been +warned of the flight of the thief, Dan Black, nicknamed Black Dan, and +how, in the effort to secure his escape, he had shot and wounded the +Deputy-Sheriff's big black dog whose cleverness on the trail he had +such cause to dread. As Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, came out +of the booth he asked after Jim. + +"Oh, Black Dan's bullet broke no bones that time," replied the village +doctor, who had tended the dog's wound as carefully as if his patient +had been the Deputy himself. "It's a biggish hole, but Jim'll be all +right in a few days, never fear." + +Blackstock looked relieved. + +"Ye don't seem to be worryin' much about Black Dan's gittin' away, +Tug," grumbled Long Jackson, who was not unnaturally sore over the loss +of his money. + +"No, I ain't worryin' much," agreed the Deputy, with a confident grin, +"now I know Jim ain't goin' to lose a leg. As for Black Dan's gittin' +away, well, I've got me own notions about that. I've 'phoned all over +the three counties, and given warnin' to every place he kin stop for a +bite or a bed. He can't cross the river to get over the Border, for +I've sent word to hev every bridge an' ferry watched. Black Dan's +cunnin' enough to know I'd do jest that, first thing, so he won't waste +his time tryin' the river. He'll strike right back into the big +timber, countin' on the start he's got of us, now he's put Jim out of +the game. But I guess I kin trail him myself--now I know what I'm +trailin'--pretty nigh as well as Jim could. I've took note of his +tracks, and there ain't another pair o' boots in Brine's Rip Mills like +them he's wearin'." + +"And when air ye goin' to start?" demanded Long Jackson, still inclined +to be resentful. + +"Right now," replied Blackstock cheerfully, "soon as ye kin git guns +and stuff some crackers an' cheese into yer pockets. I'll want you to +come along, MacDonald, an' you, Long, an' Saunders, an' Big Andy, as my +posse. Meet me in fifteen minutes at the store an' I'll hev Zeb Smith +swear ye in for the job. If Black Dan wants to do any shootin', it's +jest as well to hev every thin' regular." + +There were not a few others among the mill-hands and the villagers who +had lost by Black Dan's cunning pilferings, and who would gladly have +joined in the hunt. In the backwoods not even a murderer--unless his +victim has been a woman or a child--is hunted down with so much zest as +a thief. But the Deputy did not like too much volunteer assistance, +and was apt to suppress it with scant ceremony. So his choice of a +posse was accepted without protest or comment, and the chosen four +slipped off to get their guns. + +As Tug Blackstock had foreseen, the trail of the fugitive was easily +picked up. Confident in his powers as a runaway, Black Dan's sole +object, at first, had been to gain as much lead as possible over the +expected pursuit, and he had run straight ahead, leaving a trail which +any one of Blackstock's posse--with the exception, perhaps, of Big +Andy--could have followed with almost the speed and precision of the +Deputy himself. + +There had been no attempt at concealment. About five miles back, +however, in the heavy woods beyond the head of the Lake, it appeared +that the fugitive had dropped into a walk and begun to go more +circumspectly. The trail now grew so obscure that the other woodsmen +would have had difficulty in deciphering it at all, and they were +amazed at the ease and confidence with which Blackstock followed it up, +hardly diminishing his stride. + +"Tug is sure some trailer," commented Jackson, his good humour now +quite restored by the progress they were making. + +"_Jim_ couldn't 'a' done no better himself," declared Big Andy, the +Oromocto man. + +And just then Blackstock came abruptly to a halt, and held up his hand +for his followers to stop. + +"Steady, boys. Stop right where ye are, an' don't step out o' yer +tracks," he commanded. + +The four stood rigid, and began searching the ground all about them +with keen, initiated eyes. + +"Oh, I've got him, so fur, all right," continued Blackstock, pointing +to a particularly clear and heavy impression of a boot-sole close +behind his own feet. "But here it stops. It don't appear to go any +further." + +He knelt down to examine the footprint. + +"P'raps he's doubled back on his tracks, to throw us off," suggested +Saunders, who was himself an expert on the trails of all the wild +creatures. + +"No," replied Blackstock, "I've watched out for that sharp." + +"P'raps he's give a big jump to one side or t'other, to break his +trail," said MacDonald. + +"No," said Blackstock with decision, "nor that neither, Mac. This here +print is even. Ef he'd jumped to one side or the other, it would be +dug in on that side, and ef he'd jumped forrard, it would be hard down +at the toe. It fair beats me!" + +Stepping carefully, foot by foot, he examined the ground minutely over +a half circle of a dozen yards to his front. He sent out his +followers--all but Big Andy, who, being no trailer, was bidden to stand +fast--to either side and to the rear, crawling like ferrets and +interrogating every grass tuft, in vain. The trail had simply stopped +with that one footprint. It was as if Black Dan had dissolved into a +miasma, and floated off. + +At last Blackstock called the party in, and around the solitary +footprint they all sat down and smoked. One after another they made +suggestions, but each suggestion had its futility revealed and sealed +by a stony stare from Blackstock, and was no more befriended by its +author. + +At last Blackstock rose to his feet, and gave a hitch to his belt. + +"I don't mind tellin' ye, boys," said he, "it beats me fair. But _one_ +thing's plain enough, Black Dan ain't _here_, an' he ain't likely to +come here lookin' for us. Spread out now, an' we'll work on ahead, an' +see ef we can't pick up somethin'. You, Big Andy, you keep right along +behind me. There's an explanation to _everything_--an' we'll find this +out afore along, or my name's Dinnis." + +Over the next three or four hundred yards, however, nothing of +significance was discovered by any of the party. Then, breaking +through a dense screen of branches, Blackstock came upon the face of a +rocky knoll, so steep, at that point, that hands and feet together +would be needed to climb it. Casting his eyes upwards, he saw what +looked like the entrance to a little cave. + +A whistle brought the rest of the party to his side. A cave always +holds possibilities, if nothing else. Blackstock spread his men out +again, at intervals of three or four paces, and all went cautiously up +the steep, converging on the entrance. Blackstock, in the centre, +shielding himself behind a knob of rock, peered in. + +The place was empty. It was hardly a cave, indeed, being little more +than a shallow recess beneath an overhanging ledge. But it was well +sheltered by a great branch which stretched upwards across the opening. +Blackstock sniffed critically. + +"A bear's den," he announced, stepping in and scrutinizing the floor. + +The floor was naked rock, scantily littered with dead leaves and twigs. +These, Blackstock concluded, had been recently disturbed, but he could +find no clue to what had disturbed them. From the further side, +however--to Blackstock's right--a palpable trail, worn clear of moss +and herbage, led off by a narrow ledge across the face of the knoll. +Half a dozen paces further on the rock ended in a stretch of stiff +soil. Here the trail declared itself. It was unmistakably that of a +bear, and unmistakably, also, a fresh trail. + +Waving the rest to stop where they were, Blackstock followed the clear +trail down from the knoll, and for a couple of hundred yards along the +level, going very slowly, and searching it hawk-eyed for some sign +other than that of bear. At length he returned, looking slightly +crestfallen. + +"Nawthin' at all but bear," he announced in an injured voice. "But +that bear seems to have been in a bit of a hurry, as if he was gittin' +out o' somebody's way--Black Dan's way, it's dollars to doughnuts. But +where was Black Dan, that's what I want to know?" + +"Ef _you_ don't know, Tug," said MacDonald, "who _kin_ know?" + +"Jim!" said the Deputy, rubbing his lean chin and biting off a big +"chaw" of "black-jack." + +"Jim's sure some dawg," agreed MacDonald. "That was the only fool +thing I ever know'd ye to do, Tug--sendin' Jim after Black Dan that +way." + +Blackstock swore, softly and intensely, though he was a man not given +to that form of self-expression. + +"Boys," said he, "I used to fancy myself quite a lot. But now I begin +to think Nipsiwaska County'd better be gittin' a noo Deputy. I ain't +no manner o' good." + +The men looked at him in frank astonishment. He had never before been +seen in this mood of self-depreciation. + +"Aw, shucks," exclaimed Long Jackson presently, "there ain't a man from +here to the St. Lawrence as kin _tech_ ye, an' ye know it, Tug. Quit +yer jollyin' now. I believe ye've got somethin' up yer sleeve, only ye +won't say so." + +At this expression of unbounded confidence Blackstock braced up visibly. + +"Well, boys, there's one thing I _kin_ do," said he. "I'm goin' back +to git Jim, ef I hev to fetch him in a wheelbarrow. We'll find out +what he thinks o' the situation. I'll take Saunders an' Big Andy with +me. You, Long, an' Mac, you stop on here an' lay low an' see what +turns up. But don't go mussin' up the trails." + + +II + +Jim proved to be so far recovered that he was able to hobble about a +little on three legs, the fourth being skilfully bandaged so that he +could not put his foot to the ground. It was obvious, however, that he +could not make a journey through the woods and be any use whatever at +the end of it. Blackstock, therefore, knocked together a handy litter +for his benefit. And with very ill grace Jim submitted to being borne +upon it. + +Some twenty paces from that solitary boot-print which marked the end of +Black Dan's trail, Jim was set free from his litter and his attention +directed to a bruised tuft of moss. + +"Seek him," said Blackstock. + +The dog gave one sniff, and then with a growl of anger the hair lifted +along his back, and he limped forward hurriedly. + +"He's got it in for Black Dan _now_," remarked MacDonald. And the +whole party followed with hopeful expectation, so great was their faith +in Jim's sagacity. + +The dog, in his haste, overshot the end of the trail. He stopped +abruptly, whined, sniffed about, and came back to the deep boot-print. +All about it he circled, whimpering with impatience, but never going +more than a dozen feet away from it. Then he returned, sniffed long +and earnestly, and stood over it with drooping tail, evidently quite +nonplussed. + +"He don't appear to make no more of it than you did, Tug," said Long +Jackson, much disappointed. + +"Oh, give him time, Long," retorted Blackstock. Then---- + +"Seek him! Seek him, good boy," he repeated, waving Jim to the front. + +Running with amazing briskness on his three sound legs, the dog began +to quarter the undergrowth in ever-widening half-circles, while the men +stood waiting and watching. At last, at a distance of several hundred +yards, he gave a yelp and a growl, and sprang forward. + +"Got it!" exclaimed Big Andy. + +"Guess it's only the trail o' that there b'ar he's struck," suggested +Jackson pessimistically. + +"Jim, stop!" ordered Blackstock. And the dog stood rigid in his tracks +while Blackstock hastened forward to see what he had found. + +"Sure enough. It's only the bear," cried Blackstock, investigating the +great footprint over which Jim was standing. "Come along back here, +Jim, an' don't go foolin' away yer time over a bear, jest _now_." + +The dog sniffed at the trail, gave another hostile growl, and +reluctantly followed his master back. Blackstock made him smell the +boot-print again. Then he said with emphasis, "_Black Dan_, Jim, it's +_Black Dan_ we're wantin'. Seek him, boy. _Fetch him_." + +Jim started off on the same manoeuvres as before, and at the same point +as before he again gave a growl and a yelp and bounded forward. + +"_Jim_," shouted the Deputy angrily, "come back here." + +The dog came limping back, looking puzzled. + +"What do you mean by that foolin'?" went on his master severely. +"What's bears to you? Smell that!" and he pointed again to the +boot-print. "It's _Black Dan_ you're after." + +Jim hung upon his words, but looked hopelessly at sea as to his +meaning. He turned and gazed wistfully in the direction of the bear's +trail. He seemed on the point of starting out for it again, but the +tone of Blackstock's rebuke withheld him. Finally, he sat down upon +his dejected tail and stared upwards into a great tree, one of whose +lower branches stretched directly over his head. + +Blackstock followed his gaze. The tree was an ancient rock maple, its +branches large but comparatively few in number. Blackstock could see +clear to its top. It was obvious that the tree could afford no +hiding-place to anything larger than a wild-cat. Nevertheless, as +Blackstock studied it, a gleam of sudden insight passed over his face. + +"Jim 'pears to think Black Dan's gone to Heaven," remarked Saunders +drily. + +"Ye can't always tell _what_ Jim's thinkin'," retorted Blackstock. +"But I'll bet it's a clever idea he's got in his black head, whatever +it is." + +He scanned the tree anew and the other trees nearest whose branches +interlaced with it. Then, with a sharp "Come on, Jim," he started +towards the knoll, eyeing the branches overhead as he went. The rest +of the party followed at a discreet distance. + +Crippled as he was, Jim could not climb the steep face of the knoll, +but his master helped him up. The instant he entered the cave he +growled savagely, and once more the stiff hair rose along his back. +Blackstock watched in silence for a moment. He had never before +noticed, on Jim's part, any special hostility toward bears, whom he was +quite accustomed to trailing. He glanced up at the big branch that +overhung the entrance, and conviction settled on his face. Then he +whispered, sharply, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off at once, as fast +as he could limp, along the trail of the bear. + +"Come on, boys," called Blackstock to his posse. "Ef we can't find +Black Dan we may as well hev a little bear-hunt to fill in the time. +Jim appears to hev a partic'lar grudge agin that bear." + +The men closed up eagerly, expecting to find that Blackstock, with +Jim's help, had at last discovered some real signs of Black Dan. When +they saw that there was still nothing more than that old bear's trail, +which they had already examined, Long Jackson began to grumble. + +"We kin hunt bear any day," he growled. + +"I guess Tug ain't no keener after bear this day than you be," +commented MacDonald. "He's got _somethin'_ up his sleeve, you see!" + +"Mebbe it's a tame b'ar, a _trained_ b'ar, an' Black Dan's a-ridin' him +horseback," suggested Big Andy. + +Blackstock, who was close at Jim's heels, a few paces ahead of the +rest, turned with one of his rare, ruminative laughs. + +"That's quite an idea of yours, Andy," he remarked, stooping to examine +one of those great clawed footprints in a patch of soft soil. + +"But even _trained_ b'ar hain't got wings," commented MacDonald again. +"An' there's a good three hundred yards atween the spot where Black +Dan's trail peters out an' the nearest b'ar track. I guess yer +interestin' hipotheesis don't quite fill the bill--eh, Andy?" + +"Anyways," protested the big Oromocto man, "ye'll all notice one thing +queer about this here b'ar track. It goes _straight_. Mostly a b'ar +will go wanderin' off this way an' that, to nose at an old root, er +grub up a bed o' toadstools. But _this_ b'ar keeps right on, as ef he +had important business somewhere straight ahead. That's just the way +he'd go ef some one _was_ a-ridin' him horseback." + +Andy had advanced his proposition as a joke, but now he was inclined to +take it seriously and to defend it with warmth. + +"Well," said Long Jackson, "we'll all chip in, when we git our money +back, an' buy ye a bear, Andy, an' ye shall ride it up every day from +the mills to the post office. It'll save ye quite a few minutes in +gittin' to the post office. It don't matter about yer gittin' away." + +The big Oromocto lad blushed, but laughed good-naturedly. He was so +much in love with the little widow who kept the post office that +nothing pleased him more than to be teased about her. + +For the Deputy's trained eyes, as for Jim's trained nose, that +bear-track was an easy one to follow. Nevertheless, progress was slow, +for Blackstock would halt from time to time to interrogate some +claw-print with special minuteness, and from time to time Jim would +stop to lie down and lick gingerly at his bandage, tormented by the +aching of his wound. + +Late in the afternoon, when the level shadows were black upon the trail +and the trailing had come to depend entirely on Jim's nose, Blackstock +called a halt on the banks of a small brook and all sat down to eat +their bread and cheese. Then they sprawled about, smoking, for the +Deputy, apparently regarding the chase as a long one, was now in no +great hurry. Jim lay on the wet sand, close to the brook's edge, while +Blackstock, scooping up the water in double handfuls, let it fall in an +icy stream on the dog's bandaged leg. + +"Hev ye got any reel idee to come an' go on, Tug?" demanded Long +Jackson at last, blowing a long, slow jet of smoke from his lips, and +watching it spiral upwards across a bar of light just over his head. + +"I hev," said Blackstock. + +"An' air ye sure it's a good one--good enough to drag us 'way out here +on?" persisted Jackson. + +"I'm bankin' on it," answered Blackstock. + +"An' so's Jim, I'm thinkin'," suggested MacDonald, tentatively. + +"Jim's idee an' mine ain't the same, exackly," vouchsafed Blackstock, +after a pause, "but I guess they'll come to the same thing in the end. +They're fittin' in with each other fine, so fur!" + +"What'll ye bet that ye're not mistaken, the both o' yez?" demanded +Jackson. + +"Yer wages fur the whole summer!" answered Blackstock promptly. + +Long looked satisfied. He knocked the ashes out of his pipe and +proceeded to refill it. + +"Oh, ef ye're so sure as that, Tug," he drawled, "I guess I ain't +takin' any this time." + +For a couple of hours after sunset the party continued to follow the +trail, depending now entirely upon Jim's leadership. The dog, revived +by his rest and his master's cold-water treatment, limped forward at a +good pace, growling from time to time as a fresh pang in his wound +reminded him anew of his enemy. + +"How Jim 'pears to hate that bear!" remarked Big Andy once. + +"He does _that_!" agreed Blackstock. "An' he's goin' to git his own +back, too, I'm thinkin', afore long." + +Presently the moon rose round and yellow through the tree-tops, and the +going became less laborious. Jim seemed untiring now. He pressed on +so eagerly that Blackstock concluded the object of his vindictive +pursuit, whatever it was, must be now not far ahead. + +Another hour, and the party came out suddenly upon the bank of a small +pond. Jim, his nose to earth, started to lead the way around it, +towards the left. But Blackstock stopped him, and halted his party in +the dense shadows. + +The opposite shore was in the full glare of the moonlight. There, +close to the water's edge, stood a little log hut, every detail of it +standing out as clearly as in daylight. It was obviously old, but the +roof had been repaired with new bark and poles and the door was shut, +instead of sagging half open on broken hinges after the fashion of the +doors of deserted cabins. + +Blackstock slipped a leash from his pocket and clipped it onto Jim's +collar. + +"I'm thinkin', boys, we'll git some information yonder about that bear, +ef we go the right way about inquirin'. Now, Saunders, you go round +the pond to the right and steal up alongshore, through the bushes, to +within forty paces of the hut. You, Mac, an' Big Andy, you two go +round same way, but git well back into the timber, and come up _behind_ +the hut to within about the same distance. There'll be a winder on +that side, likely. + +"When ye're in position give the call o' the big horned owl, not too +loud. An' when I answer with the same call twice, then close in. But +keep a good-sized tree atween you an' the winder, for ye never know +what a bear kin do when he's trained. I'll bet Big Andy's seen bears +that could shoulder a gun like a man! So look out for yourselves. +Long an' Jim an' me, we'll follow the trail o' the bear right round +this end o' the pond--an' ef I'm not mistaken it'll lead us right up to +the door o' that there hut. Some bears hev a taste in regard to where +they sleep." + +As noiselessly as shadows the party melted away in opposite directions. + +The pond lay smooth as glass under the flooding moonlight, reflecting a +pale star or two where the moon-path grudgingly gave it space. + +After some fifteen minutes a lazy, muffled hooting floated across the +pond. Five minutes later the same call, the very voice of the +wilderness at midnight, came from the deep of the woods behind the hut. + +Blackstock, with Jackson close behind him and Jim pulling eagerly on +the leash, was now within twenty yards of the hut door, but hidden +behind a thick young fir tree. He breathed the call of the horned +owl--a mellow, musical call, which nevertheless brings terror to all +the small creatures of the wilderness--and then, after a pause, +repeated it softly. + +He waited for a couple of minutes motionless. His keen ears caught the +snapping of a twig close behind the hut. + +"Big Andy's big feet that time," he muttered to himself. "That boy'll +never be much good on the trail." + +Then, leaving Jim to the care of Jackson, he slipped forward to another +and bigger tree not more than a dozen paces from the cabin. Standing +close in the shadow of the trunk, and drawing his revolver, he called +sharply as a gun-shot--"Dan Black." + +Instantly there was a thud within the hut as of some one leaping from a +bunk. + +"Dan Black," repeated the Deputy, "the game's up. I've got ye +surrounded. Will ye come out quietly an' give yerself up, or do ye +want trouble?" + +"Waal, no, I guess I don't want no more trouble," drawled a cool voice +from within the hut. "I guess I've got enough o' my own already. I'll +come out, Tug." + +The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands held up, stalked +forth into the moonlight. + +[Illustration: "The door was flung open, and Black Dan, with his hands +held up, stalked forth into the moonlight."] + +With a roar Jim sprang out from behind the fir tree, dragging Long +Jackson with him by the sudden violence of his rush. + +"Down, Jim, _down_!" ordered Blackstock. "Lay down an' shut up." And +Jim, grumbling in his throat, allowed Jackson to pull him back by the +collar. + +Blackstock advanced and clicked the handcuffs on to Black Dan's wrists. +Then he took the revolver and knife from the prisoner's belt, and +motioned him back into the hut. + +"Bein' pretty late now," said Blackstock, "I guess we'll accept yer +hospitality for the rest o' the night." + +"Right ye are, Tug," assented Dan. "Ye'll find tea an' merlasses, an' +a bite o' bacon in the cupboard yonder." + +As the rest of the party came in Black Dan nodded to them cordially, a +greeting which they returned with more or less sheepish grins. + +"Excuse me ef I don't shake hands with ye, boys," said he, "but Tug +here says the state o' me health makes it bad for me to use me arms." +And he held up the handcuffs. + +"No apologies needed," said MacDonald. + +Last of all came in Long Jackson, with Jim. Blackstock slipped the +leash, and the dog lay down in a corner, as far from the prisoner as he +could get. + +In a few minutes the whole party were sitting about the tiny stove, +drinking boiled tea and munching crackers and molasses--the prisoner +joining in the feast as well as his manacled hands would permit. At +length, with his mouth full of cracker, the Deputy remarked: + +"That was clever of ye, Dan--durn' clever. I didn't know it was in ye." + +"Not half so clever as you seein' through it the way you did, Tug," +responded the prisoner handsomely. + +"But darned ef _I_ see through it _now_," protested Big Andy in a +plaintive voice. "It's just about as clear as mud to _me_. Where's +your wings, Dan? An' where in tarnation is that b'ar?" + +The prisoner laughed triumphantly. Long Jackson and the others looked +relieved, the Oromocto man having propounded the question which they +had been ashamed to ask. + +"It's jest this way," explained Blackstock. "When we'd puzzled Jim +yonder--an' he was puzzled at us bein' such fools--ye'll recollect he +sat down on his tail by that boot-print, an' tried to work out what we +wanted of him. I was tellin' him to seek Black Dan, an' yet I was +callin' him back off that there bear-track. _He_ could smell Black Dan +in the bear-track, but we couldn't. So we was doin' the best we could +to mix him up. + +"Well, he looked up into the big maple overhead. Then I saw where +Black Dan had gone to. He'd jumped (that's why the boot-print was so +heavy), an' caught that there branch, an' swung himself up into the +tree. Then he worked his way along from tree to tree till he come to +the cave. I saw by the way Jim took on in the cave that Black Dan had +been _there_ all right. For Jim hain't got no special grudge agin +bear. Says I to myself, ef Jim smells Black Dan in that bear trail, +then Black Dan must _be_ in it, that's all! + +"Then it comes over me that I'd once seen a big bear-skin in Dan's room +at the Mills, an' as the picture of it come up agin in my mind, I +noticed how the fore-paws and legs of it were missin'. With that I +looked agin at the trail, as we went along Jim an' me. An' sure +enough, in all them tracks there wasn't one print of a hind-paw. _They +were all fore-paws_. Smart, very smart o' Dan, says I to myself. +Let's see them ingenious socks o' yours, Dan." + +"They're in the top bunk yonder," said Black Dan, with a weary air. +"An' my belt and pouch, containin' the other stuff, that's all in the +bunk, too. I may's well save ye the trouble o' lookin' for it, as ye'd +find it anyways. I was _sure_ ye'd never succeed in trackin' me down, +so I didn't bother to hide it. An' I see now ye _wouldn't_ 'a' got me, +Tug, ef it hadn't 'a' been fer Jim. That's where I made the mistake o' +my life, not stoppin' to make sure I'd done Jim up." + +"No, Dan," said Blackstock, "ye're wrong there. Ef you'd done Jim up +I'd have caught ye jest the same, in the long run, fer I'd never have +quit the trail till I _did_ git ye. An' when I got ye--well, I'd hev +forgot myself, mebbe, an' only remembered that ye'd killed my best +friend. Ef ye'd had as many lives as a cat, Dan, they wouldn't hev +been enough to pay fer that dawg." + + + + +V. The Fire at Brine's Rip Mills + +I + +When pretty Mary Farrell came to Brine's Rip and set up a modest +dressmaker's shop quite close to the Mills (she said she loved the +sound of the saws), all the unattached males of the village, to say +nothing of too many of the attached ones, fell instant victims to her +charms. They were her slaves from the first lifting of her long lashes +in their direction. + +Tug Blackstock, the Deputy-Sheriff, to be sure, did not capitulate +quite so promptly as the rest. Mary had to flash her dark blue eyes +upon him at least twice, dropping them again with shy admiration. Then +he was at her feet--which was a pleasant place to be, seeing that those +same small feet were shod with a neatness which was a perpetual +reproach to the untidy sawdust strewn roadways of Brine's Rip. + +Even Big Andy, the boyish young giant from the Oromocto, wavered for a +few hours in his allegiance to the postmistress. But Mary was much too +tactful to draw upon her pretty shoulders the hostility of such a power +as the postmistress, and Big Andy's enthusiasm was cold-douched in its +first glow. + +As for the womenfolk of Brine's Rip, it was not to be expected that +they would agree any too cordially with the men on the subject of Mary +Farrell. + +But one instance of Mary's tact made even the most irreconcilable of +her own sex sheath their claws in dealing with her. She had come from +Harner's Bend. The Mills at Harner's Bend were anathema to Brine's Rip +Mills. A keen trade rivalry had grown, fed by a series of petty but +exasperating incidents, into a hostility that blazed out on the least +occasion. And pretty Mary had come from Harner's Bend. Brine's Rip +did not find it out till Mary's spell had been cast and secured, of +course. But the fact was a bitter one to swallow. No one else but +Mary Farrell could have made Brine's Rip swallow it. + +One day Big Andy, greatly daring, and secure in his renovated +allegiance to the postmistress, ventured to chaff Mary about it. She +turned upon him, half amused and half indignant. + +"Well," she demanded, "isn't Harner's Bend a good place to come away +from? Do you think I'd ought to have stopped there? Do I look like +the kind of girl that _wouldn't_ come away from Harner's Bend? And me +a dress-maker? I just couldn't _live_, let alone make a living, among +such a dowdy lot of women-folk as they've got over there. It isn't +dresses _they_ want, but oat-sacks, and you wouldn't know the +difference, either, when they'd got them on." + +The implication was obvious; and the women of Brine's Rip began to +allow for possible virtues in Miss Farrell. The post-mistress declared +there was no harm in her, and even admitted that she might almost be +called good-looking "if she hadn't such an _awful_ big mouth." + +I have said that all the male folk of Brine's Rip had capitulated +immediately to the summons of Mary Farrell's eyes. But there were two +notable exceptions--Woolly Billy and Jim. Both Woolly Billy's flaxen +mop of curls and the great curly black head of Jim, the dog, had turned +away coldly from Mary's first advances. Woolly Billy preferred men to +women anyhow. And Jim was jealous of Tug Blackstock's devotion to the +petticoated stranger. + +But Mary Farrell knew how to manage children and dogs as well as men. +She ignored both Jim and Woolly Billy. She did it quite pointedly, yet +with a gracious politeness that left no room for resentment. Neither +the child nor the dog was accustomed to being ignored. Before long +Mary's amiable indifference began to make them feel as if they were +being left out in the cold. They began to think they were losing +something because she did not notice them. Reluctantly at first, but +by-and-by with eagerness, they courted her attention. At last they +gained it. It was undeniably pleasant. From that moment the child and +the dog were at Mary's well-shod and self-reliant little feet. + + +II + +As summer wore on into autumn the dry weather turned to a veritable +drought, and all the streams ran lower and lower. Word came early that +the mills at Harner's Bend, over in the next valley, had been compelled +to shut down for lack of logs. But Brine's Rip exulted unkindly. The +Ottanoonsis, fed by a group of cold spring lakes, maintained a steady +flow; there were plenty of logs, and the mills had every prospect of +working full time all through the autumn. Presently they began to +gather in big orders which would have gone otherwise to Harner's Bend. +Brine's Rip not only exulted, but took into itself merit. It felt that +it must, on general principles, have deserved well of Providence, for +Providence so obviously to take sides with it. + +As August drew to a dusty, choking end, Mary Farrell began to collect +her accounts. Her tact and sympathy made this easy for her, and women +paid up civilly enough who had never been known to do such a thing +before, unless at the point of a summons. Mary said she was going to +the States, perhaps as far as New York itself, to renew her stock and +study up the latest fashions. + +Every one was much interested. Woolly Billy's eyes brimmed over at the +prospect of her absence, but he was consoled by the promise of her +speedy return with an air-gun and also a toy steam-engine that would +really go. As for Jim, his feathery black tail drooped in premonition +of a loss, but he could not gather exactly what was afoot. He was +further troubled by an unusual depression on the part of Tug +Blackstock. The Deputy-Sheriff seemed to have lost his zest in +tracking down evil-doers. + +It was nearing ten o'clock on a hot and starless night. Tug +Blackstock, too restless to sleep, wandered down to the silent mill +with Jim at his heels. As he approached, Jim suddenly went bounding on +ahead with a yelp of greeting. He fawned upon a small, shadowy figure +which was seated on a pile of deals close to the water's edge. Tug +Blackstock hurried up. + +"You here, Mary, all alone, at this time o' night!" he exclaimed. + +"I come here often," answered Mary, making room for him to sit beside +her. + +"I wish I'd known it sooner," muttered the Deputy. + +"I like to listen to the rapids, and catch glimpses of the water +slipping away blindly in the dark," said Mary. "It helps one not to +think," she added with a faint catch in her voice. + +"Why should _you_ not want to think, Mary?" protested Blackstock. + +"How dreadfully dry everything is," replied Mary irrelevantly, as if +heading Blackstock off. "What if there should be a fire at the mill? +Wouldn't the whole village go, like a box of matches? People might get +caught asleep in their beds. Oughtn't there to be more than one night +watchman in such dry weather as this? I've so often heard of mills +catching fire--though I don't see why they should, any more than +houses." + +"Mills most generally git _set_ afire," answered the Deputy grimly. +"Think what it would mean to Harner's Bend if these mills should git +burnt down now! It would mean thousands and thousands to them. But +you're dead right, Mary, about the danger to the village. Only it +depends on the wind. This time o' year, an' as long as it keeps dry, +what wind there is blows mostly away from the houses, so sparks and +brands would just be carried out over the river. But if the wind +should shift to the south'ard or thereabouts, yes, there'd be more +watchmen needed. I s'pose you're thinkin' about your shop while ye're +away?" + +"I was thinking about Woolly Billy," said Mary gravely. "What do I +care about the old shop? It's insured, anyway." + +"I'll look out for Woolly Billy," answered Blackstock. "And I'll look +out for the shop, whether _you_ care about it or not. It's yours, and +your name's on the door, and anything of yours, anything you've +touched, an' wherever you've put your little foot, that's something for +me to care about. I ain't no hand at making pretty speeches, Mary, or +paying compliments, but I tell you these here old sawdust roads are +just wonderful to me now, because your little feet have walked on 'em. +Ef only I could think that you could care--that I had anything, was +anything, Mary, worth offering you----" + +He had taken her hand, and she had yielded it to him. He had put his +great arm around her shoulders and drawn her to him,--and for a moment, +with a little shiver, she had leant against him, almost cowered against +him, with the air of a frightened child craving protection. But as he +spoke on, in his quiet, strong voice, she suddenly tore herself away, +sprang off to the other end of the pile of deals, and began to sob +violently. + +He followed her at once. But she thrust out both hands. + +"Go away. _Please_ don't come near me," she appealed, somewhat wildly. +"You don't understand--_anything_." + +Tug Blackstock looked puzzled. He seated himself at a distance of +several inches, and clasped his hands resolutely in his lap. + +"Of course, I won't tech you, Mary," said he, "if you don't want me to. +I don't want to do _anything_ you don't want me to--_never_, Mary. But +I sure don't understand what you're crying for. _Please_ don't. I'm +so sorry I teched you, dear. But if you knew how I love you, how I +would give my life for you, I think you'd forgive me, Mary." + +Mary gave a bitter little laugh, and choked her sobs. + +"It isn't that, oh no, it isn't _that_!" she said. "I--I _liked_ it. +There!" she panted. Then she sprang to her feet and faced him. And in +the gloom he could see her eyes flaming with some intense excitement, +from a face ghost-white. + +"But--I won't let you make me love you, Tug Blackstock. I won't!--I +won't! I won't let you change all my plans, all my ambitions. I won't +give up all I've worked for and schemed for and sold my very soul for, +just because at last I've met a real man. Oh, I'd soon spoil your +life, no matter how much you love me. You'd soon find how cruel, and +hard, and selfish I am. An' I'd ruin my own life, too. Do you think I +could settle down to spend my life in the backwoods? Do you think I +have no dreams beyond the spruce woods of Nipsiwaska County? Do you +think you could imprison _me_ in Brine's Rip? I'd either kill your +brave, clean soul, Tug Blackstock, or I'd kill myself!" + +Utterly bewildered at this incomprehensible outburst, Blackstock could +only stammer lamely: + +"But--I thought--ye kind o' liked Brine's Rip." + +"_Like_ it!" The uttermost of scorn was in her voice. "I hate, hate, +hate it! I just live to get out into the great world, where I feel +that I belong. But I must have money first. And I'm going to study, +and I'm going to make myself somebody. I wasn't born for this." And +she waved her hand with a sweep that took in all the backwoods world. +"I'm getting out of it. It would drive me mad. Oh, I sometimes think +it has already driven me half mad." + +Her tense voice trailed off wearily, and she sat down again--this time +further away. + +Blackstock sat quite still for a time. At last he said gently: + +"I do understand ye now, Mary." + +"You _don't_," interrupted Mary. + +"I felt, all along, I was somehow not good enough for you." + +"You're a million miles _too_ good for me," she interrupted again, +energetically. + +"But," he went on without heeding the protest, "I hoped, somehow, that +I might be able to make you happy. An' that's what I want, more'n +anything else in the world. All I have is at your feet, Mary, an' I +could make' it more in time. But I'm not a big enough man for you. +I'm all yours--an' always will be--but I can't make myself no more than +I am." + +"Yes, you could, Tug Blackstock," she cried. "Real men are scarce, in +the great world and everywhere. You could make yourself a master +anywhere--if only you would tear yourself loose from here." + +He sprang up, and his arms went out as if to seize her. But, with an +effort, he checked himself, and dropped them stiffly to his side. + +"I'm too old to change my spots, Mary," said he. "I'm stamped for good +an' all. I am some good here. I'd be no good there. An' I won't +never resk bein' a drag on yer plans." + +"You could--you could!" urged Mary almost desperately. + +But he turned away, with his lips set hard, not daring to look at her. + +"Ef ever ye git tired of it all out there, an' yer own kind calls ye +back--as it will, bein' in yer blood--I'll be waitin' for ye, Mary, +whatever happens." + +He strode off quickly up the shore. The girl stared after, him till he +was quite out of sight, then buried her face in the fur of Jim, who had +willingly obeyed a sign from his master and remained at her side. + +"Oh, my dear, if only you could have dared," she murmured. At last she +jumped up, with an air of resolve, and wandered off, apparently +aimlessly, into the recesses of the mill, with one hand resting firmly +on Jim's collar. + + +III + +Two days later Mary Farrell left Brine's Rip. She hugged and kissed +Woolly Billy very hard before she left, and cried a little with him, +pretending to laugh, and she took her three big trunks with her, in the +long-bodied express waggon which carried the mails, although she said +she would not be gone more than a month at the outside. + +Tug Blackstock eyed those three trunks with a sinking heart. His only +comfort was that he had in his pocket the key of Mary's little shop, +which she had sent to him by Woolly Billy. When the express waggon had +rattled and bumped away out of sight there was a general feeling in +Brine's Rip that the whole place had gone flat, like stale beer, and +the saws did not seem to make as cheerful a shrieking as before, and +Black Saunders, expert runner of logs as he was, fell in because he +forgot to look where he was going, and knocked his head heavily in +falling, and was almost drowned before they could fish him out. + +"There's goin' to be some bad luck comin' to Brine's Rip afore long," +remarked Long Jackson in a voice of deepest pessimism. + +"It's come, Long," said the Deputy. + +That same day the wind changed, and blew steadily from the mills right +across the village. But it brought no change in the weather, except a +few light showers that did no more than lay the surface dust. About a +week later it shifted back again, and blew steadily away from the +village and straight across the river. And once more a single +night-watchman was regarded as sufficient safeguard against fire. + +A little before daybreak on the second night following this change of +wind, the watchman was startled by a shrill scream and a heavy splash +from the upper end of the great pool where the logs were gathered +before being fed up in the saws. It sounded like a woman's voice. As +fast as he could stumble over the intervening deals and rubbish he made +his way to the spot, waving his lantern and calling anxiously. There +was no sign of any one in the water. As he searched he became +conscious of a ruddy light at one corner of the mill. + +He turned and dashed back, yelling "Fire! Fire!" at the top of his +lungs. A similar ruddy light was spreading upward in two other corners +of the mill. Frantically he turned on the nearest chemical +extinguisher, yelling madly all the while. But he was already too +late. The flames were licking up the dry wood with furious appetite. + +In almost as little time as it takes to tell of it the whole great +structure was ablaze, with all Brine's Rip, in every varying stage of +_deshabille_, out gaping at it. The little hand-fire-engine worked +heroically, squirting a futile stream upon the flames for a while, and +then turning its attention to the nearest houses in order to keep them +drenched. + +"Thank God the wind's in the right direction," muttered Zeb Smith, the +storekeeper and magistrate. And the pious ejaculation was echoed +fervently through the crowd. + +In the meantime Tug Blackstock, seeing that there was nothing to do in +the way of fighting the fire--the mill being already devoured--was +interviewing the distracted watchman. + +"Sure," he agreed, "it was a trick to git you away long enough for the +fires to git a start. Somebody yelled, an' chucked in a big stick, +that's all. An', o' course, you run to help. You couldn't naturally +do nothin' else." + +The watchman heaved a huge sigh of relief. If Blackstock exonerated +him from the charge of negligence, other people would. And his heart +had been very heavy at being so fatally fooled. + +"It's Harner's Bend all right, that's what it is!" he muttered. + +"Ef only we could prove it," said Blackstock, searching the damp ground +about the edges of the pool, which was lighted now as by day. +Presently he saw Jim sniffing excitedly at some tracks. He hurried +over to examine them. Jim looked up at him and wagged his tail, as +much as to say, "So you've found them, too! Interesting, ain't they!" + +"What d'ye make o' that?" demanded Blackstock of the watchman. + +"_Boy's_ tracks, sure," said the latter at once. + +The footprints were small and neat. They were of a double-soled +larrigan, with a low heel of a single welt. + +"None of _our_ boys," said Blackstock, "wear a larrigan like that, +especially this time o' year. One could run light in that larrigan, +an' the sole's thick enough to save the foot. An' it's good for a +canoe, too." + +He rubbed his chin, thinking hard. + +"Yesterday," said the watchman, "I mind seein' a young half-breed, he +looked like a slip of a lad, very dark complected, crossin' the road +half-a-mile up yonder. He was out o' sight in a second, like a +shadder, but I mind noticin' he had on larrigans--an' a brown slouch +hat down over his eyes, an' a dark red handkerchief roun' his neck. He +was a stranger in these parts." + +"That would account for the voice, like a woman's," said Blackstock, +following the tracks till they plunged through a tangle of tall bush. +"An' here's the handkerchief," he added triumphantly, grabbing up a +dark red thing that fluttered from a branch. "Harner's Bend knows +somethin' about that boy, I'm thinkin'. Now, Bill, you go along back, +an' don't say nothin' about this, _mind_! Me an' Jim, we'll look into +it. Tell old Mrs. Amos and Woolly Billy not to fret. We'll be back +soon." + +He slipped the leash into Jim's collar, gave him the red handkerchief +to smell, and said, "Seek him, Jim." And Jim set off eagerly, tugging +at the leash, because the trail was so fresh and plain to him, and he +hated to be held back. + +The trail led around behind the village, and back to the river bank +about a mile below. There it followed straight down the shore. It was +evident to Blackstock that his quarry would have a canoe in hiding some +distance further down. There was no time to be lost. It was now +almost full daybreak, and he could follow the trail by himself. After +all, it was only a boy he had to deal with. He could trust Jim to +delay him, to hold him at bay. He loosed the leash, and Jim bounded +forward at top speed. He himself followed at a leisurely loping stride. + +As he trotted on, thinking of many things, he took out the red +handkerchief and examined it again. He smelt it curiously. His nose +was keen, like a wild animal's. As he sniffed, a pang went through +him, clutching at his heart. He sniffed again. His long stride +shortened. He dropped into a walk. He thought over, word by word, his +conversation with Mary that night beside the mill. His face went grey. +After a brief struggle he shouted to Jim, trying to call him back. But +the eager dog was already far beyond hearing. Then Blackstock broke +into a desperate run, shouting from time to time. He thought of Jim's +ferocity when on the trail. + +Meanwhile, the figure of a slim boy, very light of foot, was speeding +far down the river bank, clutching a brown slouch hat in one hand as he +ran. He had an astonishing crop of hair, wound in tight coils about +his head. He was panting heavily, and seemed nearly spent. At last he +halted, drew a deep sigh of relief, pressed his hands to his heart, and +plunged into a clump of bushes. In the depth of the bushes lay a small +birch-bark canoe, carefully concealed. He tugged at it, but for the +moment he was too weary to lift it. He flung himself down beside it to +take breath. + +In the silence, his ears caught the sound of light feet padding down +the shore. He jumped up, and peered through the bushes. A big black +dog was galloping on his trail. He drew a long knife, and his mouth +set itself so hard that the lips went white. The dog reached the edge +of the bushes. The youth slipped behind the canoe. + +[Illustration: "He drew a long knife ... and slipped behind the canoe."] + +"Jim," said he softly. The dog whined, wagged his tail, and plunged in +through the bushes. The youth's stern lips relaxed. He slipped the +knife back into its sheath, and fondled the dog, which was fawning upon +him eagerly. + +"You'd never go back on me, would you, Jim, no matter what I'd done?" +said he, in a gentle voice. Then, with an expert twist of his lithe +young body, he shouldered the canoe and bore it down to the water's +edge. One of his swarthy hands had suddenly grown much whiter, where +Jim had been licking it. + +Before stepping into the canoe, this peculiar youth took a scrap of +paper from his shirt pocket, and an envelope. He scribbled something, +sealed it up, addressed the envelope, marked it "private," and gave it +to Jim, who took it in his mouth. + +"Give that to Tug Blackstock," ordered the youth clearly. Then he +kissed the top of Jim's black head, pushed off, and paddled away +swiftly down river. Jim, proud of his commission, set off up the shore +at a gallop to meet his master. + +Half-a-mile back he met him. Blackstock snatched the letter from Jim's +mouth, praising Heaven that the dog had for once failed in his duty. +He tore open the letter. It said! + + +Yes, I did it. I had to do it. But _you_ could have saved me, if +you'd _dared_--for I do love you, Tug Blackstock.--MARY. + + +A month later, a parcel came from New York for Woolly Billy, containing +an air-gun, and a toy steam-engine that would really go. But it +contained no address. And Brine's Rip said that Tug Blackstock had +been bested for once, because he never succeeded in finding out who +burnt down the mills. + + + + +VI. The Man with the Dancing Bear + +I + +One day there arrived at Brine's Rip Mills, driving in a smart trap +which looked peculiarly unsuited to the rough backwoods roads, an +imposing gentleman who wore a dark green Homburg hat, heavy, tan, +gauntletted gloves, immaculate linen, shining boots, and a well-fitting +morning suit of dark pepper-and-salt, protected from the contaminations +of travel by a long, fawn-coloured dust-coat. He also wore a monocle +so securely screwed into his left eye that it looked as if it had been +born there. + +His red and black wheels labouring noiselessly through the sawdust of +the village road, he drove up to the front door of the barn-like wooden +structure, which staggered under the name, in huge letters, of the +CONTINENTAL HOTEL. There was no one in sight to hold the horse, so he +sat in the trap and waited, with severe impatience, for some one to +come out to him. + +In a few moments the landlord strolled forth in his shirt-sleeves, +chewing tobacco, and inquired casually what he could do for his visitor. + +"I'm looking for Mr. Blackstock--Mr. J. T. Blackstock," said the +stranger with lofty politeness. "Will you be so good as to direct me +to him?" + +The landlord spat thoughtfully into the sawdust, to show that he was +not unduly impressed by the stranger's appearance. + +"You'll find him down to the furder end of the cross street yonder," he +answered pointing with his thumb. "Last house towards the river. +Lives with old Mrs. Amos--him an' Woolly Billy." + +The stranger found it without difficulty, and halted his trap in front +of the door. Before he could alight, a tall, rather gaunt woodsman, +with kind but piercing eyes and brows knitted in an habitual +concentration, appeared in the doorway and gave him courteous greeting. + +"Mr. Blackstock, I presume? The Deputy Sheriff, I should say," +returned the stranger with extreme affability, descending from the trap. + +"The same," assented Blackstock, stepping forward to hitch the horse to +a fence post. A big black dog came from the house and, ignoring the +resplendent stranger, went up to Blackstock's side to superintend the +hitching. A slender little boy, with big china-blue eyes and a shock +of pale, flaxen curls, followed the dog from the house and stopped to +stare at the visitor. + +The latter swept the child with a glance of scrutiny, swift and intent, +then turned to his host. + +"I am extraordinarily glad to meet you, Mr. Blackstock," he said, +holding out his hand. "If, as I surmise, the name of this little boy +here is Master George Harold Manners Watson, then I owe you a debt of +gratitude which nothing can repay. I hear that you not only saved his +life, but have been as a father to him, ever since the death of his own +unhappy father." + +Blackstock's heart contracted. He accepted the stranger's hand +cordially enough, but was in no hurry to reply. At last he said slowly: + +"Yes, Stranger, you've got Woolly Billy's reel name all O.K. But why +should you thank me? Whatever I've done, it's been for Woolly Billy's +own sake--ain't it, Billy?" + +For answer, Woolly Billy snuggled up against his side and clutched his +great brown hand adoringly, while still keeping dubious eyes upon the +stranger. + +The latter took off his gloves, laughing amiably. + +"Well, you see, Mr. Blackstock, I'm only his uncle, and his only uncle +at that. So I have a right to thank you, and I see by the way the +child clings to you how good you've been to him. My name is J. +Heathington Johnson, of Heathington Hall, Cramley, Blankshire. I'm his +mother's brother. And I fear I shall have to tear him away from you in +a great hurry, too." + +"Come inside, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock, "an' sit down. We must +talk this over a bit. It is kind o' sudden, you see." + +"I don't want to seem unsympathetic," said the visitor kindly, "and I +know my little nephew is going to resent my carrying him off." (At +these words Woolly Billy began to realize what was in the air, and +clung to Blackstock with a storm of frightened tears.) "But you will +understand that I have to catch the next boat from New York--and I have +a thirty-mile drive before me now to the nearest railway station. You +know what the roads are! So I'm sure you won't think me unreasonable +if I ask you to get my nephew ready as soon as possible." + +Blackstock devoted a few precious moments to quieting the child's sobs +before replying. He remembered having found out in some way, from some +papers in the drowned Englishman's pockets or somewhere, that the name +of Woolly Billy's mother, before her marriage, was not Johnson, but +O'Neill. Of course that discrepancy, he realized, might be easily +explained, but his quick suspicions, sharpened by his devotion to the +child, were aroused. + +"We are not a rich family, by any means, Mr. Blackstock," continued the +stranger, after a pause. "But we have enough to be able to reward +handsomely those who have befriended us. All _possible_ expense that +my nephew may have been to you, I want to reimburse you for at once. +And I wish also to make you a present as an expression of my +gratitude--not, I assure you, as a payment," he added, noticing that +Blackstock's face had hardened ominously. He took out a thick +bill-book, well stuffed with banknotes. + +"Put away your money, Mr. Johnson," said Blackstock coldly. "I ain't +taking any, thank you, for what I may have done for Woolly Billy. But +what I want to know is, what authority have you to demand the child?" + +"I'm his uncle, his mother's brother," answered the stranger sharply, +drawing himself up. + +"That may be, an' then again, it mayn't," said Blackstock. "Do you +think I'm goin' to hand over the child to a perfect stranger, just +because he comes and says he's the child's uncle? What proofs have +you?" + +The visitor glared angrily, but restrained himself and handed +Blackstock his card. + +Blackstock read it carefully. + +"What does that prove?" he demanded sarcastically. "It might not be +your card! An' even if you are 'Mr. Johnson' all right, that's not +proving that Mr. Johnson is the little feller's uncle! I want legal +proof, that would hold in a court of law." + +"You insolent blockhead!" exclaimed the visitor. "How dare you +interfere between my nephew and me? If you don't hand him over at +once, I will make you smart for it. Come, child, get your cap and +coat, and come with me immediately. I have no more time to waste with +this foolery, my man." And he stepped forward as if to lay hands on +Woolly Billy. + +Blackstock interposed an inexorable shoulder. The big dog growled, and +stiffened up the hair on his neck ominously. + +"Look here," said Blackstock crisply, "you're goin' to git yourself +into trouble before you go much further, my lad. You jest mind your +manners. When you bring me them proofs, I'll talk to you, see!" + +He took Woolly Billy's hand, and turned towards the door. + +The stranger's righteous indignation, strangely enough, seemed to have +been allayed by this speech. He followed eagerly. + +"_Don't_ be unreasonable, Mr. Blackstock," he coaxed. "I'll send you +the documents, from my solicitors, at once. I'm sure you don't want to +stand in the dear child's light this way, and prevent him getting back +to his own people, and the life that is his right, a day longer than is +necessary. Do listen to reason, now." And he patted his wad of +bank-notes suggestively. + +But at this stage, Woolly Billy and the big dog having already entered +the cottage, Blackstock followed, and calmly shut the door. "You'll +smart for this, you ignorant clod-hopper!" shouted Mr. Heathington +Johnson. He clutched the door-knob. But for all his rage, prudence +came to his rescue. He did not turn the knob. After a moment's +hesitation he ground his heel upon the doorstep, stalked back to his +gig, and drove off furiously. The three at the window watched his +going. + +"We won't see _him_ back here again," remarked the Deputy. "_He_ +wasn't no uncle o' yours, Woolly Billy." + +That same evening he wrote to a reliable firm of lawyers at Exville, +telling them all he knew about Woolly Billy and Woolly Billy's father, +and also all he suspected, and instructed them to look into the matter +fully. + + +II + +Several weeks went by, and the imposing stranger, as Blackstock had +anticipated, failed to return with his proofs. Then came a letter from +the lawyers at Exville, saying that they had something important to +communicate, and Blackstock hurried off to see them, planning to be +away for about a week. + +On the day following his departure, to the delight of all the children +and of most of the rest of the population as well, there arrived at +Brine's Rip Mills a man with a dancing bear. He was a black-eyed, +swarthy, merry fellow, with a most infectious laugh, and besides his +trained bear he possessed a pedlar's pack containing all sorts of +up-to-date odds and ends, not by any means to be found in the very +utilitarian miscellany of Zeb Smith's corner store. + +He talked a rather musical but very broken lingo that passed for +English, flashing a mouthful of splendid white teeth as he did so. He +appeared to be an Italian, and the men of Brine's Rip christened him a +"Dago" at once. There was no resisting his childlike bonhomie, or the +amiable antics of his great brown bear, which grinned through its +muzzle as if dancing to its master's merry piccolo were its one delight +in life. And the two did a roaring business from the moment they came +strolling into Brine's Rip. + +"Tony" was what the laughing vagabond called himself, and his bear +answered to the name of Beppo. Business being so good, Tony could +afford to be generous, and he was continually pressing peppermint +lozenges upon the rabble of children who formed a triumphal procession +for him wherever he moved. When Tony's eyes first fell on Woolly +Billy, standing just outside the crowd, with one arm over the neck of +the big black dog, he was delighted. + +"Com-a here, Bambino, com-a quick!" he cried, holding out some +peppermints. Woolly Billy liked him at once, and adored the bear, but +was too shy, or reserved, to push his way through the other children. +So Tony came to him, leading the bear. Woolly Billy stood his ground, +with a welcoming smile. The big black dog growled doubtfully, and then +lost his doubts in curious admiration of the bear, which plainly +fascinated him. + +Woolly Billy accepted the peppermints politely, and put one into his +mouth without delay. Then, with an apologetic air, the Italian laid +one finger softly on Woolly Billy's curls, and drew back at once, as if +fearing he had taken a liberty. + +"Jim likes the bear, sir, _doesn't_ he?" suggested Woolly Billy, to +make conversation. + +"Everybody he like-a ze bear. Him vaira good bear," asserted the +bear's master, and laughed again, giving the bear a peppermint. "An' +you one vaira good bambino. Ze bear, he like-a you vaira much. See, +he shak-a you ze hand--good frens now." + +Encouraged by the warmth of his welcome, the Italian had from the first +made a practice of dropping in at certain houses of the village just at +meal times--when he was received always with true backwoods +hospitality. On Woolly Billy's invitation he had come to the house of +Mrs. Amos. The old lady, too rheumatic to get about much out of doors, +was delighted with such a unique and amusing guest. To all he +said--which, indeed, she never more than half understood--she kept +ejaculating. "Well, I never!" and "Did ye ever hear the likes o' that?" + +And the bear, chained to the gate-post and devouring her +pancakes-and-molasses, thrilled her with a sense of "furrin parts." In +fact, there was no other house at Brine's Rip where Tony and his bear +were made more warmly welcome than at Mrs. Amos'. The only member of +the household who lacked cordiality was Jim, whose coolness towards +Tony, however, was fully counter-balanced by his interest in the bear. +Towards Tony his attitude was one of armed neutrality. + +On the fourth evening after the arrival of Tony and Beppo, Jim +discovered a most tempting lump of meat in the corner of Mrs. Amos' +garden. Having something of an appetite at the moment, he was just +about to bolt the morsel. But no sooner had he set his teeth into it +than he conceived a prejudice against it. He dropped it, and sniffed +at it intently. The smell was quite all right. He turned it over with +his paw and sniffed at the under side. No, there was nothing the +matter with it. Nevertheless, his appetite had quite vanished. Well, +it would do for another time. He dug a hole and buried the morsel, and +then went back to the house to see what Woolly Billy and Mrs. Amos were +doing. + +A little later, just as Mrs. Amos was lighting the lamps in the +kitchen, the rattling of a chain was heard outside, followed by the +whimpering of Beppo, who objected to being tied up to the gate-post +when he wanted to come in and beg for pancakes. Woolly Billy ran to +the door and peered forth into the dusk. After a few moments Tony +entered, all his teeth agleam in his expansive smile. + +He had a little bag of bon-bons for Woolly Billy--something much more +fascinating than peppermints--which he doled out to the child one by +one, as a rare treat. And for himself he wanted a cup of tea, which +hospitable Mrs. Amos was only too eager to brew for him. Jim, seeing +that Woolly Billy was too interested to need _his_ company, got up and +went out to inspect the bear. + +Tony was in gay spirits that evening. In his broken English, and +helping out his meaning with eloquent gestures, he told of adventures +which made Woolly Billy's eyes as round as saucers and reduced Mrs. +Amos to admiring speechlessness. He made Mrs. Amos drink tea with him, +pouring it out for her himself while she hobbled about to find him +something to eat. And once in a while, at tantalizing intervals, he +allowed Woolly Billy one more bon-bon. + +There was a chill in the night air, so Tony, who was always politeness +itself, asked leave to close the door. Mrs. Amos hastened also to +close the window. Or, rather, she tried to hasten, but made rather a +poor attempt, and sat down heavily in the big arm-chair beside it. + +"My legs is that heavy," she explained, laughing apologetically. So +Tony closed the window himself, and at the same time drew the curtains. +Then he went on talking. + +But apparently his conversation was less interesting than it had been. +There came a snore from Mrs. Amos' big chair. Tony glanced aside at +Woolly Billy, as if expecting the child to laugh. But Woolly Billy +took no notice of the sound. He was fast asleep, his fluffy fair head +fallen forward upon the red table-cloth. + +Tony looked at the clock on the mantel-piece. It was not as late as he +could have wished, but he had observed that Brine's Rip went to bed +early. He turned the lamp low, softly raised the window, and looked +out, listening. There were no lights in the village, and all was +silence save for the soft roar of the Rip. He extinguished the lamp, +and waited a few moments till his eyes got quite accustomed to the +gloom. + +At length he picked up the slight form of Woolly Billy (who was now in +a drugged stupor from which he would not awake for hours), and slung +him over his left shoulder. In his right hand he grasped his short +bear-whip, with its loaded butt. He stepped noiselessly to the door, +listened a few moments, and then opened it inch by inch with his left +hand, standing behind it, and grasping the whip so as to be ready to +strike with the butt. He was wondering where the big black dog was. + +The door was about half open, when a black shape, appearing suddenly, +launched itself at the opening. The loaded butt came crashing +down--and Jim dropped sprawling across the threshold. + +From the back of the bear Tony now unfastened a small pack, and +strapped it over his right shoulder. Then he unchained the great beast +noiselessly, and led it off to the waterside, to a spot where a heavy +log canoe was drawn up upon the beach. He hauled the canoe down, +making much disarrangement in the gravel, launched it, thrust it far +out into the water, and noted it being carried away by the current. He +had no wish to journey by that route himself, knowing that as soon as +the crime was discovered, which might chance at any moment, the +telephone would give the alarm all down the river. + +Next he undid the bear's chain, and took off its muzzle, and threw them +both into the water, knowing that when freed from these badges of +servitude the animal would wander further and more freely. At first +the good-natured creature was unwilling to leave him. Its master, from +policy, had always treated it kindly, and fed it well, and it was in no +hurry to profit by its freedom. + +However, the man ordered it off towards the woods, enforcing the +command by a vigorous push and a stroke of the whip. Shaking itself +till it realized its freedom, it slouched away a few paces down stream, +then turned into the woods. The man listened to its careless, crashing +progress. + +"They'll find it easy following _that_ trail," he muttered with +satisfaction. + +Assured that he had thus thrown out two false trails to distract +pursuers, the man now stepped into the water, and walked up stream for +several hundred yards, till he reached the spot which served as a ferry +landing. Here, in the multiplicity of footprints, he knew his own +would be indistinguishable to even the keenest of backwood eyes. He +came ashore, slipped through the slumbering village, and plunged into +the woods with the assurance of one to whom their mysteries were an +open book. + +He was shaping his course--by the stars at present, but by compass when +it should become necessary--for an inlet on the coast, where there +would be a sturdy fishing-smack awaiting him and his rich prize. All +was working smoothly--as most plans were apt to work under his swift, +resourceful hands--and his hard lips relaxed in triumphant +self-satisfaction. One of the most accomplished and relentless of the +desperadoes of the Great North-West, he had peculiarly enjoyed his pose +as the childlike Tony. + +For hour after hour he pushed on, till even his untiring sinews began +to protest. About the edge of dawn Woolly Billy awoke, but, still +stupid with the heavy drugging he had received, he did not seem to +realize what had happened. He cried a little, asking for Jim, and for +Tug Blackstock, and for Mrs. Amos, but was pacified by the most trivial +excuses. The man gave him some sweet biscuits, but he refused to eat +them, leaving them on the moss beside him. He hardly protested even +when the man cut off his bright hair, and proceeded to darken what was +left with some queer-smelling dye. + +When the man undressed him and proceeded to stain his face and his +whole body, he apparently thought he was being got ready for bed, and +to certain terrible threats as to what would happen if he tried to get +away, or to tell any one anything, he paid no attention whatever. He +went to sleep again in the middle of it all. + +Satisfied with his job, the man lay down beside him, knowing himself +secure from pursuit, and went to sleep himself. + +Meanwhile, after lying motionless for several hours, where he had +dropped across the threshold, Jim at last began to stir. That crashing +blow, after all, had not fallen quite true. Jim was not dead, by any +means. He staggered to his feet, swayed a few moments, and then, for +all the pain in his head, he was practically himself again. He went +into the cottage, tried in vain to awaken Mrs. Amos in her chair, +hunted for Woolly Billy in his bed, and at last, realizing something of +what had happened, rushed forth in a panic of rage and fear and grief, +and remorse for a trust betrayed. + +It was a matter of a few minutes to trail the party down to the +waterside. Then he darted off after the bear. The latter, grubbing +delightedly in a rotten stump, greeted him with a friendly "Woof." A +glance and a sniff satisfied Jim that Woolly Billy was not there, and +his instinct assured him that the bear was void of offence in the whole +matter. He knew the enemy. He darted back to the waterside, ran on up +stream to the ferry-landing, picked up the trail of Tony's feet, +followed it unerringly through the confusion of other footprints, and +darted silently into the woods in pursuit. + +At daybreak an early riser, seeing the door of Mrs. Amos' cottage +standing open, looked in and saw the old lady still asleep in her +chair. She was awakened with difficulty, and could give but a vague +account of what had happened. The whole village turned out. Under the +leadership of Long Jackson, the big mill-hand who constituted himself +Woolly Billy's special guardian in Blackstock's absence, the "Dago" and +bear were traced down to the waterside. + +Of course, it was clear to almost every one that the "Dago"--who was +now due for lynching when caught--had carried Woolly Billy off down +river in the vanished canoe. Instantly the telephones were brought +into service, and half-a-dozen expert canoeists, in the swiftest canoes +to be had, started off in pursuit. But the more astute of the +woodsmen--including Long Jackson himself--held that this river clue was +a false one, a ruse to put them off the track. This group went after +the bear. + +In an hour or two they found him. And very glad to see them he +appeared to be. He was getting hungry, and a bit lonely. So without +waiting for an invitation, with touching confidence he attached himself +to the party, and accompanied it back to the village. There Big Andy, +who had always had a weakness for bears, took him home and fed him, and +shut him up in the back yard. + +In the meantime Jim, travelling at a speed that the fugitive could not +hope to rival, had come soon after daybreak to the spot where the man +and Woolly Billy lay asleep. + +[Illustration: "In the meantime, Jim, travelling at a speed that the +fugitive could not hope to rival, had come to the right spot."] + +He arrived as soundlessly as a shadow. At sight of his enemy--for he +knew well who had carried off the child, and who had dealt that almost +fatal blow--his long white fangs bared in a silent snarl of hate. But +he had learnt, well learnt, that this man was a dangerous antagonist. +He crouched, stiffened as if to stone, and surveyed the situation. + +His sensitive nose prevented him from being quite deceived by the +transformation in Woolly Billy's appearance. He was puzzled by it, but +he had no doubt as to the child's identity. Having satisfied himself +that the little fellow was asleep, and therefore presumably safe for +the moment, he turned his attention to his enemy. + +The man was sleeping almost on his back, one arm thrown above his head, +his chin up, his brown, sinewy throat exposed. That bare throat +riveted Jim's vengeful gaze. He knew well that the man, though asleep +and at an utter disadvantage, was the most dangerous adversary he could +possibly tackle. + +Step by step, so lightly, so smoothly, that not a twig crackled under +his feet, he crept up, his muzzle outstretched, his fangs gleaming the +hair rising along his back. When he was within a couple of paces of +his goal, the sleeper stirred slightly, as if about to wake up, or +growing conscious of danger. Instantly Jim sprang, and sank his fangs +deep, deep, into his enemy's throat. + +With a shriek the sleeper awoke, flinging wide his arms and legs +convulsively. But the shriek was strangled at its birth, as Jim's +implacable teeth crunched closer. The great dog shook his victim as a +terrier shakes a rat. There was a choked gurgle, and the threshing +arms and legs lay still. + +Jim continued his savage shaking till satisfied his foe was quite dead. +Then he let go, and turned his attention to Woolly Billy. + +The child was sitting up, staring at him with round eyes of question +and bewilderment. + +"Where am I, Jim?" he demanded. Then he gazed at the transformation in +himself--his clothes and his stained hands. He saw his old clothes +tossed aside, his curls lying near them in a bright, fluffy heap. He +felt his cropped head. And then his brain began to clear. He had a +dim memory of the man cutting his hair and changing his clothes. + +Upon his first glimpse of the man, lying there dead and covered with +blood, he felt a sharp pang of sorrow. He had liked Tony. But the +pang passed, as he began to understand. If _Jim_ had killed Tony, Tony +must have been bad. It was evident that Tony had carried him off, and +that Jim had come to save him. Jim was licking his face now, +rapturously, and evidently coaxing him to get up and come away. + +He flung his arms around Jim's neck. Then he saw the biscuits. He +divided them evenly between himself and Jim, and ate his portion with +good appetite. Jim would not touch his share, so Woolly Billy tucked +them into his pocket. Then he got up and followed where Jim was trying +to lead him, keeping his face averted from the terrible, bleeding thing +sprawled there upon the moss. And Jim led him safely home. + +When Tug Blackstock, two days later, returned from his visit to +Exville, he brought news which explained why a certain gang of +criminals had planned to get possession of Woolly Billy. The child had +fallen heir to an immense property in England, and an ancient title, +and he was to have been held for ransom. From that moment Blackstock +never let him out of his sight, until, with a heavy heart, he handed +him over to his own people. + +Thereafter, as he sat brooding on a log beside the noisy river, with +Jim stretched at his feet, Tug Blackstock felt that Brine's Rip, for +the lack of a childish voice and a head of flaxen curls, had lost all +savour for him. And his thoughts turned more and more towards the +arguments of a grey-eyed girl, who had urged him to seek a wider sphere +for his energies than the confines of Nipsiwaska County could afford. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ledge on Bald Face, by Charles G. D. 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