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diff --git a/old/54887-8.txt b/old/54887-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 95346cd..0000000 --- a/old/54887-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8941 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beaufort Chums, by Edwin L. (Legrand) Sabin - -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/license - - -Title: Beaufort Chums - -Author: Edwin L. (Legrand) Sabin - -Illustrator: Charles Copeland - -Release Date: June 11, 2017 [EBook #54887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUFORT CHUMS *** - - - - -Produced by Mhairi Hindle and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -Illustration markers have been moved near to the text they illustrate. - -All variant spellings, including variant hyphenenation, have -been retained. However, obvious printer's errors have been -corrected and punctuation errors have been repaired. - - -[Illustration: HE LINED A COURSE STRAIGHT FOR THE BOAT.] - - - - - BEAUFORT CHUMS - - - BY - - EDWIN L. SABIN - - ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES COPELAND - - -[Illustration] - - - NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. PUBLISHERS - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY - - - - -Contents - - - I. THE JUNE RISE 1 - - II. THE GREAT LUMBER FIRE 21 - - III. THE BREAK-WATER ACCIDENT 35 - - IV. THE CAMP AT DEEP CREEK 49 - - V. TURTLES, FISH, FROGS AND SNAKES 65 - - VI. THE GHOST OF THE INDIAN MOUNDS 86 - - VII. THE COUNTY FAIR 106 - - VIII. NED THE NIMROD 117 - - IX. THE CAMPAIGN PARADE 136 - - X. THE TROUBLE AT BREEDE'S HILL 151 - - XI. THE ROUTING OF BIG MIKE 168 - - XII. THE LONG SKATE 181 - - XIII. AN UNEXPECTED BAG 202 - - XIV. BIG MIKE AGAIN 218 - - XV. JUST ABOUT BOB 237 - - XVI. THE LAST OF BOB 248 - - XVII. THE RAID THAT FAILED 261 - - XVIII. CHANGES 274 - - - - -Beaufort Chums - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE JUNE RISE - - -"The river is coming up at the rate of an inch an hour!" announced Mr. -Miller, reading from the evening paper. "At one o'clock it was eighteen -feet, and reports from the north indicate the highest water ever known -on the Upper Mississippi." - -"Hurrah!" cheered Ned, who was sitting on the porch steps, waiting for -supper, and had heard through the open window. - -"Why, Ned!" rebuked his mother. "Think of all the suffering this means!" - -"Well, anyway, the river's booming," ventured Ned, abashed. "It's even -with the railroad tracks. I was down looking at it after school." - -"I'm sorry for the poor people on the flats--the lowlands must be -flooded," continued Mrs. Miller. - -"But they tie their houses to trees with ropes, and move into the -second stories, and go about on rafts," explained Ned, to whom such a -plight was not without fun. - -"Still, I fancy that these people don't find their fix very amusing, -Ned," commented his father. "Nor is it humorous to the merchants to -have their cellars swamped and their goods damaged." - -Ned temporarily subsided--meekly convinced of the serious phase of a -freshet, but nevertheless seeing sport in prospect. - -"Say, father," he blurted out, in the midst of supper, "Hal----" - -"Neddie! How often have I told you not to address anybody with 'say'?" -interrupted his mother, severely. - -"Oh!" admitted Ned, guilt in his tones. Rallying from the setback he -resumed: - -"I only wanted to ask if I couldn't go over on Eagle Island to-morrow -with Hal, in our boat. It's all under water, and every one has moved -off." - -"_I_ have no special objection," answered his father, "if you'll -promise to be careful." - -"Neddie, _do_ be careful," implored his mother. "You surely will, won't -you?" - -"Of course," assured Ned. "But, pshaw, there isn't any danger. You -couldn't tip over the boat if you tried!" - -"However, I wouldn't try, if I were you," remarked his father. Then he -added, teasingly: - -"We'll let him have this Saturday for his fun, Helen, and next Saturday -he'll have some wood to pile! I've ordered eleven loads, and it will be -hauled during the week." - -"Oh, father! Eleven loads!" exclaimed Ned, in dismay. - -The next day, Saturday, dawned clear and soft, a typical June morning. -Ned turned out early, and had most of his chores done before breakfast, -despite the fact that a double supply of wood was necessary for the -kitchen stove, in order to last over Sunday. - -When, at eight o'clock, Hal Lucas whistled for him, in front, he was -ready to start. Stuffing his lunch, wrapped in two packages, into his -side coat-pockets, he rushed through the house, kissing his mother on -his way, and out of the gate. - -"Now, be careful, Ned!" called his mother, after him. - -"I will," he shouted. "Good-bye." - -Mrs. Miller stood on the porch, watching the two boys as they merrily -trudged off. Ned had many a time asserted, with truth, that although he -might go upon the river every day for fifty years, each time his mother -would be worried about him until he came home again. A mother's heart -is a very anxious heart. - -Ned and Hal hastened down the street. Ahead of them they could see -the river sparkling under the rays of the sun. Ordinarily it was not -visible from this distance; but at present, far out of its bed, it was -right on a level with the railroad skirting it. - -"My! She's on a tear, isn't she!" said Hal, enthusiastically. - -"If ever she gets over the tracks she'll come whooping, my father -says," responded Ned. "She's higher than the street, now!" - -Without question the river was, to use Hal's expression, "on a tear." -People along the Mississippi expect, as a matter of course, high water -in the spring and early summer. Moderate high water is welcomed. It -enables the logging companies to float their stranded logs; it washes -clean the banks and the lowlands, carrying away tons of stuff that -otherwise might breed illness; it is one of nature's thorough purifiers. - -But here was a "June rise" with a vengeance. Up in the northern -pineries the heavy snows of the past winter were melting all at once -beneath long-continued rains. Every stream was a torrent, pouring its -swollen tide into the Mississippi. As a consequence of this hearty -diet, the old Father of Waters had increased his girth enormously. -Never was a prize grunter fattened so rapidly. - -His bulk began to take up more room than was comfortable for his -neighbors. Some persons were forced to flee for their lives; others -were prepared to leave their homes at a moment's notice. Whole towns -were in danger of being flooded. - -At Beaufort the sewers were being filled and the water, creeping -through them, flowed out far inland. Cellars were being invaded; and -seeping up, the crafty flood inundated great tracts of street and yard -in the lower-lying resident portions of the town. - -When, after school on the previous afternoon, Ned had gone down to -look at the river, there had been hardly any water inside the tracks -at the foot of Maple Street. But this morning the boys found quite a -pond had gathered during the night. In places the board walks on either -hand were afloat, and children were running back and forth over them, -shouting with delight as the water spurted up between the cracks. - -"She's soaking through," commented Hal. - -Ned nodded, and saying, "Come on," deliberately continued on the route, -over the wavy, unsteady walk. Hal followed. Both boys disdained to -hurry their pace one bit, even to avoid wet feet. They deemed that a -show of dignity was necessary, to impress the scampering, screaming -youngsters who were spectators. - -With a spring they leaped the open space between the end of the walk -and the railroad embankment. Their feet sank deep into the mushy -cinders as they scrambled to the top. - -This was four tracks wide, and usually was a good stone's throw from -the river's edge. To-day the water was lapping at the rails. North and -south were scattered gangs of men with shovels, watching to patch the -slightest break. Seemingly the embankment was all that kept the water -from rushing into the principal streets. - -Ned and Hal stood and gazed in silent wonder at the scene before them. -The river was not that friendly river to which they were accustomed. -It was a sullen, menacing monster, without a single familiar aspect. -The water was an opaque, ugly yellow, and was thickly charged with -sediment. Extending as far as eye could reach it swept past, bearing -on its mighty breast trunks of trees, pieces of lumber, fragments of -buildings, and not infrequently an entire shed or small house. - -There was no levee, no shore, no anything--save water. The big Diamond -Jo warehouse, with its basement story completely submerged, was secured -by a hawser encircling it. - -Commodore Jones' little fish-market and boats-to-hire establishment, -a few rods below, also was anchored by a rope. The water was within a -couple of inches of its platform; but nevertheless, river threatening -each moment to carry him away, here sat the commodore, smoking his pipe. - -The boys strolled to a point on the embankment opposite him. - -"Good-morning, commodore," they called. - -"Mornin', young fellers," responded the commodore. "Better not come -crost them planks," he admonished, indicating the narrow bridge which -connected his quarters with the land. - -"We don't want to," replied Ned. "How's the water? Still rising?" - -"No," answered the commodore. "She ain't raised any since midnight. I -look for her to begin to go down pretty soon, now. She's fallin' up -north." - -"Do you think the embankment will hold?" asked Hal, anxiously. - -"Certain, 'less we have an east wind," assured the commodore, between -his puffs. "East wind would pile up the waves an' no knowin' what would -happen." - -"I guess we'll go out in our boat," announced Ned. - -"Well, it's there with them others under the lee of the warehouse," -said the commodore, with a jerk of his pipe toward the cluster of -skiffs tied along the embankment, in the angle formed by the end of -the steamboat building, and thus shielded from the current. "Reckon -I wouldn't take no chances though, if I was you. River's full of -drift-wood." - -The commodore was a stoical, gruff old veteran of the -Mississippi--whereby his title--and this advice was no small concession. - -"We'll be careful," cried Hal. - -"Oh, it's safe enough," grunted the commodore, lapsing into the -apparent surliness which covered a really kind heart. - -The boys proceeded to their boat, and unlocked its painter from the -larger chain to which all the boats were fastened. - -The craft of which they were joint owners was of that type known on the -Mississippi as scull-boat or sink-boat. It was low and flat, with a -smooth, dish-shaped keel, sharp prow, and overhanging stern. Its bows -were decked, and a combing ran along the gunwale. - -It was a very convenient, reliable boat. Under the decked bows could -be stowed a surprising amount of stuff. Being made from thin strips of -cedar, it was exceedingly buoyant and light; and in consequence of its -width and "flatness," sitting as it did so low in the water, capsizing -was almost impossible. As an extra precaution, however, Mr. Miller and -Mr. Lucas had caused air-cylinders of copper to be inserted, inside the -bows. - -There were no seats or thwarts. The boys sprawled about on the straw -in the bottom. The one who rowed sat on a soap-box; the one who -sculled--for in the stern was a hole for a sculling-oar--perched on the -gunwale. - -You see, the boat was so steady that it did not much matter how the -persons in it acted. - -Sometimes the boys rowed, sometimes they sculled, and sometimes, if in -a hurry or fought by a strong current, they both rowed and sculled. -When not in use the boat was quartered with Commodore Jones. - -Hal jumped in, shipped the single pair of oars, and then plumped into -the stern; Ned shoved off, and squatting on the soap-box applied -himself to navigating, for it happened to be his turn. - -"Watch out for the lath!" cautioned Hal. - -"Say--I bet you it's from the Beaufort Lumber Company's yards!" -exclaimed Ned, twisting his head to look over the bows. - -Countless bunches of lath, extending up the river as far as the boys -could see, were passing down in a long, straight string. A few vigorous -strokes with the oars shot the boat out of the eddy formed by the -warehouse, and into the current, and carried them through the line of -lath. Now the craft was clear of obstructions. - -Eagle Island was a large tract of heavily wooded land, reaching down -river from off the lower end of town. It was four miles in length, and -half a mile or more in breadth. Paper-mill Slough separated it from the -mainland. Quite a settlement of wood-choppers, small farmers, and mill -employees lived upon it; and with its nuts, its fishing, and its other -attractions, it was a favorite resort for the Beaufort youth. - -The powerful current of the freshet swept the voyagers rapidly onward. -In a moment they had passed under the bridge, against the piers of -which the water boiled and swirled. On the nearer shore they caught -a glimpse, here and there, of shanties held in place by ropes, and -of their tenants paddling about the thresholds in skiffs. The river -appeared to be among the lumber piles of the Mosher Lumber Company, -even! - -Of the farther shore nothing was to be seen. The water stretched in -this direction for miles and miles, only a fringe of willows marking -its ordinary bounds. - -And now they were beyond the lumber yards, and had entered Paper-mill -Slough. - -The head of Eagle Island was still high and dry, above the reach of the -flood. The current, split by the promontory, was not so swift in the -slough as in the river proper. - -The boys kept close to the island, and presently the ground had so -descended that the water was rushing in among the trees. - -"Where will we go in?" asked Ned. - -"Oh, anywhere," replied Hal; adding: "Let's go in here." - -"Well, then, you scull," said Ned, dealing the boat a sudden twist with -the left-hand oar, and sending it obliquely into the woods. - -With a quick motion he unshipped the oars from their locks and himself -from the soap-box, and sitting comfortably on the straw, his back -against the half-deck of the bows, he took it easy. - -Between the hickories and the oaks glided the nimble craft, the -screw-like movement of the sculling oar, deftly managed by Hal, giving -it an agreeable wriggling, rocking motion. - -The water varied in depth. In some places the oar-blade touched bottom; -again no bottom was to be found. Above the surface in the shallows -the tops of weeds and bushes swayed with the current. Not a sound of -human life was heard. The only noises to break the silence were the -twitterings of uneasy birds amidst the branches of the trees, and once -in a while a slight scrape from the boat's prow as Hal steered through -a narrow channel. - -It was an enchanted island, spellbound by the freshet. - -"Doesn't it seem queer, though!" commented Ned, after they had gone a -short distance, upon a zigzag course. - -"I should say!" agreed Hal, letting the boat drift, and with eyes and -ears drinking in the novelty of it all. "Where will we make for?" - -"I don't care," responded Ned. "See! there's a barn." - -Sure enough, directly ahead was a small, unpainted, weather-beaten barn -just visible between the tree-trunks. Hal began to scull gently, and as -they drew nearer they saw a house, also, not far from it. - -The scene was rather pathetic--this home, lonely and deserted, standing -waist-deep in the midst of the waters, its only companions the silent -forest trees. - -"The folks who lived here must have skipped in a big hurry," observed -Ned. "They didn't even stop to close their up-stairs windows." - -"Perhaps that's the way they got out," suggested Hal. - -"I hear a dog!" suddenly Ned exclaimed. - -"He's shut in the house," said Hal, poising his oar and listening. - -"Poor fellow! He's around somewhere, that's sure," agreed Ned. "Let's -go nearer and see about him." - -With the howling of the dog to urge them, they sculled forward. First -in their path was the barn; and with a change in their angle of view -Ned cried: - -"There he is! He's in the loft!" - -True enough. In the square doorway of the barn-loft was a medium size -brown dog, peering out to catch their coming. Evidently he had heard -their voices, and had howled for help. - -"Now, I call that a shame!" declared Ned. - -The dog howled back that indeed it was. - -"Let's rescue him," proposed Hal, laying hold of a sapling, to keep the -boat where the dog might see them, while they discussed him. "Why, he -must be half starved!" - -"Unless the family left him on purpose, and put some stuff in there for -him to eat," hazarded Ned. - -"Then he ate it all up at once--dogs never save, like a cat," rejoined -Hal, sagely. "Besides, I don't believe his folks did that--they simply -deserted him, because they were scared." - -"But how can we get at him?" queried Ned. - -Hal released his hold on the sapling, and sculled across to the barn. -The dog, seeing them move toward him, whined frantically, and craned -his neck to watch them. - -They rasped along the gray boards of the barn until they came to a -door, the upper half of which was out of water. - -"See if you can open it," said Hal. "Perhaps we can go in with the -boat, to the stairs." - -"Padlocked," informed Ned, briefly, and in disgust. "That proves it! -They left him here on purpose." - -"No, sir-ee!" Hal insisted. "They never thought of the barn--they -skipped after it had been locked for the night." - -They made a circuit of the barn, but there was no other door; and -although within easy reach there was a window, of dirty panes, it was -quite too narrow for entrance. Besides, the water hereabouts was five -feet deep, as Ned found by sounding with an oar, and there was no -knowing what disagreeable surprise the inside of the barn might offer -to a person dropping through the window. - -He peered through the dingy glass, and as well as he could scanned the -dim, shadowy interior, faintly shown by the light which penetrated -between the boards. - -"Anyway, I'm glad a horse or cow isn't in there," he said. - -They had passed out of the dog's sight, and he was howling piteously, -thinking that he had lost them. - -"We're coming," shouted Ned; and they hastened to station themselves -again at the sapling where the dog could see them. - -This comforted him, and his howling changed to whines of greeting. - -"Poor doggie," spoke Hal to him. "I wish we could help you out of your -fix." - -"Jump," called Ned. - -The two boys tried in vain by coaxing and commanding to make the dog -jump from the window. It was only about eight feet to the surface of -the water, and although he seemed to know just what they wanted, he -could not muster spunk for the leap. He barked and whined, and crouched -and stretched, one end willing but the other end afraid; and on the -very brink he always balked. - -"Well," remarked Hal, finally, "I don't see what we can do--we can't -get up there, and you won't come down here. So we'll have to leave you. -I hope somebody will come after you pretty soon." - -"It's a great big shame, that's what it is!" declared Ned. "We'll bring -you over some meat, won't we, Hal!" - -"Yes, indeed," answered Hal, seizing upon the idea. - -"One thing is sure--he won't die from thirst!" said Ned, looking back -regretfully, as they slowly sculled off. - -The dog, seeing them go, lifted his nose and howled as if his heart was -breaking. - -"Pshaw!" exclaimed Hal. "He thinks we're leaving him for good." - -"He's going to jump! He's going to jump!" cried Ned, suddenly. -"Whistle!" - -Yes, the dog was nerving himself to the feat. In desperation he -fidgeted from side to side of the doorway, craning, running back and -forth, and acting like a dog possessed. - -The combined whistle of the boys was too much! - -"Look!" shouted both at once. - -With a last howl he was in mid-air, his legs outspread; and in a -twinkling he had disappeared, amid a mighty splash, beneath the water. - -"My--that must have hurt his stomach like sixty!" laughed Hal. - -But the dog seemed not hurt a particle. In a moment, above the surface -popped his head, and shaking it vigorously to clear his eyes and ears -of water, yapping with eagerness and excitement he lined a course -straight for the boat. - -"Come on, come on, old fellow!" urged the boys. - -"Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap!" said the dog. - -And come he did, as fast as his legs and paws could send him, his chest -cleaving the ripples, and a bubbly wake extending far behind him. - -Speedily he had gained the boat, and Ned had pulled him in. Convinced -that now he was saved, the dog went into perfect transports of -happiness. He barked, he yelped, he whined, he snickered, he twisted -his body into knots; he talked to one boy, and then to the other, and -then to the two at once, telling them all about it; he flicked water -over them with his whipping tail, and shaking himself doused them again -until they were well-nigh as wet as he. And how he grinned! - -"He's laughing!" cried Hal. - -Indeed, this was true. The pendant upper lip of the dog was wrinkled -back, so that he was showing his white teeth in a ridiculous grin! - -"Well!" remarked Ned, staring at him. "It doesn't make him look very -pretty, anyway." - -Which, also, was true, for the grin was like a snarl. - -The dog, having paid his respects, cuddled himself on the straw of -the bows, in the sun, and there blinked, now and then expressing his -ecstasy by a contented little sigh. - -"He knows we've got to keep him," declared Hal. "We can't throw him up -into the loft again, and there's no other place for him, except the -boat." - -"I'm glad of it, too," asserted Ned. "Those people don't deserve a dog, -after the way they've treated him! Do they, pup?" - -The dog, hearing himself addressed, whimpered as if in memory of a dark -past, and at the same time thumped his tail in celebration of a bright -present. - -"But maybe we'll have to return him," prophesied Hal, mechanically -working the sculling oar. "He's a pointer, and perhaps he's valuable." - -"Do you suppose we can find the house again?" mused Ned. - -"Our folks might make us try," replied Hal. "Let's scull away as hard -as we can, without looking where we're going. Then we'll lose it." - -Acting upon his own suggestion Hall sculled stoutly, skimming aimlessly -between the trees, and soon the house and barn were nowhere to be seen. - -"There!" he panted, ceasing his exertions, and letting the boat drift. -"Now where are we?" - -"I give it up," candidly confessed Ned. "The water changes everything -so. But what's the matter with eating? Aren't you hungry?" - -"Hungry!" exclaimed Hal. "You watch me." - -As the boys untied their packages of lunch the dog sat up in -expectation. He was all eyes and mouth. - -"He's hungry, too," declared Hal. "He heard us say 'eat.' Here--catch!" - -He tossed a slice of bread at their canine charge, and down it went, -apparently swallowed whole. - -The lunch which had been intended for two did for three; the boys -munched and the dog gobbled, and presently scarcely a crumb remained. - -During this time the boat had been carried by the current, bumping into -tree-trunks, and swinging to right and to left, with weeds and bushes -scraping along its bottom and against its sides. - -The boys lolled on the warm straw, and the dog, no doubt exhausted by -his vigils in the barn-loft, went to sleep. - -It was very pleasant, thus to float through the green woods, over -ground which they so often had traversed afoot. Occasionally they saw -other houses and barns, flooded and lifeless, and in all respects -appearing much the same as the place at which the pointer had been -discovered. - -"Well, if the dog can go there again, all right," murmured Hal. "_I_ -can't." - -"I either," declared Ned, drowsily. - -At length the boat emerged into an open area, with only pond-lily pads -and buds breaking the ripples. - -"Hello!" spoke Hal. "This must be Beaver Lake, Ned." - -"So it is," agreed Ned. "I believe we ought to turn back and strike for -home, if we want to take things easy. If we go any farther we'll have -an awful job getting back." - -He seized the sculling oar, and swinging the craft around headed into -the trees again. - -"I'll scull," he said, "and when we reach the slough you can row." - -The return progress was slower, for the current was against them. -Whenever Hal could help with the oars, he did, but at many points there -was not room to use them. However, the current, while hindering, also -served as a guide. - -"The river's falling!" suddenly cried Hal, pointing to a tree-trunk -close at hand. "See there!" - -A narrow margin of wet, marking where the water must have been, was -visible on the bark, above the smooth tide. - -"And there's some mud!" he triumphantly added, at a strip of ooze from -which the water had receded. - -"Humph!" commented Ned; whether from pleasure or disappointment, was -not clear. - -Yes, the crest of the freshet had passed. Upon every tree within sight -was the unmistakable sign. - -But the dog in the bows of the boat slept on. He was not interested; -for all he cared the flood might last forever. He was beyond its -clutches. - -The trip home was achieved by dint of incessant tugging and pulling. -The boys crossed the slough, and then worked their way along the shore, -where the current was not so fierce. Finally, with blistered hands -and numb wrists they glided in behind the warehouse, whence they had -started. - -The dog, overjoyed, jumped out first; with a grunt of relief, they -followed. - -"Back, are you?" greeted Commodore Jones (who sat just as they had left -him) when they approached with the oars. - -"See what we found," bade Ned, nodding toward the dog. - -"Pointer pup, eh?" said the commodore. "Where'd you get him?" - -"Somebody had left him in a barn half under water," informed Hal; "on -Eagle." - -"You don't say!" responded the commodore, pityingly. "Sech a man ain't -fit to have a dog. You'd better keep him." - -"We're going to," answered the boys, in unison. - -"What will we do about him?" asked Ned, as they were walking homeward. -"Shall we draw lots to see which'll take him?" - -"N-n-no," responded Hal, reluctantly. "You can have him. My mother says -she won't allow a dog about, or else I'd have had one long ago." - -"That's too bad," sympathized Ned. "At our house we all like dogs--at -least, mother does if they don't dig up her flowers." - -"You ought to call him Robinson Crusoe--Crusoe was wrecked on an -island, you know," suggested Hal. - -"Or 'Bob' for short," cried Ned, the idea appealing to him. "All -right--you name him and I'll have him." - -"I suppose so," admitted Hal, ruefully. - -When they parted at the street corner, the dog hesitated, uncertain -which to accompany. - -"Come on, Bob," called Ned. - -And Bob, quickly deciding, followed him. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE GREAT LUMBER FIRE - - -The river went down as rapidly as it had come up, but left upon the -clap-boards of the Diamond Jo warehouse a line of mud in token of its -visit. People in the low-lying portions of the city hastened to move -back into their accustomed quarters, now soaked by the flood. Many -a cellar was pumped out. And at the levee Commodore Jones' flock of -skiffs was once more tethered in its usual place before the little -boat-house. - -Much to Ned's disgust the eleven loads of wood arrived promptly at the -Miller premises--eleven great loads of wet slabs, making a mountain -higher than the alley fence, and filling all the space between the -wood-shed and the next back-yard! - -These slabs were to be loosely laid, one upon another, in long, -parallel piles, so that the air could circulate freely between them. -When the wood had dried, it was to be split, and put in the shed, for -use. - -It seemed to Ned an endless task, to dispose of such a mass, stick -by stick. However, he had accomplished it in previous summers, and -although each June it loomed into sight afresh, yet somehow by pegging -away he managed to struggle through it. - -Having for several days dolefully eyed the mountain, on the morning -of the Saturday succeeding the Bob rescue he began, with a groan, the -base of his first pile. But he knew that groaning was of no use; he -was expected to devote this Saturday morning, and the next Saturday -morning, and two hours a day during the coming long vacation, to the -work until it was finished. - -Bob, having industriously trotted hither and thither through the -yard, and having gazed right and left along the street, in search for -amusement, came and sat on his haunches near Ned, and with a puzzled, -wondering expression, surveyed his movements. - -A week had effected quite a change in Bob's appearance. The warm -welcome which he had received at the Miller home, and the food and -petting which he was being accorded, already had slicked his coat, and -covered his ribs. That confidence in humanity which he had lost while -confined in the barn on Eagle Island, now had returned to him. He was a -very happy dog. - -For a few moments he watched Ned intently. Presently, getting no -encouragement to frolic, and doubtless disgusted that upon such a -bright morning his master should be given to so stupid an employment, -he curled up in the sun, against the wood-shed, and fitfully dozed--one -eye at a time, in order that he might be on the alert, should something -happen. - -And something did happen! - -Bob had been napping for but half an hour when suddenly the unearthly -shriek of the fire-whistle pierced the still air. The Beaufort -fire-whistle was a most appalling sound--running up and down the -scales, at one instant a shrill tremulo, at another a deep bass. Under -favorable conditions it could be heard, folks claimed, fifteen miles! - -With the first note Ned poised in his hands the slab which he was -transferring from heap to pile, and waited, breathless, to see -whether it was the water-works' alarm, or only a steamboat. With the -second he dropped his slab, and straightened. Yes, indeed, it was the -fire-whistle! Bob lifted his nose, and howled vigorously. This was the -influence of the whistle upon all dogs within ear-shot: it made them -howl and howl, but nobody knew why. - -Ned scanned the horizon. In the southeast, topping the maples which -bordered either side of the street, he caught a glimpse of a huge cloud -of black smoke, sluggishly unfolding and spreading. - -The spectacle electrified him. In a second he and Bob were rushing -wildly through the yard, and out of the front gate. - -"It's the lumber yards--it's Mosher's lumber yards!" he cried, to his -mother, who was standing, anxious-faced, on the porch. - -"Oh, Ned!" she exclaimed. - -No more wood piling on _that_ day! - -The pretty, modest resident street was all astir. Heads popped from -windows, voices called and answered, and young and old hastened upon -walk or horse-block, or into the road. - -"It's Mosher's lumber yards!" was repeated, from lot to lot, and from -corner to corner. - -The bell of the Congregational church pealed forth its clamorous -warning. - -Two streams of people were set in motion--the one flowing tumultuously -toward the cloud of smoke, the other speeding frantically for the -nearest hose house, headquarters of the Pole Star Volunteers. - -Ned, with Bob barking and leaping about him, fell in with the latter -current. Very soon, you may be sure, he arrived at the hose house. He -found a large throng of men and boys collected before the door. - -"Where's the key? They can't find the key!" he heard announced from -every side. - -The town marshal mounted the steps of the outside stairs, so that he -could look over the crowd. - -"Does any one know where the key is?" he bellowed, searching the faces -of the jostling mob which, brimming with excitement, was constantly -increasing. - -"Where's the key? Who knows where the key is?" echoed the people, to -each other, screaming the query as loud as they could. - -"I know--it's hanging behind the door in Fleischmann's grocery!" -volunteered a youngster of ten years, barefooted, in faded blue -overalls and dingy checked waist. And off he scurried, importance -showing in every flap of his overalls against his bare ankles. - -"It's in Fleischmann's grocery--the boy's gone to get it," volleyed a -chorus, to the marshal. - -"Here it comes!" was shouted, in a moment. "Let the lad through--you -fellows out there!" - -A dozen hands reached to grasp the urchin by the shirt and pull him -ahead. - -"Pass up the key," ordered the marshal. - -"But I ain't got it--it wasn't there," explained the boy, as rapidly as -he could. "They said they didn't have it any more!" - -"Sold it for old iron, I bet you," remarked a joker. His hearers -laughed, and as this hit at Fleischmann went from mouth to mouth -guffaws went, too. - -"Break in the door! Bust the padlock!" suggested a stout, white-aproned -man--Schmidt, the butcher. - -"Smash a window and climb in," suggested somebody else. - -"What good would _that_ do?" inquired Mr. Schmidt, scornfully. - -"Here's the key--here's the key!" arose the cry, and the throng eddied -and swirled as a man elbowed his path through to the door, and applied -a key to the lock. - -The crowd pressed forward when, with an impatient motion, the man -jerked open the padlock, and hurled aside the sliding door. So many -zealous helpers offered themselves that much confusion resulted. - -"Keep out! Keep out! Hang it all, give us room!" - -The mass upon the threshold separated violently to right and left, and -out from the dim, cool interior (smelling strongly of damp rubber) was -rolled the cart, guided by every person who could lay finger upon it. - -Ere it had fairly emerged additional hands fought for the privilege -of grasping the ropes attached to it. Shoved and buffeted and trod -upon, Ned squirmed into the thick of the struggle, and was rewarded by -feeling his fingers close upon a rope. But what was his position he did -not know. - -Now the cart burst away from the mob, and into the street. With a -whoop and a hurrah, clangor of gong and tooting of trumpet, up the -thoroughfare it trundled, drawn by two long lines of people--youth and -age yoked in a common cause. Those unlucky and envious people who, -owing to lack of space, were denied a place in the team, valiantly -formed a running escort. - -As it happened, Ned had been particularly favored when he had grabbed -the rope, for his place was just behind the leader. This leader was -"Sandy" Baxter, Beaufort's foot-racer. He headed the two lines, and set -the pace; next came Ned, on the right, and Tom Walker, the attorney, -on the left. Who followed, Ned did not have time to see. He had all he -could do to hold his own, and not prove a drag. However, hold it he -did, for he was the best runner among all the boys of his neighborhood, -and he had a reputation to sustain. - -Furthermore, plain in view, straight down the street, was that ominous -volume of smoke, ever swelling, like the terrible breath of a volcano. -Wasn't that enough to spur _any_ boy's legs? Certainly! - -"Sandy" seemed not to care whether or not his team-mates could keep up -with him. He started in at a tremendous gait, and he did not abate it -in the slightest. He had no mercy. The lumber yards were burning! - -Along the ropes short-winded persons began to fall out; some, grown -clumsy through their exertions, stumbled on the heels of their -file-leaders, thus promoting disorder and profanity. - -"Spurt her up! All together!" urged the marshal, amid the lines. - -"Hurroo! Hurroo!" responded his associates, with failing, husky voices. - -A loosened tire of the cart rattled loudly. - -"Clang!" sounded the rusty, cracked gong, at every turn of the wheels. - -"Bow wow! Wow, wow, wow!" yelped Bob and several other canine -enthusiasts, outstripping, now and then, the whole crew, and halting, -with lolling tongue, for it to catch up. - -The cart had been hauled, in this manner, three blocks, when on a -sudden an empty lumber-wagon dashed athwart its course, and came -sharply to a standstill. - -"Pass the ropes aboard, boys," commanded the marshal. "Quick!" - -The ropes were thrown into the wagon-box, were rudely fastened, the -marshal and "Sandy" Baxter clambered in to watch them. "All right!" -called a score of voices; the driver leaned forward from his seat and -lashed his steeds, and very nearly before the cart had stopped it was -once more upon its way, this time attached to the jolting, swaying -wagon drawn at a gallop by the heavy horses. - -The folk whose occupation had thus been taken from them pursued as best -they might. - -Ned, panting but determined, lustily labored on in the wake of the -cart, Bob loping beside him. The smoke cloud waxed larger and larger. -They could see an immense swarm of people collected apparently beneath -it, and could hear a medley, now faint, now quite distinct, of shouts -and cries. - -The Congregational church bell was ringing without stop--just as -if by this time all Beaufort was not thoroughly aroused and bound, -helter-skelter, for the scene! - -Five minutes more, and-- - -"Gee-_whiz_!" gasped Ned, transfixed with amazement. - -He had reached his goal. Immediately before him lay the lumber yards. -Over them rested that black canopy which had been visible from afar, -and which, from a-near, was seen to be licked by leaping flames. -The air was pungent with the odor of scorched pine. On this side -of the railroad tracks which skirted the yards, at the north, were -the onlookers; men, women and children--packing every vacant spot, -occupying every point of vantage. Beyond the tracks, among the very -piles, were the fire-fighters, like groups of pigmies attacking a -blaze-vomiting giant. - -Above the feverish cries of the spectators, above the hoarse shouts of -the firemen, sounded the crackle and roar of the conflagration. - -The entire district south of the tracks seemed doomed to be wiped out. -Here, in the Mosher yards, were thousands upon thousands of feet of -dry lumber. The fire fairly flew from pile to pile, and so intense was -the heat that the pitchy material appeared to break into flames all at -once, from within. - -East of the yards was the river; but west was that section of the town -known as South Beaufort, made up, mostly, of the homes of mill men and -railroad men. Fine opportunity did these houses, close together and -lightly constructed, offer to the fire! - -At the outset little wind had been blowing; but the fire was creating -a draft, forming a vortex into which poured the cool air in a regular -gale. Enormous cinders whirled high aloft, to stream down everywhere. -The whole town was endangered by them. - -"Here comes Hal," knocked Bob with his tail against his master's leg. - -"Hello, Bob," called Hal, who was making for them through the crowd. - -"Oh, Hal, isn't this awful!" greeted Ned. - -"I should say so!" replied Hal. "Let's climb up on top of those -box-cars, where we can see better." - -So they dodged over to some box-cars standing on the tracks which -branched northward, along the river, and secured seats from which they -had a view unobstructed by irritating heads and hats. Other persons had -preceded them, but there was plenty of room, and dangling their feet -down the end of a car they proceeded to watch and wait. Bob, after a -number of fruitless efforts to scale the side of the car, sat on the -ground and watched and waited, too. However, he was interested in the -two boys, more than in the fire. - -"There's just dray-load after dray-load of goods being hauled out of -South Beaufort," said Hal. "I was over a while. The people are scared, -I tell you!" - -"Let's go and help," suggested Ned, stung by the idea. - -"No use," responded Hal. "They can't get wagons enough, for love or -money, to take what stuff is scattered round, already." - -"Say--if the fire ever gets into South Beaufort, it will cross the -tracks, sure, and then--um-m-m!" exclaimed Ned, shaking his head. - -"Then the whole town will burn!" faltered Hal, his face paling. - -At this instant they perceived among the throng which they had just -left a bustle of excitement. Then came to their ears a cheer, and -another, and another; then a continuous uproar. - -Everybody upon the box-cars stood up to peer and wonder. - -"It's the fire department from Sundale! See! Hurrah! Hurrah!" shouted -Hal, swinging his hat. - -"Hurrah!" chimed in Ned, and all the others. - -Sundale was the neighboring village--a rival save in time of need like -this--two miles northward. Down the street, nearer and nearer, welcomed -by cheer after cheer, came the two carts, their plunging horses, -foam-flecked by their long run, exerting their last energy in one final -spurt; down, down, "clang! clang! clang!" straight through the living -lane and across the tracks. Hurrah! - -"Bully for Sundale!" cried Ned. - -"You bet!" agreed Hal; and none disputed. - -"I hope they'll do some good," he added. "But, oh, look at it now, will -you!" - -The sight was superb, but it was frightful. Even during the short time -that the boys had been on the car the fire had increased shockingly. It -did not seem to jump from the top of one pile to another, but it seemed -to devour entire piles at a gulp. Piles fifty, seventy, ninety feet -high disappeared in a twinkling. Their boards curled and withered like -leaves, as the fury of the fiery blast sucked them in. - -"What's the use of standing off and squirting at it!" grumbled Ned. -"They aren't stopping it!" - -"And they can't get close enough to reach it--and if they could the -water would turn to steam before it struck!" said Hal. "I--I guess I -ought to go home, Ned." - -He was almost crying, and his voice ended in a despairing little wail. -Ned, too, felt a queer thrill of helplessness; but he answered, stoutly: - -"Pshaw, Hal; they'll stop it some way. They must, you know." - -"But Chicago burned up, Ned," quavered Hal. "_You_ needn't go--your -house wouldn't burn until after ours. So you can stay, if you want to. -My mother is scared to death----" - -"Boom!" - -"Listen! What is that?" interrupted Ned. - -"Boom!" - -"They're blowing up the piles with dynamite!" asserted Ned, exultantly. -"There's another!" - -"Do you think that will help?" queried Hal, doubtfully. - -"Of course," assured Ned. "It's the only way. It will keep the fire -from spreading, and make it burn down low where they can put it out -with the hose. See? They're blowing up the piles on the South Beaufort -side. Then if they stop the fire from getting past the open space -they've got it! Who cares for the lumber, so long as the houses don't -catch! And it can't come this way, for the tracks are too wide, here, -and south of it they can blow up more piles and stop it." - -Ned's tones were so confident that Hal brightened, and said nothing -farther about leaving. - -Besides, new distractions occurred. Over the railroad bridge thundered -a locomotive, twitching behind it a single flat car, and whistling long -and shrill. - -"Hartville! It's from Hartville!" flew the report. - -"Hurrah for Hartville!" cheered the spectators, the thousand voices -drowning the shrieks of the proud engine. - -"Well," remarked Ned. "People in the other towns must think we're all -burned." - -"But isn't it fine in them to send help!" exclaimed Hal. - -"We'd do as much for them," responded Ned. - -Scarcely had the Hartville men arrived, when from up the river echoed -the deep, excited whistle of a steamboat. The crowd turned its faces -that way. - -"It's the ferry _Lady Rose_. She's bringing the Lynnton department!" -exclaimed Hal. - -Down swept the ferry, the black smoke streaming from her stacks -and trailing behind her in two tossing, ever-expanding plumes; her -side-wheels turning at a prodigious rate; and her deck alive with -people who answered cheer with cheer. - -The _Lady Rose_ effected a hasty landing just above the bridge, and her -passengers, fire-laddies and spectators, tumbled ashore. Then followed -two hose-carts; and right on the heels of the men from Hartville -followed the men from Lynnton, to help save the town. - -But although the assistance was welcome, now, at last, the tide had -been stemmed. A wide line of lumber piles had been leveled, cutting off -the flames in their mad career. A little wind set in from the west, -driving the fire back toward the river. With hope renewed the firemen -stubbornly stood their ground, arrayed between the angry blaze and the -homes cowering just beyond. - -And now the gallons of water being poured into the fire commenced to -have an effect. Coals sizzled and blackened. Embers smouldered and -died. Aided by the good wind, step by step the firemen advanced. - -The day was won. - -The fire lessened in volume; and seeing that the danger was past, the -people who had watched began to slip away. - -"Come on," said Ned, at last. "We might as well go. It's about over." - -They dropped off the car, and Bob, who had deemed the fire a very dull -affair (for a dog) welcomed them loudly. - -"My, I'm hungry!" declared Hal. "I wonder what time it is." - -Whereupon they found that it was half-past one; much after dinner time. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE BREAK-WATER ACCIDENT - - -Although it had been subdued, and was deprived of its fangs, the fire -continued to burn for several days. It burrowed deep into the sawdust, -and lurked amid the great masses of black rubbish where once had been -lumber and lath, as if loth to leave its mangled prey. - -The out-of-town firemen returned home that evening, but all that night, -and up to the middle of the next week, the Beaufort department kept -streams playing upon the smoking ruins. - -For a time these sorry-looking yards were regarded by Bob and Ned -and other Beaufort youth as a very entertaining place. It was fun to -explore the desolate area, and conjecture what had been on this spot, -and what on that. No small spice of danger, too, was offered by the -tempting, swaying run-ways and crumbling piles. But at length the -sport palled, and the Beaufort boys sought elsewhere for amusement and -occupation. - -In regard to occupation, Ned did not have to seek far. At his back -door-step were those eleven loads of wood. One Saturday had come and -gone, and scarcely an impression had been made upon the grim mountain -of slabs. This was the last week of school; another Saturday, and then -he must pile every day until he had performed his duty. That done he -would be free to do about as he pleased. - -Could wishing have availed, those slabs would have been in Halifax -very soon, consigned there by Ned. But of course Mr. Miller would have -promptly ordered eleven more loads, and since in Beaufort were several -lumber yards to draw upon, Ned's case, even were Halifax to aid him, -was hopeless. - -He did what any sensible boy would have done; he pitched into the wood, -working after school and all day Saturday, and by the opening of the -vacation he had dug a great cave in the flank of the mountain. Like the -majority of tasks, this one, when stoutly tackled, was not so big as it -had appeared. - -In regard to the amusement, this never could be lacking while the -river flowed past the town. The warm rains and sun of the spring had -taken the chill from the water, and had made it almost comfortable -for swimming, when down had rushed the freshet, with its icy flood of -melted snow, and had spoiled matters. Now the Mississippi was again at -its ordinary level, and under the influence of the summer weather was -rapidly assuming an agreeable temperature. - -By the wireless telegraphy of boyhood the news that there was "good -swimming" traversed Beaufort from end to end. - -Ned, who had been fuming all the spring because his father had refused -to let him go in until the water was warmer, and thus had deprived -him of the glory of being among the first, received the tidings with -rejoicing. Surely, June was not too early for bathing! - -Bob was more callous about the news. You see, already he had indulged -in a number of plunges, not to speak of the dive from the barn window; -therefore his enthusiasm had cooled. - -"Can't I go swimming now, father?" begged Ned, immediately upon hearing -the reports. "All the fellows have been in and they say the water is -just as warm as milk! If you'd only stick your hand in it you'd see, -yourself." - -"I haven't had much of a chance to 'stick my hand in it,' yet, -considering that my arm isn't four blocks long--and that is the nearest -I have been to the river, lately," replied Mr. Miller, laughing. "But -if 'all the fellows' say so, it must be true." - -"Hal's father has let _him_ go," argued Ned, eagerly. - -"I've nothing to do with Mr. Lucas's notions--nor have they anything to -do with me, Ned," responded Mr. Miller. "The Miller affairs give me all -that I can attend to. However, I guess, if you'll be careful and not -stay in too long, you can go ahead." - -"And don't get in where it's deep," cautioned Mrs. Miller. - -"Oh, pshaw, mother!" replied Ned. "Six feet is as bad as a mile--and -it's easier swimming where it's real deep, too." - -"Well, I hate to have you go," said his mother, stroking his hair. "You -promise to be very careful, won't you, and not bathe so often or stay -in so long that it makes you weak, or----" - -"Yes, mother. Don't you be afraid," he answered, giving her a hearty -hug. - -"And don't neglect that wood," suggested his father, with a twinkle in -his eye. - -"That's for mornings; I have my afternoons 'off,'" called back Ned, -capering out of the house. In a second he stuck his head in through a -window and cried: "I nearly forgot to say 'thank you,' father, didn't -I?" - -"I believe you did, Ned," assured his father; and Ned vanished. - -"I really don't see how it is possible that the water should be warm, -so soon," declared Mrs. Miller, anxiously, to her husband. - -"I, either," he replied, smiling. "But Ned can stand it if the other -boys can. It won't hurt him any." - -"I suppose not," assented Mrs. Miller, doubtfully. - -Well, to tell the fact, the water was _not_ especially warm, in spite -of what "all the fellows" had declared. It was as warm as milk--but -that must have referred to old milk, not fresh; perhaps milk which had -been in an ice-box. - -At least, so Ned thought, when gingerly he started to wade out, for -the first swim of the season. He stepped in, ankle-deep--and his toes -curled, and his knees shook, and with a hasty exclamation he sprang -back. - -"Oh, jump in all at once!" urged Hal. "'Tisn't cold; it's fine," and he -paddled around to show his perfect satisfaction. - -Ned was disappointed. When, on the way over in the boat, they had -dabbled with their fingers, to test, the water had seemed just right; -but now--ugh! - -He tried again, and waded manfully until in above his knees; here he -faltered. The other boys, who had been through the ordeal and were -happy, began to splash him with chilling drops, so that his naked body -shrank, and he shivered and begged. - -"I'm coming! I'm coming!" he chattered. "Only let me be, a minute." - -"Then wet over or we'll douse you!" threatened his persecutors, -menacing him, in a half-circle. - -"I will! I will! Quit! Don't you see I am?" implored Ned, wading a -little farther. "Gimme a chance to wet my head so I won't have cramp, -can't you?" - -He stopped, and raising water in his hands dabbled it upon his chest -and back and hair, trying to get used by degrees to the change. To his -fingers the goose-flesh on him felt like stubble! - -Bob, joining forces with the other scoffing spectators, raced along the -shallows of the beach, barking his derision. Great cats! what a silly -boy! _He_ had been in and out of the water a dozen times. - -Suddenly Ned drew a big breath, shut his eyes, and ducked under, -sousing himself completely. He emerged choking, staggering, gasping, -while his companions, tickled into spasms of merriment, wallowed and -shrieked. - -But Ned minded not; the worst was past. He boldly lunged ahead for a -swim, and the water was not a bit cold. - -Beaufort bathers had choice of three favorite resorts. First, there -were the rafts, brought down by the steamboats for the mills, and laid -up against the shore, waiting their turn to be sawed into lumber--and -slabs for Ned to pile! Sometimes their outer edge extended clear to the -channel, and to dive from here into the swift, dusky current thirty -feet in depth was tremendously exhilarating. When you came to the -surface you were fifteen or twenty yards below the point whence you had -started. - -At the lower end of the rafts was slack water, where you could swim -with no fear of being carried away. An especially good feature about -the rafts lay in the fact that the logs were nice and clean, and when -you dressed you did not get sand in your stockings. - -Second, there was the large sand-bar opposite the upper part of town. -In low water this bar was enormous, comprising several acres. Its foot -shelved rapidly, so that you could dive from the firm brink into six -feet of beautiful, still water. The bar reached up-river, it seemed -forever; and over the dry, fine sand, or splattering madly, with the -water only to your ankles (keeping, of course, a sharp lookout for -step-offs) and your flat soles sending the sparkling drops far and -wide, you could run around until tired. The sand-bar was the best -resort of the three. - -In very low water, it was possible to wade from it to the mainland on -the Beaufort side; and to swim to the other mainland was no trick at -all, if you knew the shortest route. - -Third, there was the sandy beach across the river. This was the place -most popular; for although the water here was not so sweet and fresh -as that of the rafts and bar, the beach was convenient, safe, and -available throughout the season. - -The rafts were not safe for the weak swimmer, because of the current; -at a normal stage of water the bar was a mere uncertain patch; but the -beach was always good-natured and ready. - -At present it was to the beach that Ned and his chums went. Off the -rafts the water was decidedly frigid; the sand-bar was just beginning -to show its face, covered with a thin coating of mud left by the -receding freshet--and how cold this water in the middle of the river -was! The beach now held open house for Beauforters, young and old. - -The boys went over every afternoon in Ned and Hal's scull-boat and in -skiffs. The entertainment afforded by the beach was endless. A quarter -of a mile above, a point of land jutted out, thus throwing the current -from the shore. In some places the beach sloped gently; in others it -pitched abruptly into the water. You could wade or you could dive, or -you could bravely launch yourself, paddle a short distance, and if you -had aimed exactly right you could then let yourself down upon a shoal, -with the water up to your neck, and the undertow tugging at your feet. -Or you could swim straight out until into the current, and turning upon -your back could deliciously float along as far as you deemed prudent, -with the sky over your face, and the shore passing in review in the -corner of an eye, and the saucy waves slapping at your nose. - -Between times, here was the soft, hot sand in which to roll and bask. - -Not to be omitted from the program were those times when a rafter, or -a stern-wheeler packet, ploughed up stream (the up-boats raised the -biggest swells), spreading in-shore long rollers and breakers whose -oncoming was rapturously awaited by the bevy of bathers. - -The beach resort was so well rummaged and understood, that rarely did a -tragedy occur at it, and had Ned and his crowd stayed strictly within -bounds they would not have met with this experience which is about to -be related. - -On an afternoon toward the last of June they were swimming at the -beach; two boat-loads of them--Ned and Hal and Bob, Frank Dalby, Sam -Dalrymple, Orrie Lukes, Tom Pearce, Phil Ruthers, Les Porter, and -others. They had been skylarking to their hearts' content; playing -tag, leap-frogging into the water, or diving slily and catching -an unsuspecting friend around the ankles. The scull-boat had been -capsized, and much sport was found in coming up under it, where was -air-space for breathing, and hooting for the benefit of the outsiders. -The packet _Pittsburg_, which had the reputation of making the highest -waves of any of the steamers save the rafter _Reindeer_, even had -surged by, leaving behind her swells and joy. - -All was peace and good humor, when a skiff was descried approaching. - -The boys glanced only carelessly at it, until Ned exclaimed: - -"Say! There comes the South Beaufort gang!" - -His words put a damper upon the frolicking. All gazed uneasily, and -fidgeted. The rough boys forming what was styled the "South Beaufort -gang" were their regular enemies. - -"Well, who cares?" demanded Tom Pearce, defiantly. - -"That's what I say," chimed in Les Porter. "They don't own the beach." - -"No; but they'll try to run us off," asserted Hal. "Those Sullivans are -always spoiling for a fight, and they don't fight fair, either." - -"They chaw raw beef on you, and paste mud at you," complained Orrie -Lukes, the smallest of the party. - -"Eight of them," remarked Sam Dalrymple, who had been counting. "The -two Sullivans, and the Conners, and Big Mike Farr, and I don't know -who else." - -"I tell you, fellows," suggested Ned; "we don't want any trouble--let's -go down to the breakwater and fool." - -The plan met with some grumbling from Tom and Les and other stubborn -spirits; but it won, and dumping their clothes into their skiff they -made a change of base, wading and swimming and towing their boats, the -scull-boat bottom up. - -The South Beaufort gang did not follow them, but, disembarking upon the -beach, went in swimming. - -The breakwater was a few rods down stream. It was a long, stout parapet -of heavy, square timbers laid end to end, bolted and braced. It -extended up from the bridge, parallel with the shore, for two hundred -yards, and was designed to aid the rafters in sliding their rafts -through; it held the rafts off from the shore. - -Behind it was water more or less shallow, and lukewarm from the sun. In -front of it was deep water, and considerable current. - -At the risk of getting numerous splinters some of the boys scaled the -breakwater by running up the braces planted against it in the rear, the -others amused themselves among the tiny bays and inlets formed between -it and the shore line. Bob, after vainly trying to follow Ned to the -top, decided that he would take a turn through the near-by woods. - -The breakwater was amply broad enough to give secure footing. The boys -lolled about upon it, the sunshine soaking them through and through, -and the novelty of their high position adding to the fun. - -"Come on; let's dive, all together," proposed Ned, briskly rousing to -action. - -"That's right--all together," seconded Tom. - -Nobody opposed, and the six of them stood in a row. - -"I'll count, and at 'three' down we go," said Ned. "Make ready----" - -"Sam and I are going to jump; because when we dive head-first we get -water up our nose," explained Phil Ruthers. - -"Aw, it's only eight or ten feet!" protested Hal. - -"Just the same, I'm not going to get water up _my_ nose," declared Sam, -irritated. - -"Make ready," warned Ned, again; and the boys poised for the plunge. - -"One--two--three!" cried Ned. - -With six splashes, almost like one, they struck the water and -disappeared, the four divers entering in regulation style, but Sam and -Phil upright, each with one hand closing tight his precious nose. - -In a moment heads bobbed, one after another, above the surface, their -owners shaking them vigorously and snorting and blowing, while lustily -swimming, hand over hand, for the breakwater. - -This the boys climbed from in front by sticking their toes into the -wide cracks between the lines of timbers, and by clinging to protruding -bolts. Once more on the top, they were resting, and chaffing when, in -a startled tone, Hal exclaimed: - -"Why--where's Tom?" - -Quite so; where was Tom? Six figures had left the breakwater, but only -five were upon it now! The boys looked at each other inquiringly. - -"Maybe he's with the other crowd," volunteered Sam, and peering over he -called down to ask. Tom wasn't there. - -"Perhaps he's hiding, to scare us," guessed Frank Dalby, weakly. - -"No--Tom wouldn't do that," asserted Ned; and the faces of the boys -grew pale. "He must be down there still!" leaning over and scanning the -placid current. "I bet he never came up! Where was he standing?" - -"He was right between Hal and me," excitedly said Phil. "Wasn't he, -Hal? And I stood here--just exactly, because I remember it by the -broken nut on this bolt." - -"Tom! Oh, Tom!" shouted Frank, hopelessly. - -No answer. The news had passed to the remainder of the bathers, below, -and a buzz of frightened talk arose. - -"I'm going after him," hurriedly announced Ned. "You fellows watch -close. I reached bottom easy before." - -"So did I, so did I! Let _me_ go! I'll go!" came an eager chorus. - -"I'm first," replied Ned, with dogged firmness. "Get out of the way, -Hal! If I find him you fellows can come down and help." - -Placing himself a little above where Tom had stood, he dived with all -his might. - -In a few kicks he brought up against the muddy bottom. Groping around -about him in the cold, rayless regions, he suffered the current to bear -him slowly along, now and then paddling enough to keep himself from -rising. - -He felt beneath him mud; nothing but mud; slimy, oozy, freezing -mud with clam-shells and sticks and rocks embedded in it. Then, on -a sudden, his hands felt something else--a smooth, not unfamiliar -object--it was a leg--it was Tom! Yes, Tom! - -Ned's heart made a great leap of joy. With Tom in his arms he shot -upward--it seemed an endless journey--and bursting, exhausted, but -exulting, reached the surface. - -The instant that he came in sight the boys--by this time the breakwater -held them all--who had been watching and waiting, saw at once his -burden, and swarmed to his rescue. They towed the unconscious Tom -through a gap in the timbers, and stretched him in the sun upon the hot -sand, and rubbed him, and rolled him, and worked so fiercely that in -fifteen minutes he showed signs of life, again. - -Another fifteen, and he moaned; at which Bob, who was much moved by the -proceedings, howled in sympathy. - -When he was able to sit up they bound his head, which was severely -cut, dressed him, after a fashion, and hurried him in the skiff to -town, Ned, as was fitting, happily nestling beside him, and the -scull-boat desperately following in their wake. - -A doctor sewed up Tom's scalp, and it is a question who was the -prouder--the boys of Ned, or Tom of his ten stitches. - -As for Ned, himself--he was not proud, precisely; rather, he was -thankful and satisfied. - -The only thing that occurred to mar his pleasure was the action of -Zulette--called Zu-zu--Tom's little sister. She found him sitting by -Tom's chair, that evening, on the Pearce front porch; and with an "Oh, -Ned! Aren't you brave!" she ran up to him, and left on his face two -tears and a kiss. Then she ran into the house, crying as hard as she -could cry. - -Ned wiped his cheek, and wished that she wouldn't behave so silly. To -be kissed by a girl--that was too much! And why was she crying, when -Tom was safe! - -After the merits of the various theories had been well argued, it was -generally accepted that Tom had received his cut by striking a sunken -pile. However, no one went down into the water to see. The accident put -an end to diving off the breakwater. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE CAMP AT DEEP CREEK - - -When, of the eleven loads of wood, about three were still unpiled, -Ned began to feel need of a change of air. It seemed to him that the -climate of Deep Creek, sixteen miles down the river, would be just the -thing for him. - -In short, he was stricken by his annual violent attack of the -camping-out-fever--a malady very popular during the summer, in Beaufort. - -Hal, too, was taken at the same time. The symptoms were a burning -desire to get away from town, and into the woods; to lie around in old -clothes, regardless of time, and free from all fuss; to amuse oneself -as one pleased; to be lazy; to be uncivilized and unwashed; to row a -boat, which is fun, instead of to pile wood, which is work. - -The two boys compared notes, and agreed, Bob voting "yea," that the -sooner they left, the better. Deep Creek appealed to both as the proper -locality; and Bob, it goes without comment, stood ready to follow them -any place. - -Hal, whose father was less strict as to chores than was Ned's, was -used to dropping into the Miller back yard, once in a while, mornings, -and giving Ned the comfort of company at the wood-pile. This lightened -Ned's labors, but it did not hasten them, for there were moments when -the talk grew so interesting that he forgot to keep the slabs moving. - -The camping-out fever now interfered seriously with the progress of the -piling. To make matters worse, these three remaining loads were the -most stubborn, closely packed loads conceivable. So stubborn were they, -that it was as if they grew each night, and thus made up what they had -lost during the day! - -Camping details all had been discussed and settled, and finally Hal, -who had been impatiently awaiting the last hour of the heap, said -boldly: - -"Why don't you ask your father to let you go anyway, Ned, and tell him -you'll pile the rest when you come home? It will have lots of time to -dry before winter!" - -"He won't, I know," replied Ned, sadly. - -"Oh, I bet he will," insisted Hal. "He doesn't care when the wood's -piled, if it's only dry in time." - -"Well, I'll ask him," sighed Ned. "But he won't, I know." - -He mustered his courage, and at the table that noon he hinted: - -"Tom Pearce and Joe Cluny and a lot of other fellows went camping this -morning." - -"Yes?" responded his father, politely. - -"I wish Hal and I could go," continued Ned. - -"But I thought you were going," remarked Mr. Miller. "I thought you had -arranged to go to Deep Creek." - -"I mean, I wish we could go right away, when fishing's good," explained -Ned, squirming in his chair. - -"What is hindering?" inquired his father, looking wondrous ignorant. - -"The wood," faltered Ned. Then he blurted: "Say--can't I finish it when -I come back? It's just a little bit." - -"Neddie!" reproved his mother. "The idea of addressing your father with -'say'!" - -"Oh! The wood still hangs on, does it?" asked his father, innocently. -"Well, Ned, since it is 'just a little bit' you can finish it up -to-morrow, I should think, and have it off your hands. Besides, don't -you remember that I told you the wood must be piled, first, and the -camping could follow?" - -"Y-y-yes," admitted Ned. - -"If Hal is in such a hurry," added his mother, "why don't you suggest -to him that he might help you out by piling, instead of hindering you -by talking?" - -Ned lapsed into silence. It was no use; the conversation had ended as -he had expected. He had only proved that he knew his father much better -than Hal did. - -Yet, although Hal had failed on one tack, it was he who really brought -the rescue, after all. When, within an hour, Ned reported to him the -failure of plans for a truce, Hal thought an instant, and suddenly said: - -"I tell you! I'll come down early to-morrow morning, and we'll jump -into that wood and not stop 'til it's finished!" - -And to their great relief and no doubt to the surprise of the wood, the -last slab had been laid in place before noon of the next day! - -They spent that afternoon collecting their camping outfit. - -This consisted of blankets and provisions, mainly, although Mrs. Miller -made Ned, to his disgust, take a few extra articles of clothes. Mothers -seem unable to grasp how little a boy needs, in that line, when camping -in summer! - -They gaily trundled a full wheelbarrow-load of stuff down to the -Diamond Jo warehouse; then they returned up-town to buy a lot of canned -goods, and coffee and sugar, with which to eke out the bread and -potatoes and onions, etc., furnished by the home larders. - -These store things also having been wheeled to the warehouse, nothing -now was left to do but to wait until morning. - -"Why, Ned--aren't you going to have a tent?" exclaimed his mother, -shocked. - -"Of course not!" snorted Ned, in disdain. "There's a shed we can go -under if it rains." - -Mrs. Miller, in dismay, broke the news to her husband, but he merely -laughed, and said, patting her shoulder: - -"It won't hurt them any. When they get enough they can come home." - -"It won't hurt them any," was a favorite remark of Mr. Miller's. He had -great faith in the happy-go-lucky ways of the average healthy boy, and -his theory rarely was at fault. - -But Mrs. Miller, not yet at ease, continued to hover around Ned, and -ask him other anxious questions which seemed to him very foolish, but -which to her seemed quite natural. - -"Neddie, I really don't believe you're going to have plenty to eat!" -she asserted. - -"With two trot-lines? My, yes!" assured Ned. "Why, we can live on just -fish!" - -His words had such a ring of confidence that his mother--although -"trot-lines" was a complete mystery to her--accepted them, and tried -not to worry. - -At half-past six the next morning Ned and Hal and Bob were at the -warehouse, waiting for the steamer _Harriett_. The _Harriett_ was a -daily packet between Beaufort and Rapids City, forty miles below, and -not only stopped at the towns between, but also would take on and put -off passengers at points, wherever requested, along the shores. - -At seven the _Harriett_ came down from North Beaufort, where she -was tied up at night, and thrust her nose upon the levee beside the -warehouse. The two boys and Bob gladly scampered aboard, over the -gangplank; the roustabouts carried on the two boxes containing the camp -stuff, and while its owners nervously watched, hauled the scull-boat -from the water, and stowed it, too, below deck. All the other freight -having been cleaned up, the _Harriett_ whistled for the bridge to open, -and at the same time backed out. - -At last the boys were off. - -Commodore Jones had just settled himself on his little platform, for a -morning smoke, and running up on the hurricane deck, they leaned out, -toward him, as they passed, and called: - -"Good-bye, Mr. Jones. Want any fish?" - -"Good-bye," he shouted, waving his pipe. "Yes; bring 'em--when you get -'em!" - -Through the draw sped the _Harriett_, and on past the Mosher Lumber -Mill (disfigured but busy), past Eagle Island (Bob not deigning a -glance at his old homeplace), and on, with a stop or so, until soon the -Deep Creek landing was right ahead. - -This landing was at a government light upon a small peninsular. A few -rods above, the Monga, a shallow but wide and swift stream, emptied -into the Mississippi, and to reach the Deep Creek grounds it was -necessary to cross. People who had no skiff with them signaled to Joe -and Sam, fishermen who lived beside the creek, to come and ferry them -over. Ned and Hal and Bob, however, had the scull-boat; and when they -and their traps and their craft had been dumped ashore, all at once, -and the _Harriett_ was fussily hurrying away, they lost no time in -loading up and pushing off. - -Now, Deep Creek was not truly a creek. It was a narrow slough, -extending parallel with the Mississippi, between an island and the -shore. It was a popular resort for fishing parties, and a number -of Beaufort men had erected a little cabin beside it, for use as a -club-house. - -Having passed the mouth of the Monga the boys entered the slough. Sam -and Joe, always upon the outlook for a job when the _Harriett_ was due, -were standing in front of their shanty, and opposite them Hal and Ned -rested on their oars, to ask: - -"How's fishing?" - -"Good," replied the brothers, together. - -"Anybody else down here?" queried Ned. - -Sam and Joe shook their heads, again together. They had this -peculiarity, possibly from being so much in each other's company, night -and day. One thought appeared to do for both, and when they spoke, or -laughed, or wagged their heads, they did so as one man! Considering -that they lived by themselves, summer and winter, in their shanty on -the bank of the slough, the wonder is, not that they grew to think -alike, but that they did not grow to _look_ alike, as well! - -Sam had red hair and red whiskers and a red, freckled skin; Joe had -iron-gray hair and whiskers, and a skin tanned deep as mahogany. Sam -was quick-tempered; Joe was easy-going. Both were reserved in manner -and chary of words. - -The boys proceeded up the slough a quarter of a mile, and landed. Here -they pitched their camp by tucking their boxes under a wild-grape arbor -at the water's edge, and sitting upon them. The sun was high, and the -thick shade of the arbor was an agreeable relief from the hot row along -the glassy bayou. - -"This is better than any tent," declared Ned. "Isn't it!" - -"Lots!" responded Hal, with enthusiasm. "Now let's set our trot-lines." - -"All right," agreed Ned. - -Bob took no part in this conversation. While yet the scull-boat -had been six feet from the bank he had leaped over the bows, and -half-swimming, half-wading, had scrambled ashore, to disappear in the -woods. Probably his doggy mind was bent upon discovering a nice camping -spot, in advance of his chums. But he must have missed the grape-arbor -and his chance, for here was the camp--and no Bob! - -Fumbling in one of the boxes Ned pulled out the trot-lines, rolled in -two big balls, and the bunch of hooks to be attached, and a large slab -of liver for bait. Then he and Hal started off again in the scull-boat. - -"Trot-lines" are long lines to which fish-hooks are hung, at near -intervals, by pieces of cord. Some trot-lines are strung with a hundred -or two hundred hooks. The boys' lines were only three hundred feet in -length, and they counted on hanging fifty hooks to each. The trot-lines -were the size of window-cord, or braided clothes-line, and had been -tarred so that they should not rot. - -Ned and Hal slowly sculled up the slough, keeping their eyes open for -good places at which to set out their lines. Presently they came to an -old raft--or, rather, but a portion of a raft--lying along the island -side of the bayou. It must have been in Deep Creek for years, because -the logs were green with mossy growth. It was a peaceful old raft, -dozing here, forgotten, with one edge high and dry among the island -brush, and the other edge well out into the slough. - -"Say--we can tie the lines to the raft!" proposed Ned, struck with the -idea. - -"I should smile!" assented Hal, slangily. - -"One above and one below," continued Ned. "Let's fix the upper one -first." - -As they skirted the outer logs, on ahead of them turtles, sunning -themselves, slid hastily into the water, and the route of the boat was -thus marked by a succession of splashes. - -The boys were nearing the head of the raft, when Ned stopped sculling, -and asked: - -"What's the matter with this?" - -"It's about right, I guess," replied Hal. "We can tie to that pin." - -"Well," said Ned, "I'll hold the boat steady, and you fix the line." - -He turned the boat in hard against a log from which jutted a stout -wooden pin almost touching the water. Hal, reaching over the bow, -securely tied the end of his line. Then with a shove he sent the boat -away, toward the middle of the slough, and Ned gently sculled until -they had gone at right angles about twenty yards, with the line -trailing between the boat and the raft. - -Now Hal deftly attached the first hook by its two feet of cord, baited -it with a bit of liver, and let it slide overboard. Three feet farther -along the line he fastened another hook; and in this manner they went -edging across the slough, until the fifty hooks had been tied on and -baited. - -The next step was to sink the line. Hal tied upon the free end two -heavy coupling links which had been stored in under the bows. Ned -sculled ahead, slightly up stream, to make allowance for the sluggish -current, until the line, with its dangling hooks and liver, was fairly -taut. - -"There she goes!" remarked Hal; with a clink the coupling links -disappeared beneath the surface, and the line followed. - -They were on their way to the foot of the raft, to set out their second -line, when a piercing howl from the main shore startled them. It was -Bob, lonesome, disgusted and impatient, demanding that they return to -land and to him. Where he had been, they did not know. But now he was -sitting at the water's brink, directly opposite them, and accusing them -of deserting him. - -"Bob, be quiet!" ordered Ned. - -However, Bob, hearing the voice, and judging that his howling was to be -in vain, decided that since they would not come to him he would go to -them; whereupon with a yelp of defiance he plunged into the slough, -and yapping at intervals laid a course for the boat. - -"Go back, Bob! Go back, sir!" cried Ned. - -"Let him come, Ned," pleaded Hal. "He won't do any harm." - -"He'll only eat the liver, if he has half a chance, and hang himself on -a hook!" exclaimed Ned. "Help me make him go back." - -Thus appealed to, Hal, understanding the situation, took sides with Ned -against Bob, and the two boys yelled commands, and splashed with the -oars. - -Bob, wavering in the face of such a hostile reception, hesitated, swam -in a circle, and finally sought the shore again. Here he contented -himself with parading up and down, and venting his feelings by short, -indignant barks. - -The second trot-line was put out, from a point near the foot of the -raft, by a method similar to that already told. Slanting athwart the -depths of the slough the two lines now extended, ready for business. -Satisfied, and also very hungry, the boys made for shore and the grape -arbor, where they were joyously welcomed by Bob. - -According to the height of the sun, as well as to their stomachs, -it was ripe noon, and time for dinner. By common consent, in their -outings, Hal, who had a knack in that direction, was the cook. It was -Ned's duty to provide the wood, and to attend to camp affairs generally -outside of the meals. - -Bob was watchman and sergeant-at-arms. - -"What will we have?" inquired Hal. - -"Oh, anything," answered Ned; "just so we have it quick!" - -"Bacon and potatoes, fried together," proffered the cook. - -And bacon and thin slices of potatoes, fried together in a skillet over -a brisk little fire of branches and driftwood, it was! - -"I tell you there's nothing like bacon!" sighed Ned, scraping his tin -plate. - -"And potatoes!" sighed Hal, also scraping. (Who says that cooking -spoils the appetite!) - -Bob, having gobbled his share, was trying to lick the hot skillet! - -"Do you know what we forgot?" exclaimed Ned, thunder-struck. "Coffee!" - -"But if I'd had to make coffee you'd have had to wait a lot longer -for dinner. It takes an age to boil water over a fire like that one," -explained Hal. - -"Well, bacon and potatoes and slough water are good enough--in a -hurry," admitted Ned. - -Bob cleaned the skillet and Ned the plates--the grease yielding before -a liberal rubbing with wet mud--and Hal, digging a hole at the water's -edge, buried the fruit-jar containing their supply of butter, so that -it should not melt too much. - -This precaution having been taken, and the camp tidied, Hal mused, -looking up toward the raft: - -"I wonder if we've caught any fish, yet." - -"It's too soon to go and see," replied Ned, wistfully. "About four -o'clock will be time enough to try. Let's visit Sam and Joe." - -"Come on," agreed Hal. - -They found the Morgan brothers at home, and apparently glad to receive -company. A large brindle dog was much less hospitable, and during -the boys' stay he and Bob kept up a constant exchange of sneers and -threats. In fact, a pitched battle was only narrowly avoided--partly -through the efforts of the Morgans, and partly because Bob would not -stir from between Ned's legs. - -The atmosphere about the shanty was quite fishy, and fish scales were -scattered everywhere. There also was another, much stronger odor, at -which the three newcomers wrinkled their noses in disgust. - -Joe was occupying a bench, puffing at his pipe; and sitting on a second -bench, with a board across his lap, Sam, likewise puffing, was cutting -into small square cakes what seemed to be a mass of dough. - -"Howdy," said the boys--Ned holding Bob by the collar. - -The two men nodded gravely, and Joe, removing his pipe to knock out the -ashes, remarked: - -"Got your lines set all right? See you fussin' 'long the logs a bit -ago." - -"Yes, we thought we'd try a couple, just for fun," responded Ned. "Do -you think the raft is a good place?" - -"W-w-well, I shouldn't wonder but what it is, for a short line," said -Joe, filling his pipe. - -"Will we get any fish, Joe?" queried Hal. - -"Mebbe," said Joe. "A few cats, like as not." - -"Say--what's Sam doing?" questioned Ned, sniffing and frowning. - -"He's--makin'--dough--balls," said Joe, between puffs of his freshly -lighted pipe. - -"Dough-balls!" repeated Hal, quite in the dark. - -"Yep," said Joe. "We take a lot o' cheese and let it lay outdoors 'til -it's real old an' then we mix it with flour, into a paste, an' when -it's good an' stiff we cut it into the right size for bait--like Sam's -doin' now. Them's dough-balls. Smell 'em?" - -"Smell 'em!" cried both boys together. - -"Well, the fish smell 'em, too," said Joe, tersely. - -"What you boys usin'?" inquired Sam, speaking for the first time since -their appearance. - -"Liver," stated Hal. - -"That's better 'n dough-balls, I reckon," grunted Sam. "But if you had -four or five hunderd hooks to keep baited, you'd right soon run out o' -liver, I bet." - -"You see, we've only fifty hooks on each line," explained Ned, -modestly. "When we haven't any liver we're going to use frogs, and -crawfish and things." - -"How often ought we to run the lines?" asked Hal. "Every four or five -hours?" - -"If you're a might to," replied Joe. "O' course, we run ours only -mornin' an' night, but it's kinder more of a job than _yours_ be! If -I was you I'd run 'em 'bout five o'clock, an' then 'long 'bout ten, -again, to bait 'em for the night, an' again arly in the mornin', an' -mebbe at noon." - -"That'll keep 'em baited in good shape," put in Sam, "an' you ought to -get fish if there's any 'round." - -"All right; much obliged," responded the boys. - -"In case you get more'n you can eat at one haul," offered Joe, kindly, -"there's a fish-box, down in the water near that stake, that we ain't -using, and you can have it so's to keep 'em alive, if you want to." - -"Sure; take it along," urged Sam. - -"I should say we _would_ like it! It's just the thing!" exclaimed the -boys, delighted. "Much obliged." - -They hung around for a short time, and then, haunted by that fish-box, -hastened back to camp--Bob growing braver and braver as they put -distance between them and the brindled dog--to bring down their boat -and get their prize. - -Upon their return, with Joe's help they loaded the water-soaked box, -dripping from every slat, into their craft, and gleefully made off with -it. - -Soon they had it sunk and anchored in front of their grape arbor. - -"I don't suppose it's more than three, yet," hinted Hal, when, -uncertain as to what to do next, to make time fly, they paused and -wiped their hands on their trousers-legs. - -"I suppose not," agreed Ned, noting the height of the sun. "But don't -let's wait till five, this time," he proposed. "Let's run the lines -now, just for the fun of it." - -Hal needed no persuasion. Leaving Bob to be watchman over the camp, -they pushed out again from shore. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TURTLES, FISH, FROGS AND SNAKES - - -Aiming for the foot of the old raft, from which the first of their two -trot-lines had been set out, Hal and Ned cut diagonally across the -bayou. - -Not a waft of air riffled the water; the sun was reflected from it as -from a looking-glass, right into their faces, and proceeded to turn -their complexions redder and redder. All around, the heads of curious -turtles dotted the surface, disappearing as the boat drew near, and -popping out again when it had passed. Here and there a hungry gar or -dog-fish leaped into sight for an instant, while numerous king-fishers, -brave in their blue and white, plumped down, with mighty splashes, for -minnows. - -The perspiration rolled from the face of Hal, who was at the -sculling-oar; dripped into his eyes, and dropped off the end of his -crimsoning nose. Yet doubtless he felt cooler than did Ned, who, idle -in the bows, simply was baking instead of boiling. - -However, neither cared. The weather figured little, and they were more -concerned over the immediate future than over the present. - -"I bet you we don't get a thing except dog-fish!" commented Hal, -discouragingly. - -"Oh, yes, we will," returned Ned, with more hope. "That is," he added, -"unless the turtles and gars rob the hooks as fast as we bait up." - -"Well, may be; Sam and Joe seemed to think we would, anyway," admitted -Hal, blowing the beads from the tip of his nose. - -They glided in against the raft, and Ned, reaching over, grasped the -line. - -"Feel anything?" queried Hal, eagerly, as Ned paused a moment. - -"Seems kind of like it," said Ned, fingering the line. "But perhaps -it's only the current jerking." - -He lifted the line and laid it across the bows; and squatting on the -combing, beside it, gently pulled the boat, hand over hand, toward the -first hook. - -"Nothing on that hook," remarked Hal, as presently the bit of cord by -which it was suspended rose, slack and lifeless, out from the water. -Then the hook itself dangled into view. No, it had nothing on it--not -even bait. - -As it came in-board Ned stuck a piece of liver on it and let it slide -out again. - -"Something's coming!" he cried, jubilantly, his hands pausing upon the -line. "I can feel it now, easy! See him jerk?" - -"Hurrah!" shouted Hal, excitedly, edging forward, to be ready to help. - -Hook two also was quite empty. - -"Looks as though the slough's having a good big feast of liver, -anyway!" commented Ned, baiting. - -"Hurry," urged Hal; for now the line just beyond was dipping and -surging, under the struggles of something on hook three. - -"Say--it's a turtle! A big soft-shell--I saw him!" exclaimed Ned. - -"Oh, shucks!" responded Hal, disgusted. "Yes, there he is!" as a stout -flapper darted up into sight and vanished again with a swirl. - -Soon the line bent sharply over the side of the boat, and in the water -under their eyes the boys could descry the sprawling disk of Mr. Turtle. - -"How will I get him _in_?" asked Ned, perplexed. - -"Why, lift him right out," answered Hal. - -Ned gingerly drew the prisoner to the surface, and then cried: - -"The hook's in his flapper! How do you suppose he ever got caught that -way?" - -"I don't know," replied Hal. "I guess he started to eat with his -fingers." - -"Or else he put his foot in his mouth, and got hooked that way," added -Ned. "Did you say to lift him right out?" - -"Sure," said Hal. - -"Supposing you do it," suggested Ned, eyeing the turtle, whose -flappers, armed with long claws, were striking in all directions as -their owner strove to get away. - -Hal thoughtfully surveyed the situation. - -"We ought to have a landing-net," he declared. "But put your hands -under the edge of his shell, and throw him in. He won't hurt you." - -"I'm not afraid of his biting me, but he scratches like fury. His claws -are about a mile long!" observed Ned, dubiously preparing to follow -Hal's advice. - -The turtle, for the moment, was quiet, possibly waiting for his -embarrassed captors to do something. Ned suddenly grabbed him by the -shell, and before he realized what was taking place had heaved him over -the gunwale, into the boat. - -The shock released the hook, which fell from the flapper, and now a -very angry turtle was at large in quarters altogether too restricted to -suit himself and two bare-legged youths. - -The turtle was about the size of a wash pan. He was of the common -sharp-nose, fresh-water variety, of a drabbish-gray, with a smooth -shell flexible like cartilage. His legs were tremendously powerful, and -with his long, snaky neck far extended, his eyes sparkling, and his -mouth wide open, hissing with all his might he made straight toward the -stern and at Hal. - -"Look out!" warned Ned. - -Narrowly escaping going overboard, Hal scrambled upon the combing, and -ran along it until he had joined the laughing Ned, in the bows. Here, -perched upon the decking which extended over this portion of the craft, -they were out of harm's way--that is, the turtle's. - -This individual, balked of a bite out of one of Hal's browned legs, -endeavored to climb up the side of the boat, but tumbled back time and -again. - -"I wish he'd go," complained Ned. "We aren't after turtles, to-day." - -"So do I," agreed Hal, ruefully wiggling a big toe, which he had -stubbed in his rapid flight. "We don't need him." - -"I got him in--you get him out," proposed Ned, shrewdly. - -"Well, either he gets out, or we do," declared Hal. And he tried to -assist the unwelcome captive by putting an oar-blade under him. Every -time, however, the turtle slid off, and meanwhile grew madder and -madder--if such a condition were possible. - -Hissing and clawing, he scurried over the bottom of the boat. - -Finally his turtle cunning led him to settle upon the stern as the -easiest point for escape; and never giving up he attacked the sloping -board again and again, only to fall back. Each time that the boys would -have boosted him with an oar-blade he turned and snapped, and appeared -so ungrateful that they were fain to leave him to his own efforts. - -At last he managed to insert the claws of a hind flapper into the -little space left by the oar in the sculling-hole, and then was enabled -to thrust one of his fore flappers over the edge of the stern. - -Up he went. For an instant he balanced on the stern, his four legs and -his stiff little tail, and his waving head all outstretched in air. - -"Scat!" called Ned. - -At the word Mr. Turtle disappeared with a fine splash. - -"Good!" exclaimed Hal, much relieved. - -"No more turtles come in _this_ boat, do they, Hal!" vowed Ned. "Better -to cut the line, and be rid of them." - -The boys now proceeded with their business--that of finding out what -else their hooks had in store for them. Although the turtle was off, -still the line swayed and sagged, denoting another catch a short -distance ahead. - -This proved to be on hook six. - -"It's nothing but a gar!" announced Ned, peering down as he neared the -spot. - -"Big one?" queried Hal, anxious for at least some consolation. - -"No--just ordinary size," said Ned, disdainfully. "What will we do with -him?" - -The gar was now lying on the surface of the water, beside the bows, -only occasionally giving a slight squirm. Maybe he was tired; or maybe, -as in the case of the turtle, he was waiting for an opportunity to do a -little damage. He was about three feet long, and with his slim, round -body, his wicked eyes, and his bill-like mouth armed with sharp teeth, -he looked fully capable of taking care of himself. The hook was firmly -embedded in the lower half of his long, bony snout. - -Ned cautiously extended his hand, to try to release the barb--and the -gar snapped viciously. - -"I don't believe we can get the hook out unless we kill him, and -there's no use doing that," asserted Ned. "He's too coarse to eat." - -"Fishermen break their bills, and throw them back again," informed Hal. - -"But that's torture; it makes them starve to death," replied Ned. - -"Can't you jerk out the hook?" asked Hal. - -Ned attempted this, by towing the gar back and forth, and pulling on -the hook at all angles. The fish submitted passively, and suddenly -appealed to Ned as so helpless and so unhappy that with a quick impulse -he severed the cord. With a flop of his tail the gar darted from sight. - -"Get!" advised Ned. - -He substituted another cord and hook, and both he and Hal felt relieved. - -Their mercy was rewarded, for when they had run the line a few yards -farther, they met with opposition in the shape of a dead weight which -caused Ned to exert considerable strength to lift. - -"Snag?" inquired Hal, anxiously, watching Ned raising the line inch by -inch. - -"Don't know," grunted Ned. - -"Just our luck!" groaned Hal. - -However, Hal was to be agreeably disappointed. The knot fastening the -cord to which was suspended the hook came into view--and on the instant -the water underneath it swirled violently. - -"It's a big cat! Come on, Hal, and grab him, or he'll tear out the -hook!" shouted Ned, wildly excited. - -Carefully he seized the cord, and gently, so as not to frighten the -fish, drew him alongside. - -"He's caught just through the edge of his lip! Watch out!" warned Ned. - -Hal, regardless of any peril to himself, leaned far over. The victim, -sluggish but far from sleepy, looked like a young whale. Hal boldly -thrust his fingers in behind the cat's gills, to haul him bodily over -the gunwale; there was a sudden gigantic flurry, a splash, and presto, -change! Instead of it being the cat in the boat, it was Hal in the -slough! - -Ned gazed in alarm; but before he could move to the rescue Hal's head -broke the surface a few yards off. - -"Here's an oar, Hal!" called Ned. - -"Uh-uh!" protested Hal, shaking his head while he blew the water from -his nostrils. "I'm all right. Did the fish get away?" - -"I guess so--no, he didn't, either!" announced Ned gladly. - -"I'll swim around to the other side of the boat, and you can be seeing -if you can't lift him in," declared Hal. "Don't _you_ tumble over, -too," he added, as a caution. - -The catfish seemed to be satisfied with what he had accomplished; and -still about in the same spot, made no sign of farther trickiness. - -However, Ned was very careful in approaching him. A moment, and the cat -came over the one gunwale as Hal came over the other. - -The hook, which had caught merely in one of the lips, where it had worn -quite a hole, dropped while Ned was lifting, and there lay the victim -in the bottom of the boat, free too late. - -"A regular 'yaller' mud-cat," laughed Ned. "Say--but we were lucky not -to lose him. If he'd only had sense enough he might have got loose long -ago." - -"I bet he weighs twenty pounds," declared the dripping Hal. - -"He's all mouth!" returned Ned. - -The boys gazed and gloated. The catfish, gasping in the sudden change -from water to air, lay, after the fashion of his kind, inert and -emotionless. - -He was a very ugly animal, of a dirty yellow, and while he was not -large for his species, he was the largest that the boys had ever -caught. Indeed, he was quite a chunk of a fish. He was shaped somewhat -like a flatiron; and, as Ned had remarked, he was about all mouth. - -This mouth, which in appearance was a split severing his enormous head -from side to side, was fringed with long feelers. His eyes, almost -white, were small and piggish. - -"Cut off his head, and there's nothing left but his tail," commented -Ned, ruefully awakening to the fact that perhaps they had not made much -of a catch, after all. - -"Well, he's better than turtles and gars," replied Hal. - -For the time being the capture of the prize had quite overshadowed -Hal's mishap; but now Ned eyed him, and snickered. - -"Did you touch bottom?" he queried. - -"No, sir-ee; I came up as quick as I could," avowed Hal. "Do I look -wet?" and he slapped his oozing thighs. - -"Sort of," admitted Ned. "Where's your hat?" - -"It must have kept on going down," answered Hal. "But I don't care. -No--there it is. I feel fine," he added, having rescued his hat with an -oar. "You ought to go in--it's great." - -"Guess I'll wait a while," smiled Ned. - -"Well, in half an hour I'll be as dry as you," asserted Hal. - -And he was. - -The catfish was too unwieldy to be put in the soap-box seat (which -they had upturned on bottom for a temporary hold-all), and stowing -him under the decking of the bows, out of the sun, they investigated -the remaining hooks upon the line. A large majority were stripped and -empty, but two channel-cat and one blue-cat were taken. None of these -weighed over six pounds; still, they were not seven-ninths head! No -more turtles or gars were encountered. - -The upper line yielded five catfish; another soft-shell turtle, caught, -as had been his partner in distress, by the flapper; and a dogfish. The -turtle released himself, much to the boys' pleasure; but the dogfish -did not. He had swallowed the hook, so that the cord passed through his -cruel jaws, armed with their wicked teeth, into his stomach. - -Unwilling to lose another hook, Ned solved the difficulty by quickly -dispatching Mr. Dogfish by a smart blow over the spinal cord at the -juncture of head and body, and made use of the otherwise worthless -fellow by baiting hooks with his flesh. - -Running the two lines had occupied at least two hours. As they turned -campward Hal and Ned were conscious that nature's dinner bell was -sounding in their interiors. - -Bob saw them coming. At first he was undecided whether to regard them -as friends, or enemies. When Ned shouted to him, however, his canine -sense told him that this was indeed the scull-boat, bearing his master; -and breaking from his puzzled stare into a volley of whines and barks, -he shortened the distance by venturing up to his back out into the -water. - -Then, when the boys sprang to land, he spattered them well for not -having invited him. But who cared? They were about as wet and dirty as -they could be, anyway! - -As they disembarked, Sam and Joe pulled out, below, with their short, -choppy fisherman strokes, bound for their own lines, which were not set -in the bayou, but in the deep water, toward the main channel. - -The boys waved at the pair, and Joe languidly waved back. - -Now it remained to place in the fish-box the haul from the trot-lines, -and to get supper. Hal volunteered to cook a fish if Ned would clean -one, but Ned decided that this would make a painful delay. - -He hastily started a fire of driftwood and branches, and until there -should be coals upon which to put the frying-pan, he strolled with Bob -back into the timber to look for more fuel. - -Presently, unable to stay long away from the base of supplies, he -returned to the camp. He had some news. - -"You just ought to see!" he reported to Hal, who was squatting before -the fire, frying potatoes and bacon together. "There's a sort of dried -swamp a little ways back in the woods, and it's simply alive with young -frogs. They'll make splendid bait." - -"Let's go and get a lot, after supper," said Hal. "I don't suppose the -liver will be any good by morning. And, besides, it's about all gone." - -Ned seated himself on the ground, and sniffed the air. Bob did the same. - -"Nearly ready?" they asked--the one with his voice, the other with his -dripping tongue, and glistening eyes, and nervous tail. - -"Hold your plate," commanded Hal. Ned eagerly obeyed; Bob, having no -plate, gazed covetously. Hal shoveled out a generous portion from the -hissing frying-pan, and saying: "Here, Bob," laid another portion upon -a slab of bark. The rest he kept. - -Each boy poured for himself, from the tin pail, a pint cup of coffee, -and all fell to. Bob went coffee-less--which no doubt was just as well, -considering that at home neither he nor his master drank any coffee, -let alone a pint cup full! - -Still, out camping one does many things which would not agree with one -at home. - -The coffee was very hot. The bacon and potatoes were very hot. Bob -circled his bark plate, with mingled anticipation and disgust; hunger -urged him on, while the memory of a certain burning mouthful held him -back. He suspected a trick. - -At last, valor overcoming discretion, he plunged ahead, and gobbled as -fast as he could, while his companions jeered. - -The supper having been cleared away--and save rinsing the utensils -there was no "clearing" to be done, after two hungry boys and a dog had -scraped and licked--a frog hunt was inaugurated. Protected now by shoes -and stockings, the boys, taking the willing Bob, proceeded to Ned's -swamp. - -The sun was setting, a ball of dull red in the golden west, and as the -three chums traversed the short patch lying between the dried marsh -and their arbor upon the bank of the slough, already the wild-wood -was growing dusky and subdued. Birds were darting to their homes, and -were twittering their good-nights. A whippoorwill began to pipe in the -island across the bayou. Mosquitoes rose from the under side of leaves, -and here and there moths flitted aimlessly. The mooing of cows, as they -were driven to the milking-place, floated in from distant pastures. - -"Here we are," announced Ned, pausing on the edge of a narrow open -strip. - -"Listen! What's that funny noise?" exclaimed Hal, stopping stock still. -Bob who had been soberly following at the boys' heels, also stopped. - -On the quiet atmosphere, almost from beneath their feet, rose a series -of shrill little squeaks--somehow the oddest sounds that the trio ever -had heard. - -"Isn't that funny!" whispered Ned. "What is it, do you think?" - -Hal didn't know. Bob didn't know. - -Carefully they peered about, through the vicinity, and found out. - -"Oh, Ned--it's a frog!" on a sudden called Hal. "Come quick, and see! -Two garter snakes have got hold of him!" - -Ned hastened over, and sure enough, there was a small frog in as tight -a fix as ever a small frog could be! Each hind leg was deep in the maw -of a garter snake; and now the two snakes, forced to suspend their -swallowing operations, were lustily pulling in opposite directions, -while his frogship, stretched between them, was shrieking for help. - -"Oh, pshaw! Let's rescue the poor thing," cried Ned; and suiting -his action to his word he struck one of the snakes a blow with a -switch that he had in his hand. Startled, the snake dropped the -frog--whereupon the other would have fled with the booty, had not Hal -halted him and made him disgorge. - -The frog, nothing daunted, hopped away. Bob turned himself his avenger. -Wrinkling back his lips, with utmost disgust he seized the first snake, -in its retreat, and gingerly clutching it between his teeth, while the -saliva dripped from his unwilling jaws, shook it frantically until it -fairly flew to pieces. The other snake, having for a moment bravely -faced Hal and menaced him with its tongue, disappeared. - -"Snakes?" spoke Ned, pointing. "Why, just look at them, will you!" - -That swamp was fairly swarming with them, all, like the boys, out after -frogs. A garter snake considers a young frog a dainty morsel, and some -of the snakes were quite lumpy, from the unlucky victims that they had -engulfed. - -"Well, if this doesn't beat the dickens!" declared Hal. - -Bob could not bring himself to mouthing another of the snakes. He would -pretend to pounce upon one, and would quickly spring away, his curling -lips indicating his disgust. - -Undaunted by the competition, the boys, urged on by the gathering -darkness, hastened to collect their frogs and put them in the coffee -pail! Bob was of not the slightest assistance. He loathed frogs as much -as he did snakes, and actually frothed at them, so intense were his -feelings. - -"What do you think!" exclaimed Hal, presently. "Here's a snake that had -swallowed a frog, and when I came up he was so scared that he opened -his mouth, and the frog scooted out again!" - -"Don't catch him," cried Ned, referring to the frog. "He's been dead -once, and now he's earned his life." - -So Hal allowed the resurrected frog to go his way, and it is to be -hoped that the garter snakes were as obliging. - -By the time the boys had secured some twenty-five or thirty of the tiny -green frogs, each about half an inch in length, twilight had deepened -into dusk, and trees and bushes were merged in shadows. - -With a few stumbles over vines and roots they retraced their steps -to the arbor. Then arose the question, where to keep the frogs, -considering that the pail would be needed for the breakfast coffee! - -The voices of men talking, and the snappy sound of oars shifting -between thole pins drifted from the mouth of the bayou. - -"Sam and Joe are just coming back. Let's go down and report, and see if -they haven't something we can borrow, to put the frogs in," proposed -Ned. - -So the three of them trudged along the bank, where a faint path had -been worn. It was presumed that Bob, of course, knew what was up. But -after they had gone far enough to indicate their goal, he suddenly -awakened to the fact that the route was leading to the brindled dog, -and refused to proceed farther. He sat on his tail, and pleaded with -his two comrades not to expose themselves to insults from that vulgar -fellow. As they refused to yield to him, he watched them until they -were out of sight, and followed them with his mournful howls. Then, -having done his duty, he returned to the grape arbor camp, and curled -to sleep on Ned's coat. - -Soon, even had they been blind to the flickering light, and deaf to the -muffled voices, by their noses alone the boys would have known that -they were near the fishermen's cabin. Sam and Joe were busy, with aid -of a lantern, at their landing. Evidently they had just disembarked. - -"Hullo, there!" hailed the boys. - -"Hey!" cheerily answered Joe. - -"Bow wow wow wow!" challenged the brindled dog--exactly as Bob had -predicted! - -Sam said nothing. Sam was not much of a talker. - -The boys scrambled down to the landing. Joe was in the stern of the -boat, handing out things to Sam, who was in the water beside it. Both -men had on their hip rubber boots. - -"What luck?" asked Hal. - -"Not much," replied Joe, without pausing in his operations. "What did -you boys get?" - -"Seven catfish," informed Ned, trying to make his tone matter-of-fact. - -"And two turtles and a gar and a dogfish," added Hal. - -"And two turtles, and a gar, and a dogfish, eh?" laughed Joe. "Well, I -reckon that without 'em you beat us. Fish out where we be are gettin' -'bout tired o' dough-balls; ain't that so, Sam?" - -Sam grunted; giving the fish-box in front of him a kick into deeper -water, he plashed to shore, and stumped up the slope to the cabin. Joe -followed. - -"Come in," he invited, over his shoulder. - -The boys entered. Sam was lighting a lamp in a bracket against the -wall. The cabin was small and close, with its two bunks, its stove -for cooking, and its walls hung with clothing and cooking and fishing -utensils and decorated with prints. The room was bedchamber, kitchen -and parlor, in one. - -"We can't stay, thank you," spoke Ned, fancying that the two fishermen -would want to attend to their own affairs. "Only, we caught a lot of -frogs for bait, and haven't anything to keep them in. Have you got an -old bucket, or some tin cans, we can have?" - -"Lot's of 'em," responded Joe. "Paw over that heap back of the shanty, -and take what you want." - -"Better have the lantern," advised Sam--speaking for the first time. - -With the brindled dog continuing to eye them as if suspecting that they -were stealing, Hal and Ned looked over the pile of refuse, and came -upon an old tin pail which suited their purpose. - -Having achieved this, and said good-night, they went back to camp, -through the darkness; and they tripped so often, and stepped on so many -rolling sticks, and stones, that they wished they had their own lantern -along. - -Upon hearing them approaching, the faithful Bob was in arms at once, -resolved to save the camp, or die; but upon being reassured by -Ned's whistle and call, he advanced and greeted them with his usual -wordiness, while he sniffed for traces of his down creek enemy. - -With nothing especial to do, immediately, the boys sat on the bank, to -wait. Now the woods behind and the water in front were black, and the -trees across on the other side were but a vague mass. A whole colony of -whippoorwills whistled from point to point incessantly, and two owls, -one distant, one quite near, hooted a responsive duet. Bob whined and -shivered, for the air was damp with the falling dew and the mist rising -from the water. Beyond, in the channel of the river, sounded the soft -exhaust of an ascending rafter. - -Despite the attentions of numerous mosquitoes, Ned felt himself growing -sleepy. - -"Wonder what time it is," he hazarded. - -"Must be nearly nine," said Hal. - -"Sam said to run the lines again about ten, didn't he?" inquired Ned. - -"Yes, about ten, and early in the morning," responded Hal, drowsily. - -Conversation languished; and after an interval of silence, punctuated -only by the spasmodic complaints of Bob, who was acting very babyish, -Ned spoke up: - -"Say--what's the matter with running the lines now, and not waiting -till ten. I'm pretty near asleep." - -"Let's. So am I," agreed Hal. - -They lighted their lantern, and taking the liver, the frogs and the -remains of the dogfish, tumbled into the scull-boat and pushed out. -Behind them, upon shore, stayed Bob, the disconsolate, who was growing -tired of always being "left." He was positive that he was missing much -fun. - -The Deep Creek of night was decidedly different from the Deep Creek of -day, just as the most open woods, in the light, are transformed into -regular labyrinths, in the dark. - -It was Ned's turn to scull. It seemed to both boys that they never -would reach the raft, so fast they appeared to glide, and yet so slow -they were in arriving. And all was so eerie--black slough, black woods, -black sky, and queer noises. - -"There's the raft, right ahead!" exclaimed Hal. - -Whereupon they bumped into it. - -The water, which was so playful as under the rays of the sun it lapped -the mossy old logs, now was sullen and chill. Hal swung the lantern -over, and speedily found the end of the trot-line. - -They were forced to run the lines by feeling rather than by sight, for -at best the beams of the lantern were shifty and uncertain. Either they -had come again too soon, or the fish had gone to sleep, or were gorged -with liver, for two medium-size catfish, one from each line, was the -total yield. - -The boys were a little disappointed. Out of the assortment of dainties -at hand having baited afresh the empty hooks, they sculled back to -camp, and Bob. - -With most of their clothing on, and their coats for pillows, they -rolled in their blankets, in the arbor, (Bob contentedly between them), -and not even the over-sociable mosquitoes could hold them awake for -more than five minutes and a quarter. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE GHOST OF THE INDIAN MOUNDS - - -The sun, from his station a little north of east, stared full into the -grape arbor sleeping room, and shone on Hal's still face. A fly hustled -in, and buzzed about Hal's nose. Hal frowned, and impatiently shook his -head; but unable to rid himself of sun or fly, opened his eyes. At the -same instant Ned, beside him, stirred and turned over, disturbing Bob, -who had been very comfortable. - -Both boys sat up and blinked. Bob stretched, shook himself, and -strolled out. - -"Say--we'd better get out and run those trot-lines!" yawned Ned. "We've -overslept." - -"I should think so!" yawned back Hal. - -"Do you know, when I woke, Bob was on my stomach. He must have been -there all night!" announced Ned. - -"He was keeping warm," explained Hal. - -"Well, he weighed about a ton," responded Ned, unwilling to make light -of it. "But then," he added, "he kept me warm, too." - -The boys yawningly staggered to the water's edge and made their toilet -in a tin basin, with the scull-boat for a wash-stand. Already the sun -was climbing high, and the gnats and flies and all the world of insect -and bird were awake. Sam and Joe could be descried at work on their -lines, far outside the mouth of the bayou. - -Only the three tenants of Camp Grape Arbor were sluggards! - -Of these Bob was the friskiest. Ned and Hal, while trying to be good -natured, still were very irritable. They were stiff and lame, and -spotted with mosquito bites. Their hands were painfully cracked from -water and dirt and the oar, and their faces, burned by the sun, felt -strangely leathery. Hal's nose was peeling, and Ned, who foolishly had -rolled up his sleeves, was the owner of a huge water blister half way -between left wrist and elbow. - -However, when they once more were in the boat, and had started for the -lines--Bob again remaining alone in camp, a state at which he never -failed to protest strongly--their spirits really rose, and they were -happy. - -"There's the _Harriett_!" said Ned, as the mellow whistle of a -steamboat signaling for a landing chimed in the distance, over the -water. - -"Then it must be about eight o'clock!" cried Hal, scandalized. "My! but -we're lazy!" - -And to atone for their late rising he dug valiantly with the sculling -oar. - -Their morning's haul consisted of five catfish, and, amid great -rejoicing, a fine pickerel, for their fish-box; a soft shell turtle, -who so easily released his own flapper, and swam off, that Ned -declared he was one of the two they had caught yesterday, and was -simply making his regular rounds; and a black bass, a mere minnow, -whose greediness had led him to take into his mouth more than he could -swallow. Him the boys let go, to grow. - -As on previous occasions, all the other hooks were as bare of bait as -of anything else, and Ned had to scrape together every scrap at hand to -rebait them. - -Upon their return to camp the hungry boys, with the ever-hungry Bob as -assistant, had breakfast. Breakfast consisted of--bacon and potatoes -and coffee. The critical Hal insisted that the coffee tasted "froggy"; -just the same, he drank it! - -For dinner they planned a much grander menu. But for the present, bacon -and potatoes filled a crying need. - -It was necessary to get more bait; and refreshed by their breakfast, -the boys, having tidied camp to the extent of hanging their blankets -upon some bushes in the sun to dry, went with Bob on another frog hunt. -They found frogs, but no snakes; evidently the evening was the snakes' -special hour for foraging. - -In their search they followed adown the little swamp which slanted in -toward the river. It grew wetter as they proceeded, and they were about -to leave it, when they heard a tremendous outburst of barks and growls -from Bob. - -"Here, Bob! We're coming, Bob, old fellow!" they called, running -helter-skelter to back him up, or scold him, whichever was proper. - -Bob was in a great dilemma. He had run across an immense -snapping-turtle, and did not know what to do with it. He was afraid to -close with it, and yet he was unwilling to flee from it, therefore he -had adopted the middle course of circling it at a respectful distance, -and abusing it in dog language. - -The turtle was a patriarch. His shell was thick and black and knobby, -and the skin of his neck and legs was thick and black and warty. His -claws were long and curving, and as with his head he slowly followed -Bob's antics, his deep-set eyes fairly flashed sparks, while he held -his formidable mouth half open, as if hankering for a bite out of one -of Bob's legs. How he hissed, with a hoarse, gaspy hiss! He was so -enraged that he filled the air with a musky odor. - -"Isn't he a whopper, though!" exclaimed Ned, grasping Bob, who, at the -arrival of reinforcements, had waxed altogether too fierce for safety. - -"I'd hate to have him get hold of _me_!" asserted Hal, poking at the -monster with a stick. The turtle seized the stick with such a grip that -he jerked it out of Hal's hands, and Mr. Hal involuntarily jumped back -a pace. - -"Well, I guess we aren't wanted here," remarked Ned, laughing. "Come -on, Bob." - -"Keep the stick," called back Hal, as, dragging the reluctant Bob, they -moved off, leaving the turtle, his jaws firmly clamped upon the piece -of wood, in possession of the field of battle. - -Having secured a supply of the hapless frogs, the boys took a short cut -to pay their respects to Sam and Joe. Bob, after pretending that he -was going back to have it out with the turtle, finally cooled down and -trotted along with them. But he could not be induced to approach the -shanty, and with an eye out for the brindled dog sat at a distance and -sorrowfully waited. - -Sam was on the muddy beach, mending the seine; Joe was moulding -dough-balls, on the bench in front of the cabin. - -"Good-morning," said the boys. - -"Mornin'," replied Joe. - -From the shady side of the shanty the brindled dog growled; from the -beach Sam nodded. - -"How's fishin'?" asked Joe. - -"Pretty good," answered Ned. "Only, we overslept." - -"Thought you did. Seen you weren't up when we went out, 'bout five -o'clock," said Joe. - -"Going to try the net?" inquired Hal, looking at Sam and his task. - -"Yes, thought we'd make a haul or two 'crost the river this afternoon," -informed Joe. "Ever see a big seine laid?" - -"I have," said Ned. - -"I haven't," said Hal. - -"Better come along, then," invited Joe. - -"All right--much obliged," responded Ned and Hal. "What time?" - -"Oh, some'ers after dinner toward the shank o' the afternoon," replied -Joe. "You watch, an' when you see us gettin' ready, you come down." - -With this in prospect the boys gleefully returned to camp, to run their -trot-lines and to have an early dinner. The running of the lines was -not especially a success, the haul being only two catfish; but the -dinner was a great success, being baked potatoes and fried pickerel, -pressed beef and coffee, and with dessert of toasted bread dipped in -canned blueberries. - -Before Sam and Joe showed signs of starting out, the boys had time to -fit up a stove, by digging a hole in the top of the bank, covering it -with a piece of sheet iron, and making an entrance at right angles, for -fuel and draft. - -It was quite a luxury to loll back, Ned against the mass of net heaped -upon the fish-box built into the broad stern, and Hal in the narrowing -bows, while Sam and Joe sped the boat across the ripply, sparkling -river. Soon the wordy, left-handed compliments being exchanged between -Bob, on guard at the grape arbor, and the brindled dog, on guard at -the shanty, died away in the distance, and the eastern shore of the -Mississippi came into plain view. - -The boat landed on a wide, shelving, sandy beach, over which rose a -line of bluffs. Hal piled ashore, followed by Sam, but Ned stayed in -the stern and offered to "pay out" the net. - -One end of the seine was passed to Sam, on shore; and then Joe slowly -pulled away in a great circle, the seine dropping, fold after fold, -into the water behind. Ned held himself ready to loosen any tangle; but -there were no tangles. The net had been coiled just right, and he was -not needed. - -It did not take long to lay the thousand foot net, and Joe managed so -well that when the circle, marked by its slender line of round corks, -was complete, the boat was at the shore just below its former landing -place. Weighted by lead at the bottom, and buoyed by corks at the top, -the net now hung straight down from the surface, and formed a meshy -wall. - -Sam and Joe began to haul in, evenly and swiftly, from one end. Yard -after yard the wet weave piled on the beach, and the circle gradually, -but none the less surely, lessened. - -"Looks like a water-haul," commented Joe to Sam, scanning the water -inside the circle for signs of prisoners. - -"Humph!" replied Sam. - -The line of corks was now short and near, and still there had been not -a single struggle to pass them. The surface stayed placid and smiling. - -"Humph!" again said Sam. - -The boys did not give up, but continued to gaze hopefully. It did not -seem possible that there was nothing in the net. - -However, such was the case. - -"Water-haul!" declared Joe, finally. - -"Humph," repeated Sam. - -"Pshaw!" exclaimed the boys, with disappointment, eyeing the empty -seine as it lay on the sand. - -"What do you mean by 'water-haul'?" queried Hal. - -"Water's all we got, ain't it, sonny?" responded Sam, sourly, throwing -the net by armfuls into the boat. - -"I reckon we don't try again till the moon changes," hinted Joe, with -a sly wink at Ned. But as Hal refused to be hoaxed into asking more -questions, after a slight pause he continued: - -"Sam an' me have got to go up to Newton for provisions an' stuff. You -boys can go or you can stay an' we'll take you in comin' back." - -Newton was a river hamlet about two miles above. - -"Better let 'em stay," advised Sam, whom the "water-haul" appeared to -have made very grumpy. "We've got enough to pull against the current, -without them in too." - -"We'll stay, of course," spoke Ned. - -"How long will you be gone?" inquired Hal. - -"Oh, jest for a spell," replied Joe. - -"Don't you forget us," said Ned. - -"Do you think they will?" asked Hal, growing nervous as he watched the -two fishermen row away. - -"Of course not!" assured Ned. "Say--I tell you what we'll do. Let's -climb the bluffs, and while we're exploring we can see Sam and Joe when -they're coming back." - -The river side of the bluffs had been cut away by running water until -in many places the bare limestone was exposed, to form perpendicular -cliffs. Between these cliffs were little gullies, thickly matted with -the wild strawberry, the wild morning glory, the violet, and a thousand -other woodland plants, all growing independent of man. Graceful and -stately, against the gray walls rose and drooped the rock honeysuckle. - -Eager to reach the crest, the boys scaled from foothold to foothold, -and hot and breathless, speedily emerged upon the top. Here they stood -and looked down upon the bird's-eye view of land and water. - -At their feet was the beach, much reduced in size, where they had -witnessed the "water-haul." North and south stretched the river, a -broad ribbon of blue emblazoned with silver, and rent here and there by -islands. Beyond, directly opposite them, was the mouth of the Monga, -just above which, they knew, was the shanty and the brindled dog, and -still farther above, the grape arbor and Bob. - -On the hither side of the river Sam and Joe were plainly visible, -making their way, in their skiff, along the shore line, where the -shallows reduced the force of the current. - -"My, but this is pretty, isn't it!" sighed Hal. - -"I should say so!" agreed Ned. "I don't blame the Indians any for -hating the white men who made them give it up." - -The two boys strolled along the crest, sparsely wooded with sentinel -oaks, and covered with short turf which furnished forage for a few -horses. - -They had not gone far when they came upon quite a hole or pit, -extending down through the black forest loam into the yellow clay -beneath. - -"Why was this dug, do you suppose?" remarked Hal. - -"I don't know," said Ned, gazing into it, and pondering. - -"There's another," cried Hal, pointing ahead. - -So there was, and still another was visible, farther on. - -"I tell you--these are Indian mounds, and people have been opening them -to see what's inside," exclaimed Ned, positively. - -"But I don't see much 'mound' about them," objected Hal. - -However, a series of gentle little rises could be made out, each with -its blunt top laid open, and its sides disfigured by heaps of dirt. - -"What do they find in them?" asked Hal. - -"Oh, skeletons, and arrow-heads, and things," informed Ned. "But you -have to dig good and deep; twenty feet, I guess." - -The boys scanned with a thrill of awe these relics of a passed people -who loved thus to inter their chiefs on some lofty outlook, commanding -wood and stream. - -"It must have been mighty long ago," mused Hal. "Here's a stump of a -tree that grew right out of the middle of one." - -He fell to work counting the rings. - -"Two hundred and sixty!" he announced. - -"Gee!" blurted Ned. "Come on," he proposed, after a moment which both -required in order fully to grasp the message of the stump. "Let's poke -around inside of one, and perhaps we'll find some arrow-heads and -stuff." - -He picked up a stout piece of branch, with a sharp end, and slid down -into the first pit; Hal, similarly equipped, slid after. - -The boys wielded their sticks well, but no trophies resulted. Evidently -the mound had been well cleaned out, and nothing missed. They proceeded -to the next, and the next. Time sped more rapidly than they were aware -of. Suddenly Ned straightened up, in the third mound, and exclaimed: - -"Say, Hal, do you know it's getting dark?" - -They hastily scrambled out of the hole. Not only was the sun low, but -it was cloaked by a mass of dense, black cloud unfolding swiftly toward -the zenith. An ominous growl of thunder rolled up the sky. Birds were -twittering uneasily, and the slight breeze had died entirely away. - -"Great Cæsar!" cried Hal. "I bet Sam and Joe have gone by, and we -haven't seen them!" - -"No, they wouldn't do that. They'd look for us, and yell!" assured Ned, -stanchly. "But we're going to have a big thunder-storm, that's sure." - -"I wish they'd come," murmured Hal, plaintively. - -"Maybe they'll wait until after the storm," responded Ned. "Anyway, -we've got to find some place where we can keep kind of dry, and watch -the river, too." - -"Don't you remember that cave we saw when we were climbing up?" asked -Hal, struck with an idea. "What's the matter with that?" - -Nothing was the matter with it. It was a cavity worn out under a -jutting slab of limestone--much as though the sloping ground had fallen -away at this point. There was plenty of room to sit upright, for some -distance back in it. - -A short time the boys sat on their roof, so to speak, and hung their -legs over the edge of the slab, while they noted the approach of the -storm. Swiftly the cloud marched onward, foot by foot blotting out the -blue. Vivid lightning played through the billows of heavy vapor, and -the thunder pealed and mumbled. - -Nearer came the devouring line of black. Birds were flying for shelter. -A fresh breeze sprang up, blowing toward the advancing giant, as if he -were sucking in the air. The river, upon which appeared not a sign of -Sam and Joe, changed from silver to dull lead frosted by a multitude of -white-caps. - -"It's pretty grand, isn't it!" commented Ned, struck with the majesty -of the storm, and with the novelty of their plight. - -"Y-yes," replied Hal; who, nevertheless, preferred to look upon the -scene, however grand, from the neighborhood of some convenient house. - -Until the very last moment they sat here; then, with the first -spattering drops of rain, they dived for shelter. With flare of -lightning, and crackle of thunder, and roar of wind, the rain descended -in torrents; but only a whiff of spray now and then reached the boys, -tucked in the farthermost recess of their cave. - -It seemed as though the rain never would abate, for as often as it -slackened, and the boys took hope, so often it was sure to be swelled -by a gust of reinforcements. But finally it died to a drizzle, and Ned -made bold to slip out and take a survey. - -The storm was over, practically, but the dusk of evening was settling -down in earnest. - -"Who-oo-oo-oo-ee-ee!" shouted Ned, thinking that perhaps Sam and Joe -might be within hearing, although he did not see any skiff. - -No answer. - -Hal came out, and joined him in another call, which brought no response -but the echoes. Oppressed by the dampness and the rapidly waxing gloom, -the boys felt a strange desolation. - -"I wonder how Bob liked the storm," spoke Ned, trying to be cheerful. -"He must have been scared!" - -"And all our things are just sopping! We left our blankets out to dry, -you know," mourned Hal. - -"Say!" on the instant exclaimed Ned, fumbling in his pockets. "Do you -know, I left my knife up there by one of those holes!" - -"Oh, you can't find it, now," objected Hal, who somehow did not fancy -being deserted, even for a moment, in this weird spot. - -"Yes, I can," flung back Ned, scrambling up the wet slope, and anon -slipping and stumbling. "It's by the second hole, where I sharpened my -stick." - -Ned gained the crest at the same point where he and Hal had come out -when they had climbed before. It was very still, up here; only the -drip, drip, from the trees, and the soughing of the wind, breaking the -quiet. It also was much darker and lonesomer than he had expected it -would be, but he bravely trudged forward along the edge of the bluff -toward the old mounds. - -He started to whistle, but his "Marching Through Georgia" came to an -abrupt stop right in the middle of the first chorus. What uncanny, -harrowing sound was that? He halted, with one foot upraised, and peered -ahead. - -He was nearing the first of the opened mounds, when rising apparently -out of the second he descried a dim, white Thing, spectral, wavering, -menacing him with a series of ghastly noises. - -The goose-flesh sprang out all over Ned's body, as if he had been in -swimming too long, a weakness seized on his knees, and he imagined that -his hair was rising under his battered felt hat. - -It occurred to him that, rightfully enough, the Indians did not approve -of having their remains, which had slumbered through two centuries and -a half, exposed by means of spades and crooked sticks in the hands of -the pale-face. And having cautiously retreated backward, step by step, -suddenly he turned and bolted as hard as he could run! He didn't want -his jack-knife. - -Guided through the blackness more by guesswork than by sight, over the -edge of the bluff he plunged, and fell, rather than ran, to the cave -and the arms of Hal. - -Hal had heard him coming, and received him with concern. - -"What's the matter, what's the matter?" he demanded. - -"There--there's something white and funny in one of the mounds!" -panted Ned. "When it saw me coming it made a noise at me--a regular -ghost-noise--and--and I lit out." - -"Aw, shucks!" scoffed Hal. - -"Well, you go up with me, and I'll show you," declared Ned, indignant. -"Those mounds are graves, you know." - -Up he went, again, Hal readily accompanying. - -"Listen!" whispered Ned, clutching him by the coat sleeve, when they -had reached the top. - -Those same dreadful sounds were being borne to them, amid the wailing -of the night wind. - -Hal caught him by the hand. - -"Sh!" cautioned Ned; and they softly stole forward, their heart in -their mouth. - -Yes, the white Thing was there, just as Ned had predicted. They didn't -go very near. - -Hal gave back a yard, and so did Ned. They were poised, all prepared to -run like deer if a hostile movement was made against them, when from -the beach below arose to them a strenuous yodling: - -"Oooo-dle--loo-dle--loo-dle--loo-dle!" - -Sam and Joe! The call broke the spell. - -"Oooo-dle--loo-dle--loo-dle--loo-dle!" yodled the boys, fleeing as they -shouted. Never had signal been so welcome. - -"Thought we'd left you here for good, didn't you?" queried Joe, when, -having been piloted by shouts and a waving lantern the boys, stumbling, -slipping, leaping, brought up beside the skiff, at the water's edge. - -"Say----" hailed Ned, with scant ceremony, "there's some Indian graves -up on the bluff, dug open, and now it's dark there's a big white thing -in one of them, and we don't know what it is." - -"It made an awful noise at us, and we think it's a ghost," added Hal. - -"Wa-al, I'd like to look at it," drawled Joe. "I never seen a ghost. -Want to take a squint at it, Sam?" - -"Naw," replied Sam. "I wouldn't climb them bluffs for ten thousand -ghosts!" - -Joe, lantern in hand, strode to the foot of the bluff. - -"If it's the genu-ine article, throw it down, an' I'll pass jedgment -on it," called Sam, after him. "A hundred foot drop won't hurt a real -ghost any, I reckon." - -With Hal and Ned close at his heels Joe ascended the steep slope, and -at the top, warned by the two boys, paused to listen. - -"There," whispered his companions, breathlessly, as upon the thick air -floated the mysterious sounds. - -"By gorry, the _noises_ are genu-ine, all right," muttered Joe, -astonished, and making in the direction whence they seemed to come. - -"Perhaps the lantern will put it out, so he won't see it," whispered -Hal to Ned, vaguely suspicious that ghosts cannot stand the light. - -"Sh!" bade Ned. - -However, the white thing was in the same position as when they last had -seen it. Joe never paused, but walked right ahead, and boldly swung his -lantern forward, reckless of consequences. - -The boys, hard behind him, fully expected to behold some unearthly, -awesome shape exposed to view. - -With a shock, partly of relief, partly of disappointment, they found -themselves gazing upon the protruding eyes, inquiring ears, kindly -face, and flowing main and forelock, of a white horse, while from his -nostrils issued strange snorts of appeal and alarm. - -Only his head was visible above the mound. The remainder of him was -inside. - -"Oh, gee!" exclaimed both boys, in chagrin, wishing that they, instead -of the horse, were in the hole--and out of sight. - -Joe doubled over in a fit of laughter that caused him fairly to shake -and wobble on his feet. - -"Whoopee! Whoopee!" he gasped. "Nothin' but an old white hoss, got -stuck in a hole. Or mebbe it's the hoss the Injun used to ride, and -had buried with him, and it's his night to come out. P'raps to-morrer -night'll be the Injun's turn." - -"It--it looked like a ghost," faltered Hal. Ned was tongue-tied in his -shame. - -"Git out o' here!" urged Joe, circling the animal, and smiting him -suddenly on the flank. - -Under this sudden spur, with a grunt, a heave, and a volley of loud -snorts, the horse, awakening from his silly lapse into helplessness, -all at once plunged and reared, and was at last again on hard ground. -Forthwith he began to graze. - -"Now there's room for the Injun to pop out, when he wants to," chuckled -Joe. "Come on, you ghost-finders, so he won't be afraid." - -And, followed meekly by Hal and Ned, he returned to the boat. - -Oh, how Sam jeered! - -He and Joe never forgot. And thereafter, whenever they chanced upon -Hal or Ned they would be sure to ask, slyly: - -"Seen any ghosts lately?" - -As if to atone for his past ill-nature, as they pulled in at the shanty -landing, Sam--who really had a very kind heart--said, gruffly: - -"You kids had better stop for a snack with us. Steak an' taters is all -we got, but that grape-arbor camp o' yourn must be nigh drowned." - -The boys, with some misgivings lest Bob should find out, and feel hurt, -accepted the invitation; and Hal frankly yielded the palm to Sam as a -cook. - -This seemed to tickle Sam more than anything else. - -"Wa-al, I do know how to cook, a bit," he granted, "seein' as I've -cooked for Joe an' me for twenty odd year." - -Carrying a bone which Sam sent, with his compliments, to "the dog," -finally they arrived at their camp. Bob wanted to know where on earth -they had been so long--but was hushed, in the midst of his noisy -remarks, by the bone. - -The camp, as Sam had predicted, was "drowned." Nevertheless, the sun -would repair all damage, inasmuch as the bread, the tenderest article -of food in their cupboard, fortunately had escaped the wetting. - -Before a huge bonfire the boys partially dried their blankets, and then -retired to the near-by horse-shed to sleep. - -Ere the mosquitoes had fully found them they were beyond annoyance, and -roundly snoring, while about their heads the little wood mice -rustled through the straw. - -Not until morning did it occur to them that they had not found the -missing knife! - -[Illustration: THE GHOST OF THE INDIAN MOUNDS.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE COUNTY FAIR - - -The boys stayed at Rock Creek ten days. At last they were completely -out of bait; the little marsh had been scoured clean of frogs, and even -the snakes had deserted it; every stone and log had been overturned, -for crawfish; they had been driven to bacon-rind, which was too hard, -and to dogfish flesh, pressed beef, and bits of bread tied in mosquito -netting, all of which were too soft. Their provisions were reduced to -a few beans and a can of peaches, and the fish in the fish-box. Their -clothing was much the worse for hard service; so were their faces and -hands. - -They decided, suddenly, to go home. - -Thereupon, one morning they ran their faithful trot-lines for the -last time; took them up, not without regrets; ate an early dinner, -principally of beans and canned peaches; and by noon had their camp -broken, which was an easy matter, considering that their blankets and -their cooking utensils were about all the outfit that had survived. -They cleaned for market the forty fish, mostly cats, imprisoned in -their fish-box, and packed them in an old cask, with a chunk of -ice, donated by Sam and Joe, on the top under a piece of canvas. -At half-past six they were sculling to the government light on the -peninsula, with Sam and Joe waving farewell from in front of the -shanty, and with Bob, in the stern of the boat, defiantly barking back -across the water at the brindled dog, and telling him what he (Bob) -would have done had he (Bob) remained only a day longer. - -Soon the _Harriett_ hove in sight around the bend below, and swinging -in at their bandanna handkerchief signal, stopped for them to hustle -aboard. - -By eight o'clock they were at Beaufort, and had astonished Commodore -Jones by lugging their cask of fish upon his quarter-deck--that is, his -fish-market platform--and demanding payment. - -As a result of the bargain, they came out gainers fifty cents each, -over and above their passage money both ways on the _Harriett_! - -The first half of the long vacation was now gone, and what with -swimming and baseball and short jaunts after sunfish and croppies, -and other amusements furnished by field and river, the last half also -quickly passed. - -As a glorious wind-up to the Beaufort youths' summer of fun, with the -closing week of vacation came the county fair. This was an annual -event, and was held on grounds maintained for the purpose upon the -outskirts of the town; and year to year Beaufort people, old as well as -young, looked forward to it with much interest. - -Ned went, of course. And this year Bob went, too. It was his burning -ambition to go everywhere that Ned did; and in the case of school and -church, this created some embarrassment. - -Considering that probably it was his first fair, and that there were -numerous temptations in the shape of fat pigs with ears delicious -to bite, and cows and sheep just prime to be chased, and countless -farmers' dogs ripe to be taught town manners, he behaved very well -indeed. - -He and Ned covered the entire exhibition. They did not miss a single -item, although there were a number of things for which they did not -care a bit. They inspected the live-stock pens (where the pigs and -cattle nearly drove Bob to distraction); they traversed machinery -hall, and poultry hall, and all the other halls; and in particular -they explored the hall of arts. Here, worming their way through the -crowd they gazed with watering mouth--at least, Ned's mouth watered, -and Bob's still dripped in memory of the porkine ears elsewhere--upon -strained honey, and rich cheeses, and jellies and preserves and cakes -and doughnuts and cookies and other marvels into which ambitious -good-wives had put their whole hearts. Ned sought this building several -times; he had vague hopes that in some way he might encounter the -judging committee, and be invited to help "taste." - -A close second in interest to this display was that of floral hall, -where the flowers themselves were rivaled in hues by apples and -peaches and plums and cherries and pears and grapes, in luscious -pyramids. - -These two halls were extraordinary places for getting up an appetite! - -However, one did not need to depend upon the stock pens and the various -"halls" for one's entertainment. Outside there was endless variety, and -the air was constantly athrill with excitement. All day a throng of -shows in tents did a loud and urgent business, inviting the people far -and near by banjo and gong and word of mouth to come in and see snakes -and wild men and bearded women and giants and dwarfs, and the like, -whose wondrous figures were outlined in gay colors upon the canvas -without. These shows formed a long street, lined with the pictured -marvels, and alive with shouts of: - -"Hi yi yi yi! Walk in, walk in! Great free show, only ten cents, half a -dime!" - -"Right this way! Everybody! Come everybody! Biggest show for the money -in the world!" - -"Stop! Stop! Stop! Don't miss it! We are the people! A whole circus for -only ten cents!" - -Every morning there was a parade around the race track of prize-winning -animals, where horses pranced, bulls roared defiantly, and donkeys -brayed and kicked. - -Every afternoon at one o'clock there was a balloon ascension; and at -two o'clock began trotting and running races. - -Not to miss anything on the fair grounds kept a boy and dog hustling, -although they went every day--which they didn't. Still, by virtue of -the addition to his funds of that fifty cents fish money, Ned managed -to go oftener than in any previous year. - -Most fascinating was the balloon ascension. All through the morning -the balloon lay, a mass of inert, dirty, rubbery cloth, on the ground -at the spot whence the ascent was to be made. It always was surrounded -by curious people, who looked upon it with awe, but who were kept from -fingering it by a rope staked about it. - -A little after twelve the program of filling it with gas began. Slowly -the dull heap inflated, until no longer was it inert; it swayed and -struggled, instinct with life. - -The aeronaut, arrayed in tights of pink, with a spangled sash about -his waist, came out from a little tent, and while all eyes scanned -him admiringly, inspected the progress of the work. He was a slender, -alert man, with a tawny moustache, and keen glance. Finally the balloon -towered like a gigantic pear over the heads of the throng, and strained -to be free. It was held by a single rope, passing over the top, one end -tied to a stout stick and the other held by sturdy assistants. The rope -made a crease in the bulging, puffy dome. - -Suddenly the aeronaut, having tested certain fastenings and knots, -commanded sharply: - -"Let go!" - -The persons holding the rope released it. It slipped over the top. Amid -shrill cheers and the hum of voices the balloon darted upward, dragging -after it a trapeze, and there, below the trapeze, was the aeronaut, -hanging by a slender cord. Up the cord he nimbly climbed, like a -monkey, and sitting upon the bar of the trapeze, while the balloon -continued its dizzy flight, kissed his hand to the gazing multitude -beneath. Then he performed a number of acrobatic feats, and later lit -somewhere, balloon and all, to appear and repeat the program the next -day. - -Ned wondered how it felt. He was soon to find out. - -From the first he had simply burned to catch hold of the rope, and help -keep the balloon down. But other boys who had volunteered had been -roughly rejected by the aeronaut, so Ned could only push as near as -possible, and be all ready. - -It was the closing day of the fair, and the last of the ascensions was -about to occur. The balloon was filled and buoyant, and a fresh breeze -was causing it to tug unusually at the one rope. The men holding the -rope down were almost lifted, at times, off their feet. It was a tug of -war between the balloon and them, and the balloon seemed likely to have -the best of it. - -"Here, you people; some of you give us a hand on that rope, will you?" -appealed the aeronaut. - -At least half a score--many more than were needed--sprang over into -the enclosure; among them were Ned and Bob. Only three or four could -find room on the rope--and among these was Ned. Thus, at length, he was -where he had wanted to be. - -The aeronaut was too busy to pay any attention. - -"Now--let go!" he ordered, suddenly. - -As the words were leaving his mouth, this is what happened: Wrenched -by a sudden fierce gust of wind the stake to which the balloon was -anchored was torn from the earth; the people who had been braced at -the other end of the rope sat down hard. The balloon jumped, and the -heavy stake, swinging inward, caught in the netting; the rope, quickly -kinking, knotted under Ned's shoulders as he sprawled, for a moment, on -the ground; and like lightning he was jerked into space. - -The accident took only a second. Now Ned was valiantly set, prepared -to hold the balloon all by himself, if necessary; next, he was lifted -irresistibly, helplessly, into the air, and out of a great uproar of -voices he was conscious only of Bob's despairing, high-pitched yelps, -quickly fading away, beneath; and above, the aeronaut's imperative, -tense voice: - -"Hang tight! Grab the rope!" - -With both hands Ned had at once gripped the rope as high as he could -reach. It was wound about his chest, and the free end dangled below. He -raised his eyes, and there, over head on the trapeze, was the aeronaut. - -"Get that end between your legs--that's right," bade the aeronaut. "Can -you hold on?" - -[Illustration: "HANG TIGHT! GRAB THE ROPE!"] - -"Y-y-yes," quavered Ned, for he was badly frightened, and between the -queer sensation of the bottom dropping out of everything, and the -pressure of the rope about him, he was nearly breathless. - -"You're all hunky, then," said the aeronaut, cheerily. "In a jiffy -we'll be back. You can't fall; just hang on and wait." - -"Y-y-yes," quavered Ned, feeling like a spider on a thread. - -It was very still where they were. He heard a faint hissing, and he -wondered what it was. The aeronaut had opened the escape valve in the -balloon. Ned did not know it, but they were descending. - -"How do you like your free ride?" queried the aeronaut, noting Ned's -drawn face, and trying to divert him from thinking on the peril of the -situation. - -"P-pretty w-well," replied Ned. - -"Don't look down! Look at me!" commanded the aeronaut, sternly. "Look -at me or I'll drop on top of you," he repeated. - -Ned, alarmed, kept his eyes glued on those pink-clad legs twenty feet -above him. - -Yet he could no more help glancing hurriedly beneath him, than after a -tooth has come out can you help putting your tongue into the hole. - -He looked down for just a fraction of a second--and it was enough. He -had seen the world, laid flat; a patch of green, and a patch of yellow, -and a thread-like streak of silver; and the gulf that yawned under him -made his flesh creep. - -Supposing the aeronaut should drop on him! Wouldn't that be awful! -The rope might break, and together they would whirl like stones down -through space. He watched the aeronaut anxiously. - -"That's right--watch me," said the aeronaut. "If you don't----" And he -shook his head meaningly. - -All this had required but a few moments, yet to Ned they had seemed -hours. - -"Where would you like to land?" asked the aeronaut, in a chatty voice. -"Back at the fair grounds, or in a corn-field?" - -"I don't care," faltered Ned. He was getting tired of his strained -position. - -"Well, I guess we'll choose the corn-field this trip," decided the -aeronaut--speaking as if they were used to taking such hazardous rides -together. "Now, listen here," he continued, sharply. "We're getting -close to the ground. Hear the leaves rustling? Look down if you want -to, and see. Didn't I tell you? Pretty soon you'll be touching the top -of the corn. Then I'm going to cut your rope with my knife. It won't -hurt you to drop--you've often jumped out of trees and things higher -than we'll be--of course you have." - -How near the ground was! Ned could scarcely believe his eyes. It seemed -to be rushing up at them. Below was a large corn-field, the stiff -stalks bending in the breeze. - -"When I say 'three,' I'll cut," warned the aeronaut. - -"All right," responded Ned. - -The corn stalks just scraped his toes. The aeronaut put his knife -against the rope. - -"One--two--three!" he cried. - -Ned dropped. Crash, crash, thump! He ploughed through the corn, and -brought up with his hands buried to the wrists in dirt. But he was safe -on earth! Rather, he was safe _in_ earth! It didn't matter; he was -thankful. - -Without delaying to unwind the rope, he started to stand up to look for -the balloon and the aeronaut. He caught just a glimpse of them, already -careening onward, far adown the field, where they had darted when -relieved of his weight--and then he sank back with an "Ouch!" - -He had sprained his ankle. - -He unwrapped the rope, and carrying it in his hand hobbled toward the -road. The aeronaut, who had made a better landing a quarter of a mile -away, came rattling up, balloon and all, in a farmer's wagon, to meet -him. - -Then they made triumphal entry into town, and Mrs. Miller, astonished -at seeing the turn-out stop before her door, learned what a thrilling -ride aloft Ned had just made. - -First she hugged him, and then she bound his ankle, and then she hugged -him again, and then she went off to cry. But she couldn't stay, and -came back with tears still in her eyes. - -Next Mr. Miller arrived in haste, and after patting Ned softly on the -head, and saying: "Why, Neddie!" coughed violently, and had to turn his -back and blow his nose. - -Last came Bob, trotting home in great chagrin over having lost track of -his master. He stood on his hind legs, and licked Ned all over the face. - -Ned was considered very lucky--by older folks because he had escaped -with his life; by the boys because he had been up in a balloon; and by -himself because the sprain had come at the end of vacation, instead of -at the beginning or middle. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -NED THE NIMROD - - -Ned's ankle healed all too rapidly, for _him_; he was out of school -only three days. However, it remained weak for a much longer time, -affording him the fun of limping about with a cane. The boys quite -envied him, and the girls gazed on him with mingled symptoms of awe and -pity. - -Little Zu-zu Pearce, who, since his rescue of Tom, had adopted him -as her own especial hero, came up to him, as he was standing by the -schoolhouse steps, and looking at him gravely, said: - -"Does it hurt you awful, Ned?" - -"Naw," scoffed Ned. "It's nothing but just a common sprain, and it's -about well, now." - -"I don't believe you'd say, even if it was killing you," asserted -Zu-zu, admiringly. "And you were awful brave not to let go of that rope -and be killed!" - -"Aw, I couldn't have let go if I'd tried," asserted Ned, wriggling -uneasily. "I was tied on." - -"Well, I don't care--you _didn't_ let go, anyway," returned Zu-zu; and -she skipped back to the other girls, leaving Ned red and embarrassed, -but nevertheless gazing after her with a pleased expression in his eyes -and a kindly warmth in his heart. - -But, as in the case of many a badge of honor, the cane presently became -irksome. Ned wanted a gun, and he knew that it was no use to aspire to -be a hunter if he couldn't walk and run. So he dropped the cane, now -unnecessary, and fell to teasing his father for a shotgun. - -Living as they did beside the Mississippi, which is a great -thoroughfare for wild fowl in their flights from north to south, and -from south to north, each fall and spring the Beauforters were given -splendid duck-shooting. - -All the men who liked hunting, and nearly all the older boys, and some -of the younger whose folks did not care, had guns. Hunting played as -important a part in a Beaufort boy's program as did swimming and rowing. - -Although Ned had mastered the two sports last mentioned, it did not -seem to his mother that she ever could consent to his taking up the -first--hunting with a gun. - -Time had proved to her that there were plenty of dangers to which Ned -was exposed, without adding to the list powder and lead. - -Ned argued for; his mother pleaded against; Mr. Miller listened and -smiled, and was strictly non-committal. Down deep in his mind he knew -that in the end Ned would win the day. - -"Well, Helen, I don't see but what we'll have to give the boy the gun," -he remarked to his wife, when they were alone, one evening. - -"Oh, Will!" groaned Mrs. Miller, in piteous tones. - -"But you see, my dear, it will be very hard to keep him from being with -other boys who have guns," explained her husband, "and it would be -better to let him have a gun of his own, and understand how to use it, -than to leave him to pick up what he can, and maybe get injured through -his ignorance." - -"Oh, Will!" again appealed Mrs. Miller. "It doesn't seem as though I -_could_ agree to it." - -Then mother-like, that her boy might live his strong, sturdy life, she -consented. - -"Ned," spoke Mr. Miller, the next noon, "supposing we let you have a -gun, will you promise to do exactly as we say?" - -"Yes, sir," agreed Ned, promptly. - -"And you'll be careful?" implored his mother, anxiously gazing at him. - -"Of course," assured Ned. - -He half-way expected that his father would take him straight down -town and buy a gun; but he was disappointed. There were farther -preliminaries. - -"All right," said his father. "But before you get the gun, I want to -be sure that you know how to handle it. I don't want you shooting -yourself, or shooting anybody else, which would be about as bad. So -I've arranged with Mr. Russell to take you out and show you a few -things." - -Mr. Russell lived across the street. He was a great hunter, and had -all manner of shooting stuff. He was known as a very steady, prudent -man, and Mr. and Mrs. Miller felt that they could safely trust Ned to -him. - -As for Ned, his disappointment was not keen, after all. Going out with -Mr. Russell, whom he regarded as the finest hunter in town, was next -best thing to having a gun, oneself. - -"Say----" he began, his face aglow. - -"Ned!" rebuked his mother. - -"I mean--when are we going?" resumed Ned, too excited to offer other -apology. "And will he help me train Bob to be a hunting dog?" - -"He'll let you know when he's ready," stated Mr. Miller. "And until -then you must wait, and not bother either him or us, about gun or dog." - -Ned strove to walk his paths with patience, and soon was rewarded. -The twentieth of September, and the first frost had just passed, and -hazelnuts and hickory-nuts were ripe for gathering, when Mr. Russell -sent over word for Ned to be ready that night after school, and they -would go out for a little while. - -"Hurrah!" shouted Ned, capering through the sitting-room. "Did he say -to take a lunch, father? Will you put it up, mother? How long are we to -stay? Where are we going? Can I stay as long as he does?" - -"Oh, Neddie!" protested his mother, placing her hands over her ears. - -"Ned, be still!" ordered his father. "I don't think you'll need a -lunch--although, judging from your appetite, you ought to carry one -with you all the time. No, Mr. Russell said that he was merely going -out on the flats for an hour, to shoot off some old shells, and that -you could help him, if you liked." - -"Oh!" responded Ned, a bit crestfallen. "Shall I take Bob?" - -"If neither Mr. Russell nor Bob objects, I'm sure I don't," laughed Mr. -Miller. - -As soon as school was out Ned scurried to Mr. Russell's, and found -him sorting over shells, and stuffing some into his coat pockets. Ned -was a little surprised to note that he was dressed just as usual, and -evidently did not intend to wear his business-like hunting coat, with -its stains from game and weather, and its pockets with here and there a -mysterious feather; or his boots; or even his brown cap with slanting -visor. - -"Hello, young man," greeted Mr. Russell. - -"Hello," replied Ned. "Are we going to kill anything?" - -"Nothing except some cans and chunks of wood, I guess," responded Mr. -Russell. - -"Do you want Bob?" queried Ned, hopefully. - -"Why, yes; take him along, if you wish to," answered Mr. Russell, -surveying Bob, who was wagging his tail near by. "He's pretty old to -train, now, but we can see if there's any good in him, maybe." - -Bob, who, at the stroke of the bell for the close of school always -hied out upon the front walk to wait for his master, and thus, this -afternoon, had caught him ere he entered the Russell gate, had -been uneasily sniffing at the gun case, and eyeing Mr. Russell's -preparations. He whined, vaguely and uncertainly. There was something -that he didn't like. - -In spite of Mr. Russell's ordinary garb Ned was as proud as a peacock -when they started up the street together, while Bob, with worried air, -trotted behind. - -The flats for which they were bound lay just west of the town; they -were a wide stretch of low, level land, pasture and shallow marsh, -given over to cows and frogs. - -Ned and Mr. Russell scrambled over a fence, and stopped in a field -where there were no cattle or persons within range. - -Mr. Russell took the gun from its case, and snapped it together. - -"Say--is that your gun?" demanded Ned, surprised. "I thought you had a -double-barrel!" - -"This is a new one," replied Mr. Russell. "See, how it comes apart?" -and he unsnapped the fore-end, and took off the barrel. "Now you try," -he bade, passing the parts to Ned. - -Without hesitation Ned fitted them together. Then he handled the piece -fondly. - -It was a compact little single-barrel, twelve-bore, with low, -rebounding hammer, pistol grip, barrel of bronzed twist, stock of -polished walnut, and all the metal trimmings blued, to prevent rust, -and avoid alarming game by flashes of sun; in fact, from the sight bead -to the rubber butt plate it seemed a perfect little gun. - -"My!" sighed Ned, boldly putting it to his shoulder, and aiming into -space. "It is choke-bore, Mr. Russell?" - -"Yes, siree," assured Mr. Russell, who had been watching him with a -twinkle in his eyes. "Shall I show you?" and he extended his hand. - -With a final loving pat of the breech Ned regretfully turned the gun -over to him, and awaited the next number on the program. - -Mr. Russell inserted a shell, and said: - -"Now go off from me about thirty yards, and throw up this tin can, and -let's see what I can do to it." - -Ned obeyed. He ran out, close followed by Bob, until Mr. Russell told -him to stop. - -"Throw it high, and away from you," called Mr. Russell. - -Up sailed the can. "Bang!" went the gun. "Clink!" sounded the shot -cutting the tin. The can jumped in its arc, and striking the ground -rolled over and over as though it had been mortally wounded. - -Ned raced to pick it up. It was now a sorry looking can; and he brought -it to Mr. Russell, counting the shot holes as he did so. - -"Sixteen!" he announced, triumphantly, giving it over for inspection. - -"That's very fair," commented Mr. Russell, carelessly glancing at it. -"There goes your dog," he added, pointing across the field. - -Sure enough; there was Bob, two hundred yards away, and making a -bee-line for home. He never looked back. His tail was between his legs -and his back was humped, and even at that distance his whole mien told -of outraged feelings. - -"Here, Bob! Here, Bob!" called Ned; but he called and whistled in vain. - -"No use, Ned," remarked Mr. Russell, laughing. "He's gun-shy. Somebody -must have shot at him, once; or fired off a gun close to his ears; and -now, you see, he's afraid when he hears a report." - -"Won't he get over it?" asked Ned, astonished and puzzled. - -"No, I don't think he will," answered Mr. Russell. "He's spoiled for -hunting." - -"Well," said Ned, gazing after poor Bob, now a speck townward. "It -isn't his fault, anyway. He can't help it." - -"Supposing you try a shot," proposed Mr. Russell, handing the gun and a -shell to him. - -Bob's failure to toe the scratch, in this, the only particular, -vanished from Ned's mind. He gladly seized gun and shell. - -"No, that's not the right way to put in a cartridge," corrected Mr. -Russell, kindly. "You have the muzzle pointed exactly at my stomach! -And when you close the breech, that will bring the muzzle about at my -mouth! Let me show you a better way." - -"There!" he continued, returning the weapon to Ned. "When you load, -always be sure that nobody is in line with the piece. The chances are -that the shell won't explode, but if it should, even once in a thousand -times, or in ten thousand, and there be an accident, you'd never -forgive yourself. It's impossible to be too cautious, and it's very -easy not to be cautious enough, Ned." - -Ned, somewhat abashed, but impressed by the earnestness of Mr. -Russell's voice, this time loaded more carefully, and Mr. Russell had -him repeat the operation to make certain that the lesson was learned. - -"One small mistake might ruin your whole life, Ned," warned Mr. -Russell. "So start right. And now for a mark," he proceeded. "I'll set -a can on that fence post, yonder, and I'll wager that you can't put as -many shot in it as I did in that other can on the fly. Did you ever -shoot a gun?" - -"Once," confessed Ned, reluctantly. "A long time ago. And it kicked me -over, and made my lip bleed, and when I came home, and father found -out he said it served me right. It was Chuck Donahue's; his big muzzle -loader." - -"Did you hit anything?" queried Mr. Russell, smiling as he walked away. - -"N-n-no," admitted Ned. "At least, there was only one shot-hole, and -Chuck said he made it. But I've aimed lots of times," he added, to -prove that he was not lacking in experience. - -"Here!" called Mr. Russell, looking back. "Keep that gun pointed toward -the ground until you're taking aim! I don't want to be speckled all -over with lead." - -"It isn't cocked," explained Ned. - -"That makes no difference," retorted Mr. Russell. "Always handle a -gun, empty or loaded, cocked or not, as though you expected that it -would go off at any moment. That should become a fixed habit. Will you -remember--or shall we stop?" - -"Oh, I'll remember," pledged Ned. - -And, barring a few slight lapses, he did. - -Mr. Russell balanced the smooth round can on the fence post, and walked -to one side. - -"All ready," he announced. - -Ned leveled the piece, and pulled on the trigger. He couldn't budge it. - -"Why not cock your gun?" inquired Mr. Russell, quizzically. - -Ned blushed. What a number of blunders he had made! Mr. Russell would -think him very stupid. - -He aimed again. - -"Bang!" - -The stock of the gun flew up and jarred his head, but he didn't mind. -He peered through the thin smoke. The can had disappeared. - -"I hit it! I hit it! I know I hit it!" he cried, setting out on the -dead run. - -"I should say you did!" assured Mr. Russell, delighted, picking up the -can and examining it. "Bravo! Fifteen--sixteen, seventeen! You beat me -by one!" - -Ned clutched the can, and delivered the gun into cooler keeping. He -scanned his trophy inch by inch, and gloated over the many holes. Mr. -Russell noted his puffed lip, and smiled. - -"If you hadn't taken in me, too, when you swung your gun, to aim," he -commented, "you might not have been punished by that lip." - -"Oh!" uttered Ned, a little taken aback, and becoming conscious of his -bump. - -"Next time you'll hold the gun tighter against your shoulder--and be -more careful in that other respect, too," said Mr. Russell, simply. - -They stayed on the flats for an hour and a half, and used up all of Mr. -Russell's cartridges; and when Ned went home he fairly was bursting -with information. He carried with him that riddled tin can, and with no -small degree of pride showed it to the family and to the boys of the -neighborhood. He had hit other cans, during the lesson, but this was -the result of his first shot! - -Bob was waiting for him, at the front gate. He greeted his master with -a sheepish, apologetic manner, as though to say: - -"I didn't mean to act so silly; but you know, I can't help it." - -"That's all right, Bob," comforted Ned. "I understand. You shan't go -again." - -Whereupon Bob whined wistfully, as much as to say: - -"Well, I don't think you ought to go, then, either." - -Bob, you see, was just a mite selfish in regard to Ned. - -During the next week Ned went out several times with Mr. Russell, and -began to feel like quite a veteran. He not only could hit stationary -cans, but he learned to hit things tossed into the air. To tell the -truth, he was a fine pupil. - -"Ned, Mr. Russell thinks that the public won't suffer if we go ahead -now and trust you alone with a gun," observed Mr. Miller, one evening, -at the supper table. "He says you're learning well, and that all you -need do is remember." - -"I can hit a little piece of bark thrown up forty yards away," asserted -Ned, confidently. - -"Very good," responded his father, pushing back from the table. "But I -didn't get Mr. Russell to teach you that, so much as to teach you _not_ -to hit some objects more important!" - -He went into the bedroom, and came back, bearing a gun case. - -"How do you like it?" he said, giving it to Ned. - -With feverish fingers Ned unbuckled the straps. The case had looked -familiar; the gun was still more familiar. - -"Say----" he burst out. "Is it mine? Did Mr. Russell give it to me? Did -you buy it of him? It's the very same gun!" - -"So it is," replied his father, pleased to see _him_ so pleased. "I had -Mr. Russell pick it out for me the day after you and your mother and I -talked together; so you've been using it all this time, and now you're -acquainted with it. It's yours." - -"Not yet," interrupted Mrs. Miller. "Wait a moment. Give the gun to me, -Ned." - -Ned wonderingly surrendered the treasure. - -"Neddie," she declared, holding it behind her back, and trying not to -laugh, "you can't have it unless you promise not to use that dreadful -'say' any more!" - -"I won't, I won't!" vowed Ned, in alarm. - -"Won't what?" insisted his mother. - -"Won't say 'say' any more," cried Ned. - -"Or as much," restricted his mother, firmly. - -"I won't say it at all," promised Ned. - -With a kiss his mother restored the gun to his eager grasp. - -The only personage within Ned's circle of relatives and friends who did -not rejoice with him in his new gun was Bob. Poor Bob! The weapon was -an eye-sore to him. When his master brought it out Bob gazed at him -reproachfully, and slunk off, dejected, woebegone. No coaxing could -lift his spirits, or induce him to come outside the yard, when the gun -was in sight. - -The gun was the only break that ever occurred in the relationship -between Ned and his dog. - -Ned speedily waxed to be a crack shot among his fellows. He practiced -incessantly, to the death of countless tin cans, and the disappearance -of his savings. - -Mr. Miller did not object, but he outlined his views in a little -lecture on shooting in general. - -"Destroy all the cans you want to, Ned," he laughed. "They're fair -game." Then he grew graver: "That's right. I want you to learn to -shoot straight, so as to kill when you intend to. But don't shoot for -practice at innocent birds. They love to live, as well as you. Don't -risk shots at game when the chances are that you can merely wound. -Shoot straight, and kill outright. Better let a duck go, than maim it, -so that it is liable to linger and suffer for hours or days. That is -why I gave you a single-barrel, and had it heavily choked. You will be -more careful than if you had a second barrel to fall back upon, and -when the load hits a bird, it will hit to kill." - -"Oh, Neddie! I do wish that you would be content to shoot at cans and -such things, like you are doing now," pleaded his mother. - -"Why, mother!" exclaimed Ned, horrified. "We can't eat _cans_!" - -"So far as eating is concerned, Ned," spoke his father, drily, "we -shan't go back on our butcher just yet, even though you _have_ got a -gun! We might need him." - -Of all the boys who accompanied Ned, to throw cans and blocks about at -his bidding, Tom Pearce was the most faithful, although Hal likewise -went quite often, and was trying to have his father get him a gun, also. - -The frosty nights and the soft, delicious days of Indian summer -arrived; with them arrived the ducks, who well knew that winter was -near at hand, in ambush on the borders of autumn. - -Ned's neck was stiff from perpetually searching the heavens to discover -scurrying flocks. He talked ducks from morn to eve, and dreamed ducks -from eve to morn, and the family assured him that he certainly would -turn into one, if he didn't let up. - -And so far, despite his hunting excursions, and his tales of "big -mallards" that he "almost" got, the family table was still innocent of -game. - -The tenth of November, and behold Ned, and Tom, his squire, across -the river, trudging among the winding sloughs that formed a popular -Beaufort hunting-ground. They had started from home at four in the -morning--as was their custom; and had been tramping ever since--as, -again, was their custom; and had not shot a single duck--which, alas, -also was their custom. Ducks were much more crafty than tin cans. - -Yet the boys thought that tramping all a long day, laden with gun and -shells and boots, through swamp and over fields; with a few mouthfuls -of cold breakfast, and a cold lunch hastily gobbled; and at the -last not a feather to reward them, was much less work than piling wood, -for instance, or going down town for a yeast-cake! - -Perseverance has its reward. On this tenth of November Ned and Tom had -stopped in a fence corner to eat their lunch, which consisted mainly -of bread and butter and sugar, hard boiled eggs, and cookies. They had -stiffly arisen, and had walked forward not twenty paces, when up from -under the high bank of a narrow inlet just in front of them, jumped -straight into the air, with a quack and a sputter, a panic-stricken -something, and was off like a bullet. - -"Ned!" blurted Tom. - -"Bang!" spoke the gun. - -Down to turf upon the other side of the inlet plumped the something, -magically stopped in mid-flight. - -"You got him! You got him! Hurrah!" howled Tom, dashing through the -water, up over his knees--and boots. - -"Hurrah!" cheered Ned, in his wake. - -It had happened so quickly that he was quite beside himself. He had no -recollection of taking aim. He had no recollection of anything save a -feathered blurr in the air, his gun banging--and the feathered blurr -had disappeared. - -Through the shallow inlet they plashed, reckless of consequences. -On the way Ned ejected the empty shell and inserted, with trembling -fingers, a new one, to be ready in case the victim should suddenly -make off! - -The precaution was unnecessary. The victim was past all "making off." -Tom reached it first, where it lay, a shapeless, pathetic little lump -of down and quill, twenty yards from the water's edge, and grabbed it -with the zeal of a retriever. - -"It's a wood-duck!" he cried, joyfully. - -Ned panted up, and with scant courtesy snatched it from him. - -"'Tain't, either," he said, scornfully. "It's a green-wing teal. See -there." - -Tom meekly granted the correction as coming from one who owned a new -gun and must know. - -The boys turned the limp bunch--no larger than a pigeon, but, -nevertheless, their first prize--over and over in their hands, marking -its every feature. - -Unlucky duckling; its life, begun only that summer, had quickly ended. - -At last Ned tucked it in the pocket of his hunting-coat, and on they -strode, feeling now on the highway to slaughter. - -Every few minutes Ned caressingly fingered the warm, soft ball hanging -against his left hip. He hoped that it would make a bloody spot on the -canvas of the pocket. Although he had done his best, the coat was still -altogether too fresh. - -No more game fell to his gun that day; but neither he nor Tom cared. -They were not to go home empty-handed. - -All the way through the streets Ned wondered if people suspected what -he was carrying concealed in that pocket; and he bore, without caring, -the gibes of sundry hateful urchins: - -"Aw, didn't get nothin'! Didn't get nothin'! Ain't he a big hunter, -though!" - -Tom stayed and helped him clean the teal. They sat in the barn door, -and scattered the feathers into the alley, while Bob sniffed and -sniffed at their operations. The smell of the duck seemed to revive in -his blood old instincts, inherited from his parents, and he was unhappy -and puzzled. - -"You didn't kill that all at once, did you?" laughed a man, driving -past. - -Well, it had not been very big, with the feathers on, and it was very -much smaller, with the feathers off. But it was a duck! - -The boys counted the shot-holes, and traced where each pellet had gone -in and come out. They agreed that Ned's aim had been exactly right and -that the gun was a wonder. - -Into the midst of their pleasure crept an undercurrent of pity which -stopped just short of regret. - -"Seems kind of too bad, to kill it, doesn't it," commented Tom, -weighing the wee, cold, bare morsel in his palm. - -"Y-y-yes," admitted Ned. "But I guess he never knew what struck him." - -The wings, with their band of shiny emerald, had been put aside, to -keep. - -"Here," said Ned, holding them out to Tom, as that stanch follower was -on the point of going home. "Take 'em." - -"No, you keep 'em," insisted Tom. - -"Give 'em to Zu-zu, then," blushed Ned, as if that was a second -thought. "She can wear 'em in a hat." - -Ned was duly congratulated on his success by the family. The duck went -to the ice-box, and was roasted and served to him for dinner the next -day. - -"Oh, Neddie!" exclaimed his mother, as the teal, now, after cooking, -was smaller than ever. "Do you mean to say that it took two boys and a -gun and nearly a whole day to kill a poor little bird like that?" - -"It's good, anyway," excused Ned, his mouth full. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE CAMPAIGN PARADE - - -But this fall, gun and duck did not stand as the only excitement for -Ned and the other Beaufort youth. Politics were red hot. A president -and vice-president of the United States were to be elected, and the -town was in a perfect ferment day and night. - -There were caucuses and parades and "rallies" and sidewalk discussions -and even fights, in all of which the boys, and the girls, too, took -lively interest. - -At school the recesses were given over, for the most part, to debate. -Ned's father was a Republican, Ned was what his father was, and Bob was -what Ned was; Mr. Lucas was a Democrat, therefore Hal was a Democrat; -Tom had no father living, and so he sided with neither cause, but said -that he "didn't care." - - { "Democrats - { Eat old dead rats!" - -sang Ned and his crowd. - - { "Republicans - { Lick old tin pans!" - -retorted Hal and his fellow partisans. - -Whereupon the Republicans claimed the best of the argument. - -Nobody in Beaufort was more faithful in attending the various political -meetings than was Ned. With eyes and ears alert he sedately accompanied -his father; or else, doing as he pleased, tagged the band about through -the streets until it brought up at hall or opera house. He sat or -stood, squeezed in, the whole evening through, listening to orators -declare what great and wise things their party had done, and what -mean and foolish things the other parties had done. In case it was a -Republican meeting he cheered in triumph; in case it was the opposition -(for he did not limit himself to the one) he cheered "just for fun." -Thus he was able to do lots of shouting, and went home hot, hoarse, and -full of enthusiasm. - -Of all the meetings in the town during the campaign, the crowning one -occurred as follows: - -"Hello!" exclaimed Mr. Miller, glancing over _The Evening Clarion_. - -"What is it?" inquired his wife, while Ned, hovering near, was at once -all ears. - -"Why, I see by _The Clarion_ that Senator Lipp is to be here on the -twenty-ninth, and we're going to have the biggest Republican rally ever -held in the county," explained her husband. - -"Say----" cried Ned, agog, and forgetful of his recent promise. - -"Gun!" said his mother. - -"Oh, I didn't mean to. It slipped out before I thought," excused Ned. - -"Well, don't let it slip in again," laughed his mother. - -"There'll be a big parade around the town, winding up at the opera -house," continued Mr. Miller, skimming through the article. "All the -outside places are to be invited to send marching clubs. It's the last -rally before election, and it will be a whooper." - -"Oh, father! I want to march! Can I?" begged Ned. - -"Certainly," replied his father, unexpectedly. "Go ahead." - -"But I mean march in the parade," persisted Ned. - -"We'll see," responded his father. - -"But I'm sure they don't want boys fussing round them," objected Mrs. -Miller. - -"Yes, they do, mother," quickly corrected Ned. "Lots of boys march." - -"I'm afraid that they'll gladly take anybody large enough to carry a -torch," confessed Mr. Miller. - -"The idea!" exclaimed his wife, shocked by this give-away of political -methods. - -As time wore on, the approaching rally grew to mammoth proportions, and -kept Ned busy talking about its numerous phases. - -_The Clarion_ devoted columns of space to it, and the town was well -plastered with posters bristling with exclamation points and heavy -type. - -As to his marching, Ned now had not the slightest doubt. His father -said nothing more upon the subject, and silence gave consent. - -"My father says _we_'re going to have a monster rally, too; the night -before election," at last Hal declared, in retort to Ned's vauntings. - -"'Twon't be as big as ours," asserted Ned. - -"'Twill, I bet," stoutly returned Hal, sticking up for the honor of the -Democratic party. "And I'm going to march!" - -"Are you?" queried Ned, feeling as though some of the polish had been -taken off his own future. - -Of course, there was the remote chance that rain would interfere with -the Republicans, or that in some other way the Democrats would be led -to outdo them. - -"Say--no, I didn't mean that; but I tell you what," he proposed, -suddenly: "you march with me in our parade, and I'll march with you in -yours!" - -"All right," agreed Hal. "You don't suppose they'll care, do you?" - -By "they" he referred to Republicans and Democrats in general, who -might be disposed to resent such an exchange. - -"I guess not," hazarded Ned. "It evens up, you know. And then, we're -only kids." - -The day of the parade came, and dawned upon a town already gay with -bunting and banners. As the sun rose higher, and peeped into the -streets, seemingly at the touch of his rays other bunting and banners -unfolded. By noon Republican Beaufort was in gala attire. Democratic -Beaufort stolidly gazed, and resolved: - -"Just wait until our turn, next week." - -Lithographs of the Republican candidates were displayed on all -sides, in windows and attached to flags drooping from upper stories; -cheese-cloth, bearing mottoes and portraits, spanned the downtown -streets and stretched across corners; through the ordinary channels of -business and private affairs ran a current of excitement. - -"So you're going to march, are you, Ned?" remarked his father, that -noon, at dinner. - -"Don't, Neddie," begged his mother. "You'll get all covered with dirt -and grease; and I'm sure the sight of you in the ranks won't influence -_many_ voters." - -"But I've promised Hal to march in his parade if he'll march in mine," -explained Ned. "And he'll be mad if I back out. I'll wear my old -clothes." - -Mrs. Miller sighed and looked, for support, at her husband. However, -not having Ned's garments to clean, he was filled only with amusement. - -As the afternoon wore on, the delegations from outside points began to -arrive. In the shape of marching clubs, with wild cheers they tumbled -off from incoming trains, and forming at the depot paraded up town, -bands playing and people shouting. Or as farmers' families they rattled -in by wagon-loads, and tying the horses around the court-house square -wandered through the streets. - -In the schoolroom Ned and his fellow prisoners could hear the cries -and music and sound of heavy wheels, and chafed to be free. With the -welcome four o'clock bell they poured abroad, quite certain that there -were a thousand new things to see. - -This afternoon Bob sat at the front gate and waited in vain. He was cut -out by politics. - -His master, who had found much to do in watching the depots, and not -missing what the streets also had to offer, did not appear until nearly -supper time. - -"Here you are, Ned," called Mr. Miller, _Clarion_ in hand. "This means -you: 'Marchers not attached to any organization may obtain their -uniforms at Room 6, Shinn Block. It is requested that the uniforms be -returned here, either immediately after the meeting, or to-morrow.'" - -"Good!" cried Ned. "What kind of uniform?" - -"Oh, nothing very extra, you'll find," replied his father, destroying -Ned's visions of epaulets and a cocked hat. - -"But it will serve to keep your clothes from the oil and soot, I hope," -voiced the thrifty mother. - -Ned galloped through his chores, and bolted a hasty supper. Hal -whistled for him, and ruthlessly shutting in the barn the luckless -Bob--who would have been unhappy, anyway, with so many bands playing in -his ears, and so many feet to dodge--he scooted off. - -"We'll watch for you, when the parade comes past the corner," cried -his mother, after him; for the line of march led within a block of the -house. - -Already streams of people, mostly men and boys, some even now in -uniform, were flowing toward the business centre of town; and that -business centre itself was a fascinating scene of bustle, as the -marchers, in a variety of costumes, strode the walks, or loitered at -their points of assembly. - -For Ned and Hal, the first thing to do was to get uniforms. Until they -had some trappings they could not feel as though they amounted to much. - -Room 6, Shinn Block, fairly was swarming with persons after uniforms. -In one corner was a pile of capes, near by was a stack of caps, and -in another corner were sheaves of torches. Evidently all that was -necessary to do was to walk up, pick out an outfit, and leave. - -The two boys sidled in, and had just seized upon a cape apiece when -they were interrupted by a man who from beside the door was overseeing -things. - -"Hey, you kids! What are you doing with those capes?" he demanded, -gruffly. - -Ned and Hal, startled and abashed, dropped their spoils. - -"We're going to march," stammered Ned. - -"Oh, that's all right. It's Will Miller's boy," explained somebody in -the room, coming to the rescue. "Let him march." - -"And isn't that young Lucas?" queried somebody else. "Is your father -going to march with us to-night, too, sonny?" - -"No, he isn't!" retorted Hal, hotly. "He's going to be in a lots bigger -parade than this, next week!" - -Amid the teasing laughter which greeted this sally the boys snatched -cape and cap and torch, and fled lest yet they might be stopped. - -The capes were of blue oilcloth, and buckled at the throat. The caps -also were of oilcloth, but red, and were round, with a flat top and -heavy visor. The torches consisted of a long staff, at the end of which -swung a can containing kerosene and a wick. - -As soon as they were clear of the room the boys donned their rigs. The -capes came down to their knees; and since in their haste they had not -taken account of size, their caps were far too large, and spun about on -their crowns. Paper, a tremendous quantity, having been stuffed under -the bands inside, then, with their caps still wobbly, but with their -capes rustling and their torches proudly held aloft, the two brave -marchers descended to the street. - -Even during their brief stay while getting their outfit, a change had -taken place in the aspect of the world without. Darkness had fallen, -and torches were being called into life, right and left. - -"Let's light up!" proposed Hal. - -"Let's," seconded Ned. - -This was as easily done as said; they simply applied their wicks to -the lighted wick of the next good-natured man whom they met--and good -nature was everywhere to-night--and now, with torches blazing, they -were fully in trim for the parade. - -The procession was forming. On horseback marshals, distinguished by a -sash passing from one shoulder diagonally across the chest and under -the opposite arm, dashed up, and wheeled and dashed down again. Horns -gave preliminary, erratic toots, and drums broke in with sudden rolls. -Flambeaux flamed forth, and died out. Transparencies bobbed hither and -thither, upon invisible legs. Marching clubs stood at ease, while their -members jested and waited. The air was filled with kerosene smoke and -echoing voices. - -Ned and Hal, holding their heads stiffly lest their caps should tumble -off, and wrapped in their blue capes like a cattle-man in his poncho, -sped to the corner mentioned by _The Clarion_ as the meeting place of -the "unattached." Here had gathered about fifty other blue capes and -red caps, and the number was slowly being swelled. - -"Hi there!" hailed a marshal, spurring to them. "You men close in, in -column of fours, on the rear of the procession, as it passes by." - -Off he tore again, while Ned and Hal felt not a little elated at having -been classed among the "men." - -The parade started. Drums commenced to beat time, bands commenced to -play, and forth into the surrounding darkness flowed a little stream of -lights as if the sea of torches had sprung a-leak, and was trickling -down the street. - -Hal and Ned had a good view of the make-up of the procession; but they -were impatient to become, themselves, a part of it, and fretted at the -delay. - -"There comes the last!" exclaimed a self-appointed leader. "Get ready, -four abreast!" - -In the confusion caused by forming some semblance of ranks, the two -boys found themselves elbowed aside by tall men who didn't want to be -made to look ridiculous, and by short men who didn't wish to be classed -with "kids," and by medium sized men who evidently never had been -boys--and finally, when the whole had been divided by four, Ned and Hal -found themselves sifted back to the rear, as remainders! - -Nobody seemed to notice them or their plight. For a moment they were -dismayed. - -"Aw, don't let's care," said Ned, bluffly. "We can march, just the -same." - -"Of course," responded Hal. "And it's more fun to be two," he added, -defiantly. - -The column moved jerkily past, "hitching" along, after the manner of -all processions in starting, as though it was learning to walk. When -the tail came opposite, the blue capes joined themselves to it, and now -the parade moved off, complete--a whip lash of bobbing lights, with the -blue capes forming the snapper, and Ned and Hal being the frayed tip. - -Bands played conflicting tunes; flambeaux flared and red fire glared; -transparencies curtsied and turned themselves about for approval; the -people lined up along the curb upon either side of the route hooted -and cheered. - -Away at the end Ned and Hal proudly held their torches as high as they -could, and tried to keep step with the men in front of them. Theirs was -the most uncomfortable station in the line. All the dust, and the soot -and reek from the kerosene drifted back to enfold them; the red fire -was burned out before they arrived, and likewise the spectators had -done their cheering and were taking short cuts to other points. Worse -than all this, as the rear of the procession filed by the onlookers -crowded in behind it, and fairly stepped on the heels of the two boys. - -The parade was now about to traverse a section of South Beaufort--and -Ned and Hal, realizing that they were nearing the enemy's country, grew -a little nervous. It was at no little risk that a boy from Beaufort -proper crossed the dead-line into South Beaufort--the lurking place of -the Conners, and "Slim" and "Fat" Sullivan, and Luke McCoy, and "Big" -Mike Farr and "Loppy" Lynch, and the rest of the "gang"! - -However, it was too late to back out. The rear guard must hold its post. - -Hardly had the tail of the procession passed over the South Beaufort -threshold, when rose the jeering cry: - -"The kids! Say, catch on to the kids hangin' on behind!" - -A lump of dirt slapped against Ned's oilcloth cape. Another knocked -Hal's cap askew. Small lads and girls pressed close upon them and -threatened and mocked, while big brothers and sisters in the background -encouraged. - -The two boys pretended not to notice, but looked straight ahead while -earnestly wishing that they were again in their own district. - -But the worst was coming. - -The nagging urchins, urged on from all sides, waxed bolder, and began -to jerk at the boys' capes, so that both were being compelled to -struggle along like engines towing a line of cars. - -This was getting to be too much. - -"Oh, let go, will you!" growled Ned, crossly, turning and giving his -foremost tormentor a sharp push. - -"Hi, Mike, he hit your brother!" delightedly rose a chorus of voices. - -"Sock it to him, Patsy! Don't you stand it!" advised others. - -"Aw, Patsy! To let a feller like him hit yer!" jeered still others. - -Thus egged on, Patsy, who was not even up to Ned's shoulders, doubled -his scrawny, dirty fists, and scowled fiercely. - -"What did you hit me fer? I wasn't doin' nothin'," he demanded. - -"I didn't hit you. You were too!" replied Ned, seeking to go on. But -too late. He was hemmed about, as through magic, by a circle which cut -him off from Hal and from the procession. - -The parade with the blue cape snapper went its way, unaware that it had -lost its frayed tip, for Hal, too, was having his troubles. - -"G'wan!" sneered Ned's mite of a foe, hunching himself forward, brave -in his knowledge that the majority was with him. - -"Soak it to him, Patsy," howled the ring of spectators. - -They took up the playful practice of shoving one another against Ned, -who, like a baited bear, was assailed from all sides. - -"G'wan!" piped Patsy, again, trampling on Ned's toes. - -Somebody smartly knocked Ned's cap off. Somebody reached over and -wrenched at his torch, and while he was striving to keep it his cape -was neatly turned over his head just as Patsy struck him a stinging -blow on the mouth. - -Blinded in his cape, poor Ned floundered here and there, jostled, -kicked, and beaten, until he thought that his last hour had come. He -lost his cap, and he lost his torch, and finally the fastenings of his -cape gave way and he lost it, too. This proved lucky, for with a plunge -he broke the ring hemming him in, and in the mix-up escaped. - -He was discovered. - -"Here he is!" - -"Stop him!" - -"Head him off!" - -"Kill him!" - -Ned, never doubting that they would "kill him" if they caught him, -darted down the street, and into an alley, his laughing, whooping -pursuers full tilt after him. Over fences, through yards, breathless, -desperate, hunted, dodged Ned, and the hue and cry died in the -distance. He ventured out upon a street, and slackened to a walk. - -Bareheaded, bruised and aching, his trappings in the hands of the -enemy, he cared no more for the parade. He went straight home. - -As he neared the gate, he saw a figure sitting on the horse-block -before it. - -"Is that you, Hal?" he asked. - -"Yes," said Hal. "Did they hurt you?" - -"No--not much," asserted Ned, going to the horse-block. "Did they jump -on you, too?" - -"Yes," said Hal, with a little sob in his voice. "They grabbed me from -behind, and held me, and then somebody hit me, and then they all piled -on me--the dirty cowards." - -"So they did on me," announced Ned, knowing that misery loves company. - -"They don't fight fair!" sobbed Hal. "And they took my cap and cape and -torch." - -"Mine, too," said Ned. "But I'll get my father to explain so the men -won't think we stole them. And we'll get even with that South Beaufort -gang, some day." - -"You bet we will," vowed Hal, pulling himself together. "They didn't -hurt me much, only they didn't give me any chance." - -The boys compared notes, and found that neither was damaged beyond a -few bruises, and their wounded spirits. They spent an hour going over -plans to get even; the best seemed to be to enlist all their friends -for the Democratic parade, and march through South Beaufort, and when -the moment came, to turn on the "gang" and simply annihilate it. - -However, this plan did not ripen, mainly because the Democratic parade -was prevented by rain. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE TROUBLE AT BREEDE'S HILL - - -"Ned--oh, Ned! It's snowing!" called Mr. Miller, up the stairs. - -"Bully!" called back Ned, bouncing out of that bed which only a moment -before he had been loth to leave. - -He jumped to the window, and gazed out. The big flakes swirled against -the pane at the end of his nose. Air and earth were white. - -"Bully!" again exclaimed Ned, hustling on his clothes. - -The affair of the campaign parade was now only an irritating memory; -a president and vice-president had been elected; processions were a -thing of the past, with the Republican county central committee short -two torches, two caps, and two capes; winter had arrived with a swoop, -sending the wild fowl scurrying for the gulf; Thanksgiving--a snapping -cold Thanksgiving of skating and appetites--was over; and still upon -the frozen ground no snow had fallen. - -But here it was, at last, with a vengeance. - -"Walks to clean, Neddie," teased his mother. - -"I don't care," retorted Ned, from his room. - -"There! Don't forget that you've said it," laughed his mother. - -Now at the beginning of the winter it seemed to Ned that he would as -soon as not shovel walks. Anything that had to do with snow was fun. - -All day the snow fell. At first it was in the shape of big, feathery -flakes which clung to everything that they touched. Then, when a good -thick coating had been given the world, down came the gritty, small -flakes, sifting upon their larger predecessors, and piling up for two -feet. - -Thus, at the bottom was the layer of damp "packing" snow, and at the -top was the colder, freezing layer. Conditions for coasting could not -have been better had the Beaufort young people planned and carried out -to suit themselves. - -Moreover, to-day was Thursday. By Saturday Breede's Hill would be in -prime condition. - -With the approach of night the downfall slackened. Through all the town -sounded the scrape, scrape of the snow-shovel. Ned added his note to -the harmony, for he had a front walk, and a walk around the house, and -a path to the barn, and one to the wood-shed to clean, besides a few -trimmings such as the horse-block, and the steps and porches. - -Bob welcomed the snow with great zest. He frolicked and barked, and -scooped up mouthfuls in defiance of the theory that eating snow gives -one the sore throat. No doubt he barked so much that his throat did not -have time to get sore. - -Dogs have their own rules of hygiene, anyway. - -Ned's sled had been brought out from summer quarters in the attic, -and had been waiting on the back porch for quite a month. Although, on -account of his extra chores, he could not use it at once, during his -labors between school and supper he could not resist giving it a moment -of exercise--just to limber it up. It left a red trail of rust; but he -knew that the rust would soon wear off. - -This sled of Ned's was a novelty, and the joy of his heart. It was -of clipper pattern, but very low--not more than four inches from the -ground. It had sharp points, longer than its body; when Ned flopped -upon it the points stuck far out before, and his legs stuck far out -behind. The runners were round steel, and well sprung. How that sled -did go! It was no good for ruts, or for deep snow, but given a smooth -track it could beat any sled in Beaufort. No matter how icy the hill, -when other sleds had a tendency to veer and drift sideways this little -sled darted straight as an arrow beyond the mark of all. - -Sighing because now was night instead of morning Ned restored the sled, -with a fond pat of promise, to its corner, and went in to supper, -whither he had been drawn for some time by the delicious sizzling of -fried mush. - -Friday broke bright as a new dollar, with sunshine that proved just -warm enough to soften the snow and settle it. Around school passed the -word among Ned and Hal and Tom and kindred spirits to "come to Breede's -Hill and help break it." - -Breede's Hill--ah, but that was a hill for you! Two blocks of slope -and two blocks more of slide, and all, in the height of the season, as -smooth as oil! Here were four blocks of street practically given over -to the coasters. For a driver to try the slippery incline, either on -wheels or on runners, was foolhardy; while to cross at the base was to -invite a sudden attack from catapult bob or sled. - -A bob had been known to scoot right between the wheels of a wagon, and -not hurt a thing, so swift was it going; and Ned himself, horrified, -unable to stop, had taken the legs from under a stupid cow; but when -she had reached the snow with a thump he had been far away. - -Breede's Hill had been so dubbed by some history enthusiast; on the -next street south was Bunker Hill, in like manner named. It was not a -proper hill for coasting, being rocky, and having a sharp curve. - -On this Friday afternoon after school Ned, accompanied by Bob, gaily -dragged his snake-like sled to Breede's Hill. Here he and a dozen -others toiled lustily for an hour and a half, breaking a track. One or -two sleighs had been along the road, but the snow lay deep and white, -with its possibilities still undeveloped. - -It was necessary to tramp the snow down, and drag sleds through it, -sideways, and even to roll in it, in order to clear a path which, under -the friction of the runners, should become hard and "slick." - -To the tramping and scraping, and frolicsome rolling Bob lent nothing -but his noisy good-will and applause. One would have thought, noting -his hilarity, that the snow and the boys had come together simply for -his entertainment! - -Finally a track deemed worthy of being tested had been leveled, and the -first coast of the season was made, with a whoop of joy, by the other -bob in the party--the bob-sled. - -Farther and farther, each time, went the bob, with the single -sleds--all but that of Ned--in the party, bringing up behind. Ned rode -on the bob, until the moment when the track should be hard and fit for -his low clipper. - -This was the only drawback to that pride of his heart: it was useless -in loose snow, or in ruts. - -At dark, by dint of much play which seemed like work, Breede's Hill -was fit for the final polishing, by a hundred and more runners, on the -morrow. Ned went home, and Bob went home, and the other boys went home, -hungry and well satisfied; and none was more hungry or more satisfied -than Bob, who had done the least and fussed the most. - -"Say--but the hill is getting dandy!" exclaimed Ned, at dinner, -Saturday, to which he had come panting and damp and perfectly empty. - -"So you're tired of that gun, already, are you, Neddie?" remarked his -mother, quietly. - -"My, no!" denied Ned, in alarm. "But the hill's splendid, anyway. It's -almost slick as glass." - -"The whole town will be there, this afternoon," he added, poising a -generous mouthful of apple pie. - -"I won't be there," said his mother. - -"Nor I," said his father. - -"Well, all the kids and girls will," explained Ned; and the chunk of -pie disappeared, to fill some mysterious crevice inside. "Shoveling -in fuel," his father termed Ned's eating during the cold weather; -but whether the statement was true or a joke, the reader must judge -according to his own experience. - -That afternoon it really did seem that Ned had not exaggerated. -Breede's Hill was in its glory, and "the whole town" was on hand, with -sleds of all descriptions. - -The track had been packed solid, and glistened in the glancing rays of -the sun. Downward sped, with shrill shrieks from the girls and wild -halloos of warning from the boys, a torrent of figures showing black -against the white background; and upward toiled, along either side of -the torrent, a swarm of other black figures, to halt, and gather, and -turn at the crest. - -Bob was there, a privileged character. Not a dog in Beaufort was so -widely or favorably known. What fun he found here at a place where he -was almost the only one whose legs had to take him down hill as well -as up, is a problem. Like a flash Ned on his clipper shot from top to -bottom--and skirting the track, with tongue out and with excited yelps, -falling farther and farther behind, after him raced Bob, not to catch -him until the sled had stopped. Up trudged Ned, hauling his sled, with -Bob at last by his heels; and the performance was repeated. - -At the hill all now was gaiety and glee. The only thing to mar, ever so -slightly, the sport, was the presence of a party from South Beaufort. -Eight strong they had arrived, with their bob; and discoloring the snow -with tobacco, and swearing freely, they had proceeded to impress the -others with their importance. - -However, beyond elbowing their way about freely, and profaning snow -and air, and acting just as they pleased, they had made no especial -trouble, and Ned and the other boys tried to pay no attention to them. - -By this time two grooves had been worn in the track, and along them -rushed, with no steering needed, the sleds great and small. The street -crossings were hair-raising bumps, which caused each sled to leap like -a frightened colt. Highest of all bounced Ned on his light clipper, and -farthest of all he went, setting a mark which none could touch. Still -firm in his faith that some time he would catch him was Bob, racing -madly down, and panting sedately up. - -At last merely sliding down hill ceased to prove of much interest to -the South Beauforters. Trouble was what they wanted; trouble they would -have; and the meaner the brand the better it would suit them. - -They began to bully the smaller boys, and to blockade, as though by -accident, but really with sly malice, the steps of the larger. They -sent girls' sleds careening down the slope, and in a hundred ways made -themselves a dread and an annoyance. - -"Come on, Ned, let's go home," pleaded little Tennie Loders, who lived -near Ned, plucking him by the sleeve. "I'm cold." - -"He's afraid," scoffed Sam Higgs. "That's what's the matter with him." - -"You run along, Tennie," said Ned. "But I'm not going to leave till I -get good and ready. Nobody's going to drive _me_ off, you bet." - -"Who's tryin' to drive you off? Say, kid, who's tryin' to drive you -off?" sneered Big Mike Farr, who overheard. - -"I didn't say anybody was, did I?" returned Ned, stoutly. - -"Well, don't go shootin' off your lip 'round here, then," grumbled Big -Mike, in an ugly tone. He waited to see if Ned wouldn't answer back and -give him a better chance to force a fight; but Ned never spoke a word, -and the South Beauforter slouched back among his fellows, while they -laughed loudly. - -For a brief space the coasting continued without especial incident. -However, this was only a lull, during which the South Beauforters were -but biding their chance. Presently it came. - -As they artfully lingered around their bob-sled, at the end of the -track, they saw Ned, head on, sweeping toward them upon his clipper. -Just as he reached them they neatly jerked their heavy bob square -across his path. There was no time for him to swerve. With a thud he -struck broadside the rearmost of the two sleds. The clipper stopped -short, as though killed; but Ned himself went plunging on, clear over -the bob, to plough the snow and slush with face and hands and stomach. - -He scrambled up wet, furious, yet willing, if allowed, to accept the -mishap as a bit of rude joking. He felt that discretion was here the -better part of valor. - -However, he was not given any choice in the matter. - -"Say," accosted Big Mike, again, as Ned walked forward, while brushing -himself off, to get his sled, "what do you mean by runnin' into us? -Ain't you got eyes?" - -"I couldn't help it," said Ned. "I didn't have time to turn out." - -"You did, too," snarled a Conner, giving Ned's innocent clipper a -vicious kick into the ditch. - -"I didn't. You pulled your bob across the track on purpose--you know -you did," accused Ned, goaded beyond bearing. - -The words were attracting a little knot of spectators and listeners, -and as Ned started to rescue his beloved sled from the ditch Bob nosed -into the circle, seeking him. Whereupon a South Beauforter planted his -toe in Bob's astonished ribs. - -"Ki yi! yi, yi, yi!" yelped Bob, and the sound was to Ned a bugle call -to action. - -"Here--you'd better not do that again!" he warned, returning with a -spring. - -"Do what again?" demanded Big Mike, threateningly. - -"Hurt that dog. He's never done anything to you," asserted Ned, his -blood up in defense of his faithful partner. - -"Aw, who's hurtin' yer dog?" scoffed Big Mike--at the same instant -aiming another blow at Bob, shivering close against his master's legs. - -Ned responded with a violent shove that nearly took the South -Beauforter off his feet. - -"Hit him, Mike!" - -"Smash him one in the jaw!" - -"Aw, I wouldn't stan' that from nobody!" - -"Paste it to him!" - -"He's the cully what struck Patsy!" - -Amid this clamor from his backers Big Mike doubled his fists and stuck -his face close up to Ned's. - -"Who you shovin', anyway?" he snarled, treading on Ned's toes, at the -same time shouldering him violently backward. - -"You!" answered Ned, boldly, recovering his balance. - -"Don't take any of his lip!" - -"Punch him in the nose!" - -"Aw, Mike! 'Feared of a kid like that!" - -Thus urged, and with his gang pressing closer and closer about them, -Big Mike swung his clenched hands back and forth, menacingly, and -growled: - -"Tryin' to pick a fight, ain't ye? I've a notion to lam the tar out o' -you!" - -"You can't do it, alone," challenged Ned. "You know your gang will -pitch in and help, if you're getting licked." - -"Naw, we won't. Of course we won't," cried the South Beauforters, in a -chorus. "It'll be fair play; sure it will!" - -Ned knew that this was a lie. The South Beauforters never fought fair. -They were wolves, attacking from both front and rear, and five to one. -Besides, they bit and kicked and gouged, and had no mercy. Fair? Not -much! - -Ned gazed hastily around the circle, seeking some one who might second -him, and protect his back. But of Hal or Tom or others of his chums he -saw not a sign. They must be at the top of the hill, or climbing, and -ignorant of his fix. - -His heart sank a little. - -However, he was not afraid of Big Mike, in a fair fight. "Big Mike" had -been thus nicknamed because he had been overgrown; but now, stunted -as he was by tobacco and by evil habits, flat-footed and with hulking -shoulders, no longer was he large for his age. Ned, on his own part, -had been leaping ahead by inches, until now he equaled Mike in height, -although considerably outweighed. But whatever advantage came to the -one from weight was more than balanced by the other's wiriness and -strength of limb gained on river and in wood and field. - -Ned was not given much time in which to look about or debate over his -situation. Shoved by a member of the gang, after the fashion of the -kind, Big Mike came jamming into him, and swinging at the same time -cuffed him a blow on the ear. At this Ned poked stiffly upward with his -right fist, and his knuckles met Big Mike's teeth. - -Big Mike backed away a step, and dabbled at his mouth with his fingers. - -"Say--did you go to do that?" he roared. - -"You hit me first," replied Ned, angrily. - -With a volley of oaths, and a kick and a blow delivered together, Big -Mike charged at him--a regular wildcat. - -A little murmur of "Oh's" and "Ah's" went up from Ned's sympathizers. - -"Give it to him, Mike! Give it to him!" cheered the South Beauforters, -crazy with delight. - -The blow took Ned on the top of the head; but the kick fell short. Ned -grabbed the leg and heaved up on it, until Big Mike tottered and took a -heavy fall. - -He was on his feet in an instant, and with head down butted for Ned's -stomach. Hindered by the crafty gang Ned could do nothing but accept -the attack, and bump his opponent's nose with his lifted knee; and now -Big Mike, head into his stomach, had him tightly about the waist and -was striving to bend him backward. Ned doubled forward and while trying -to keep his balance reached under and punched Big Mike's face. - -It was a deadlock, Big Mike straining, and Ned poking, and neither much -the worse off. - -But the South Beauforters could not hold back any longer. Weaving in -and out so as always to be back of Ned as the fighters shifted and -struggled in a circle, they aimed treacherous blows at him; and at this -crisis little Patsy, keen to aid his brother, darting in seized Ned by -the ankles and enabled Big Mike to bring him to the ground. - -"Shame! No fair!" cried indignant boys and girls. - -Even at this juncture Ned was by no means defeated. His blood was -roused, and he felt that he was battling for his life. Big Mike tried -to sit astride of him, but he might as well have tried to sit on an -eel. Ned wriggled and twisted, and out of the rough-and-tumble behold -the picture of Ned on the top; with Big Mike's hands clenched in his -hair, it is true; but nevertheless, Ned on top! - -To off-set the hair-grip, his thumb was against the side of Big Mike's -nose, pressing that individual's head sidewise until his cheek was in -the slush. - -It was not a picture of beauty. Big Mike's lips were bleeding, and -Ned's left eye was inflamed where Big Mike had brutally stuck a thumb, -to gouge. The faces of both were red, and Ned's necktie was streaming -over his shoulder. - -Nor was the picture pleasing to Big Mike's cronies. Their champion was -in the worse position of the two. So the Conners, with a curt command: -"Aw, get off of him, will you!" jumped in and obligingly turned the -pair over. - -This was the South Beaufort way of winning fights. - -In the meantime little Zu-zu Pearce, leaving the other girls, who, with -awe-stricken faces and throbbing hearts, unable to tear themselves -away, lingered on the outskirts, ran with all her might for the hill. -Up the slope she labored, slipping and puffing, until near the top she -overtook her brother, and Hal and a half dozen others, trudging with -their bob for the crest and a coast. - -"Tom!" screamed Zu-zu, frantically. "Oh, Tom--the South Beaufort -fellows have got Ned Miller at the bottom of the hill, and are beating -him awful! They won't let him fight Big Mike fair." - -"Gee! Come on, fellows!" exclaimed Tom; and in a jiffy the bob was -jerked about, and with the boys recklessly piling on was speeding down -the track, for the fight. - -Close in their wake sped also a following of single sleds--for the news -had spread like lightning. - -"Goody! Here they come!" cried the anxious girls, dancing in joy. "Oh, -hurry, hurry!" - -Slim Conner heard, and glimpsed the reinforcements dashing down the -slope for the scene. He heard the shouts, and his mind acted quickly: - -"Cheese it, lads! Here's the hull crowd!" he warned, hoarsely. - -"Come away, Mike!" warned Patsy, tugging at his brother. - -Mike wrenched himself loose from the grip of the prostrate Ned, and -with a final kick at his victim's head ducked through the circle; and -off, up the road, ran the South Beauforters, dragging their bob. - -Hal and Tom and the rest of the rescuers arrived too late, although -they had ditched their bob, without waiting for it to stop, and had -rolled into the midst of the ring. - -A few of the boys chased the South Beauforters a block or two, just as -a threat; but Hal and Tom stayed to attend to Ned. - -"Shucks, he didn't hurt me a bit," vowed Ned, scorning assistance as he -scrambled to his feet. - -"You're going to have a black eye, all right enough, though," assured -Tom. - -"Am I?" asked Ned, cautiously feeling of his injured face. - -"Well, just the same he was licking Big Mike, if they hadn't all -pitched on to him!" declared Tennie Loders, stanchly. - -"Look at my knuckles, where I hit him in the mouth, will you!" said -Ned, proudly. - -"Here's your necktie, Ned," proffered Harriett Taylor, holding it out -to the hero of the hour. - -Ned tied it on in a crooked knot, while the crowd watched him -admiringly. - -"Where were you fellows? Who told you about it?" he queried. - -"Why, we were going ahead coasting," explained Hal. "Zu-zu was the one -who told us, and then we came lickity-split." - -"Bully for Zu-zu!" exclaimed Ned. "She's a dandy!" - -"I had to run all the way up hill," said Zu-zu, modestly, just arriving. - -"Well, I'll remember you, all right, for it," promised Ned. "I'll give -you ducks' wings till you can't rest." - -"Oh, I didn't do it for that!" cried Zu-zu, skipping off. - -"Do you want to go home, Ned?" inquired Hal, tenderly. - -"No, of course not," declared Ned. "I'm going to slide some more. It'll -take more than a black eye to get me off this hill!" - -And during this recent fracas, what of Bob--Bob, who brought on the -fray? The rule of romance demands that he should have launched himself -to Ned's aid, and put the enemy to flight with his teeth. But no; this -history must take a different course. Twice kicked by heavy boots, to -which he had done no wrong; trampled upon by many feet, and thrust -aside by many legs, quite regardless of the plight into which he had -forced his master, he had turned tail and had trotted for home. - -In his own mind, he had been sorely abused; and with the spirits taken -out of him by the ill-treatment, he made straight for shelter. - -When his master appeared, with eye now surrounded by a blue-black mat, -Bob, never considering it, seemed to think that himself, and not Ned, -had been the sufferer. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE ROUTING OF BIG MIKE - - -Although Bob was, as it seemed, so callous to Ned's black eye, not so -with the other members of the household. - -Filled with recipes from his friends, for changing a black eye to -normal white, Ned returned home, and unseen save by Bob, gained his -room. He put in an anxious half hour experimenting; but at the end his -eye seemed blacker than ever--a dense, deep, wicked black. It seemed to -Ned that there was nothing to his face but that black eye; and assuming -a manner of unconcern he descended the stairs and went about his chores. - -"N-Ned!" gasped his mother, meeting him in the kitchen. Maggie, the -girl, giggled. Ned dropped his armful of wood into the wood-box with -the usual crash, and answered, mildly, keeping his head down while he -pretended to arrange some of the sticks. - -"Yes, ma'am?" - -"Look up here." - -Ned obeyed, trying to present only his white side. - -"Why, what in the world have you been doing? Is that a bruise around -your eye, or is it dirt?" - -"Bruise, I guess," responded Ned, shuffling his feet uneasily. - -"Where did you get it?" - -"Fight. Fellow stuck his thumb in it." - -Ned wished that his mother would let him alone; but she would not. - -"The very idea! Whom did you have a fight with?" - -"Big Mike Farr--and I'd have licked him only they all jumped onto me." - -"Come here and let me look at it," bade his mother, aghast. - -Ned approached, sheepish in mien, yet determined to stick up for -himself in case she took him to task. - -But she did not. She stood him by the sink, and while she treated his -wound with homely remedies, applied by soft touch, she let him tell his -battle-story. And when his story and his treatment had been finished -together, and he had emerged with a huge bandage encircling his crown -like a turban, she only sighed: - -"Oh, Neddie! Why _will_ boys fight!" - -"Indeed, ma'am, an' I for one am mighty glad that he wor havin' the -best of that Mike Farr," blurted Maggie, who had been listening with -approval. "Sure, Mike Farr is nothin' but a coward an' a blow. _I_ know -him; I know him well, bad cess to him." - -"He's mean, _isn't_ he, Maggie?" appealed Ned. - -"That he is. He'll come to the gallows; he will. An' all that South -Beaufort gang, too. Yes, I know 'em," declared Maggie, wagging her -head. "They're regular little divils." - -"Maggie!" exclaimed Mrs. Miller, somewhat shocked. - -"Well, they'd better not tackle us fellows again," asserted Ned, -swaggering out for another armful of wood. - -Maggie gazed after him admiringly. - -"Sure, an' I bet he's a fighter when he gets started," she mused. "Look -at them legs an' arms! An' Big Mike twice his size, too." - -"Maggie," reproved Mrs. Miller, "I don't want you to encourage Ned in -fighting. I don't like it." - -And she withdrew in dignity to the sitting-room, where, safe in -privacy, she did not know whether to laugh or be provoked. At any rate, -she did not relish the idea of her Neddie going about with a chip on -his shoulder, challenging boys "twice his size," according to Maggie. - -Mr. Miller, coming home, from afar descried Ned's turban as it bobbed -around in the back yard. - -"Hello," he hailed. "That's a new kind of cap, isn't it?" - -"Yes, sir," smiled Ned. "And I've got a new eye, too. Want to see it?" -and advancing toward the front to meet his father he obligingly lifted -the bandage. - -"Phew!" said Mr. Miller, gravely. "I think I prefer the old eye. Was -this a present?" - -"I traded for it," laughed Ned. - -His father put a hand on his shoulder, and together they entered the -house. Here Ned, helped out by his mother, again made his explanations. -At the close his father simply said: - -"Well, Ned, I don't see how you could have acted any differently--but -I don't approve of fighting, any more than does your mother. Fighting -is not always a fair test of your side of a question, you know. It -is better to avoid a fight by every honorable means in your power. -Sometimes it is more cowardly to fight than to keep from fighting. But -if you can't avoid it," he added, quizzically; "if there's nothing left -to do, to save honor, but fight, then fight for all there is in you!" - -"Will!" protested Mrs. Miller, horrified. - -"But if I had to fight--just _had_ to fight--you'd want me to lick, -wouldn't you, mother?" appealed Ned. - -"I can't bear to think of your fighting at all, Neddie," declared his -mother, firmly. - -Ned's black eye went away rapidly--although not so rapidly as it had -come--and he was made to wear the bandage only a short time. For -this he was thankful, since warm weather arrived, and with it "good -packing"--and what boy can throw straight with but one eye. - -At first the thaw improved the coasting, but in the end it spoiled it. -So long as the coasting lasted the South Beaufort gang continued to use -the hill, but no more fights occurred. - -The two crowds let each other alone, carefully ignoring each other's -presence, the only exception being when Bob dropped his tail between -his legs, reminded of past insults, and raised the bristles on his -back, and when Ned and Big Mike exchanged scowls of mutual defiance. -In this by-play of looks Ned came off rather the worse, his eye still -showing up, while Big Mike was apparently as good--or as bad--as ever. - -The careful truce, however, was merely the calm before the storm. Big -Mike and his companions were biding their time. - -Much to Ned's disappointment, the thaw merged into a Saturday of foggy -drizzle, under which the snow silently ran away in water, instead of as -silently, but more slowly, vanishing as vapor into the air. - -Bound to have what few coasts might yet be found on the hill, Ned -and Bob hastened there the moment that they had finished their early -morning chores--"their" chores, for Bob, although of no real help in a -manual way, always faithfully "stood by." - -At the same time with Ned and Bob, arrived on the hill Hal and Tom. -Les' Porter, Orrie Lukes, and three or four other boys already were -there, and several more came within a few moments. - -The coasting was miserable. The track was slush down to bare road, and -from top to bottom the sled-runners tore through with a "squshy" sound. -Ned's clipper loyally set out to carry him as far and as swiftly as -ever, but after a few trials he was obliged to retire it to one side, -and take a seat on Hal's bob. - -So poor was the going, that when a party of South Beauforters appeared -at the crest, they looked on for a minute, sneeringly, and then -slouched away, bobs, and all, in the direction whence they had come. - -"Good riddance!" scoffed Ned. - -"Good riddance!" congratulated the crowd generally, following his -example. - -Bob flaunted his tail at the retreating backs. - -Half an hour passed. The coasters, now about twenty--including girls -and small boys--were, as it happened, for the most part at the top, -preparing to plough down again along the soft course, when "thud!" -"slap!" "biff!" into their midst tore a hail of snowballs, smashing on -face and body and sled. - -"Ki!" yapped Bob, startled by a stinging missile. - -"Ouch!" exclaimed Jeff Patting, clapping his hand to his cheek. - -Before the astounded coasters could look around, hurtled upon them -another volley, escorted by a slogan of shrill, triumphant, vengeful -yells. - -South Beauforters! - -That riddance had not been so "good," after all. Reinforced, the party -was returning, and pouring from the mouth of a convenient alley, down -swept the enemy, to profit by his sudden approach. - -Big Mike was there, and the Conners were there, and Patsy, as fierce as -any of them, was there. South Beaufort had been wily enough to use the -hill while the hill was usable; but at last, in this day of slush, it -was free to throw off its mask and declare war. - -The coasters scattered. The small boys, some of them frightened or hurt -into crying, ran for home; the girls, with scornful looks, disdaining -to hurry, withdrew in fair order to a safe distance; and the larger -boys, diverging to different points of the compass as they essayed -to reply yet bring off their sleds safely, sought here and there for -refuge. - -With taunting cries the South Beauforters attacked them viciously, -worrying their every step. - -"Watch out! They're throwing 'soakers'!" warned Ned, as, keeping -together, he and Hal and Tom, dragging their bob, answering snowball -with snowball and taunt with taunt, stubbornly gave ground up the -opposite alley. - -"Oh, Ned! You left your sled!" suddenly exclaimed Hal, stopping short. - -"Say----!" uttered Ned, taking a hasty step toward the crest again. - -But too late. The crest was in possession of the South Beauforters, -and at the moment they had discovered the clipper, deserted and lying -in the ditch! Big Mike it was who hauled it forth, Big Mike it was who -gleefully waggled its rope, Big Mike it was who whooped the loudest and -the most maddening. - -"Hey! You leave that sled alone!" yelled Ned, shaking his fist. - -"You come and get it!" retorted Big Mike. - -"I would if you were alone," asserted Ned. - -"Aw, I'll give you another black eye," gibed Mike, while Ned dodged one -well-aimed shot, and caught a second on the leg. - -"Just you wait till we put up this bob," threatened Hal. - -"Yes, 'just wait,'" mocked Big Mike and his gang. - -The bob was put up in short order by chucking it over the alley fence -of Hal's home; then back rushed the boys, to re-engage the foe. - -They resolved that Ned must have his sled, at all hazard. It was awful, -to think of it in the hands of that Mike. True little sled, the best -sled in town. - -As for Bob the dog, for all the aid he was to them, they might as well -have chucked him, too, over the fence and left him. He was no good -when it came to this fighting at long range, and with his tail tightly -reefed, and his ears down, and an expression of intense discomfort, he -clung close to Ned's calves. - -Bob was no coward, but what dog likes to have things thrown at him; and -Bob was under the delusion that every ball was aimed at him alone. He -couldn't understand. - -So for the rest of this fight he must be content not to understand, and -to play but a minor part. - -The South Beauforters, now having in mind no more worlds to conquer, -decided to return to their haunts. Laughing and swearing, they started -to tramp up the road; and freest of all in mouth and actions was Big -Mike, twitching behind him the unwilling clipper sled. - -From the alley the three boys delivered a round of snowballs as a token -that the combat was on once more. - -"Head 'em off! Cut through the yards!" cried Ned; over fences and -through the yards scurried the boys, and came out at the front of the -retreating foe. - -"Give 'em 'soakers'!" urged Hal, squeezing a snowball between his knees. - -"Soakers," as the name shows, are snowballs which have been soaked and -wrung out, so to speak. They are heavy, and hard, and when they hit, -hurt. - -They are not lawful snowballs, but in a warfare of this kind they prove -very useful. - -By this time other boys had put away their bobs and sleds, also, and -had hastened to wage battle. By this time, moreover, comrades far and -wide were getting the news, and dropping chore and game were rallying -to the scene. - -Through yards, around corners, they sped; in ambush behind tree-box and -fence they waited; into the ranks of the South Beauforters rained the -missiles. - -"Soakers" was the watchword--and with the slush so handy there was no -danger of ammunition running out. - -On a small scale it was like that memorable retreat of the British -from Concord to Lexington. The South Beauforters were the British, and -the others were the minutemen. - -Big Mike and his gang tried to reply to the constant fire; one of -their balls, thrown by Slim Conner, took Tom square on the nose as he -incautiously poked his head above the fence. A yell of triumph arose -from Slim and Co. - -"Great Scott!" appealed Tom, ducking hastily, and touching his -finger-tips gingerly to the wound. - -"Let's see, Tom," said Hal. - -Tom uncovered his nose. The left side of it was skinned! - -"They're putting rocks in their snowballs!" declared Ned. "Isn't that -just dirty mean, though!" - -Tom, while somewhat disfigured, was by no means disabled, and now and -then feeling of his nose, continued the pursuit. - -Peppered from every quarter, the South Beauforters began to waver, and -showed a tendency to hop, skip and jump along, and to turn corners on -the double quick. Presently, as by common consent, all broke into a -run, and the retreat became a flight. - -The "soakers" were waxing altogether too deadly. - -Up the middle of the street, elbows raised to protect heads, bolted -the South Beaufort gang, and after them, into the open, scuttled their -attackers, whooping like Indians. Even Bob mustered courage to wave his -tail, and bark. - -From the outset the three boys, and Ned in particular, had selected Big -Mike as their especial target. Had "soakers" been bullets they would -have landed him long before; but the most they had done was to make him -curse them heartily when some telling ball reached the mark. And still -he had the clipper in tow. - -"Drop that sled, you thief!" Ned kept calling, fiercely. - -"Thief! Robber!" chimed in Ned's companions. - -Closer the attackers drew their lines. Matters looked promising for a -general fight. The boys' blood was up, and Ned was bound to get that -sled. "Soakers" seemed not to do it, and there was nothing left but -fists. - -At this crisis, just as the pursuers were closing in on the pursued, -and "soakers" at short range were on the point of giving way, unless -something unexpected occurred, to fisticuffs--then the unexpected _did_ -occur! - -Out of a cross-street whirled an empty lumber wagon, mounted on runners -and whisked behind two horses, from the South Beaufort mills. The South -Beauforters hailed it as sent by a special providence. - -At any rate, the rescue was planned exactly right, and in nick of time. - -Just as the bob turned into their path, they met it. Without causing -it to slacken its speed, and without themselves slackening, into the -high box they tumbled, Patsy, and the Conners, and Red Sullivan, and -all--all except Big Mike! - -Gleefully looking behind, to place thumb on nose and wiggle his -fingers at Ned and crowd, he proved his own undoing. He slipped, and -sprawled--and away without him was borne his gang, with the driver, a -South Beauforter, laying lash on steeds. - -But Big Mike did not sprawl long. Like a cat he sprang to his feet, and -dropping the clipper now sought only to save himself from his deserts. - -Ned, who was fleeter than the others, was the nearest to him. On -clumped Big Mike, spurred by fear, in the trail of the faithless bob. -After him struggled Ned, spurred by wrath and only a few yards from his -heels. Behind them strung out the other pursuers. - -Of the two, hare and hound, the latter, Ned, because he had been -scaling so many fences and making so many circuits, was the more -exhausted. However, he grimly hung on, and at the last Fortune rewarded -him. - -The first limits of South Beaufort had been reached; Big Mike was on -familiar ground. The hare had been run to its hole. With a sudden -movement Big Mike changed his course at right angles, and darted for a -friendly alley. - -Ned dug his heel into the slush, and drew back his arm, at the same -time. Awaiting opportunity, during all the chase he had been carrying -a pet "soaker." It had grown harder and harder, and now opportunity -bade "Ready!" Just as Big Mike, presenting the broadside of his face, -entered the alley, Ned, without halting, sped his snowball. The -"soaker," whizzing like a grape-shot, burst with an icy "smack" on Big -Mike's ear! - -"Ow-w-w-w!" screeched Big Mike, the last bit of spunk taken out of him -by that sudden blow. - -Ned, puffing, turned and rejoined his comrades, to receive -congratulations--and his clipper. - -The next Monday it was rumored at school, on good authority, that Big -Mike had an ear on him looking like an over-ripe pear. Ned, hearing, -was pleased. He felt that his black eye had been avenged. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE LONG SKATE - - -Like the ill wind that nevertheless blows some good, the thaw, although -spoiling the coasting, opened the way for two weeks of the finest -skating that Beaufort had ever known. The snow had become water, but -the water now became ice. - -For in the north Winter heard how his sovereignty was thus being -intruded upon by an o'er-anxious Spring, and in haste dispatched to the -scene General Bitter-Cold. With his force General Bitter-Cold arrived, -amid a flourish of trumpets, late one night. So well did he work that -by morning Beaufort and the country round-about was Winter's again. - -He sealed each pond and stream with the seal of empire, and then -proceeded to fetter anew the mighty river. - -Beaufort had a system of weather flags; and when, for some hours -preceding General Bitter-Cold's arrival, the cold-wave signal was -flown from the staff upon the town hall cupola, it was received by -Ned and his cronies, save Bob, with much delight. Bob, being rather -thin-skinned, much preferred spring, no matter how early it might come. - -But with no snow left, and with the streets mud and water, Ned decided -that almost anything would be welcome. - -"The paper says that the temperature will fall forty degrees by -morning," announced Mr. Miller, at supper. - -"Won't that be fine, though!" asserted Ned. - -"It won't be very fine for the poor people, however," suggested Mrs. -Miller. - -Ned tried to look solemn, but the picture of the skating quite blotted -out that of the poor. - -That night, as he sunk his cheek into his pillow, about to go to sleep, -he heard old Boreas sound a fanfare down the flue; and he chuckled and -blissfully cuddled into a ball. - -In the barn loft Bob, at the end of his burrow amid the hay, raised -his head for a moment, inquiringly; then, with a shiver instead of a -chuckle, he, also, cuddled closer. - -The next morning Ned was detailed to sprinkle ashes and sawdust upon -the various walks and paths belonging to the premises, so that the -other members of the household might venture out with safety. For -himself he left a narrow strip, leading from back stoop to barn, -unsprinkled; it was his private slide, and was a constant peril to -other back-yard visitors, notably Maggie and Bob. - -There was now excellent skating on the flats, where several large ponds -had been formed and had readily frozen over. But the river yielded more -slowly. However, the zero weather was genuine, and had come to stay a -while. Grimly General Bitter-Cold did his work, day by day and night -by night building from either bank out toward midstream, until finally -a juncture had been made and over the channel itself had been spread a -crust of crystal. - -So quickly this crust deepened and toughened, that soon an ice bridge -had been staked out, and teams were crossing from shore to shore. - -The work of freezing had been done very quietly. On this account the -Mississippi was now like glass. All Beaufort went skating. The field -was unlimited, save as in the swiftest parts of the current the water -continued to show, sullen and black. - -"We're going to skate down to Newton next Saturday," declared Ned, -confidently. - -"It's good of you to tell us," remarked his father, mildly. - -Ned was puzzled. He was not exactly sure what the tone of voice meant. - -"Well, can't I?" he inquired. - -"That is a problem," replied his father, bent upon teasing. "But I -should think that a boy who not an hour ago declared himself unequal -to the task of filling up two coal stoves might find considerable -difficulty." - -"Oh, pshaw!" pouted Ned, the hit telling. "I mean, _may_ I?" - -"Just as your mother says," answered his father. "We'll leave it to -her." - -Ned's face did not express any great joy over this condition upon his -going. He knew so well what an amount of convincing his mother, always -timid, winter or summer, about the river, would take. Nevertheless, he -went boldly at his task. - -"May I, mother?" he appealed to Mrs. Miller, who had been listening -with a smile on her face. - -"Oh, Neddie! I don't believe the ice is safe!" she said. - -"Pooh!" scoffed Ned. "It's more than two feet thick, right in the -channel. You just ought to see the big chunks they're cutting out for -next summer." - -"But Newton's so far," objected his mother. "You wouldn't get back -until long after dark." - -"Why, mother!" exclaimed Ned, quite out of patience. "It's only -fourteen miles and we can skate that in an hour and a half easy." - -"I'm so afraid you'll run into an air-hole, or something, Neddie," -pleaded his mother, unwilling to pull down her flag. - -"There isn't a bit of danger," assured Ned, eagerly. "Lots of the -fellows have been down and back, and there's a regular path." - -"Who, for instance?" suddenly chipped in his father. "'Lots of -fellows,' I find, is sometimes rather indefinite." - -"Lou Ravens and 'Duke' Burke did it just the other afternoon," promptly -responded Ned. - -"Still, since they are not centipedes it takes more than two boys to -make a path, you know, Ned," said his father, drily. - -"But we could follow their skate marks--really we could, father," cried -Ned. "May I go, mother?" - -"What do _you_ say, Will?" asked Mrs. Miller, seeking refuge in her -husband. - -"Now that isn't fair," cried Ned. "Father said he'd leave it to you. -May I? It's just as safe as our back yard." - -"You'll be very, very careful, and watch out for air-holes?" asked his -mother. - -"Yes, I will," promised Ned. - -"And be home before dark?" - -"Yes, ma'am." - -"And not take any risks?" - -"No, ma'am." - -Mrs. Miller looked doubtfully at her husband. Ned foresaw surrender, -and with a hug and a kiss he won her over. - -"Then I may! May I? I may--may I? Mother, you're just as good as you -can be! And if you'll give me a quarter I can get some oyster soup at -Newton. Hal and Tom will. You see, we ought to have something warm, and -oyster soup is dandy when a fellow's empty." - -"Ask your father," bade his mother, roguishly. "I've furnished the -permission, and he'll have to furnish the quarter." - -And it seemed to Ned that his mother had come out rather ahead, in the -bargain. - -It was not such a tremendously long skate upon which the boys started -Saturday morning. In a straight line it would be only twelve miles, but -by the bending river, and by the extra strokes that they would make in -picking out the best patches of ice, it would be nearer fifteen. So -down and back, it must be figured as thirty miles--only, the "back" was -to seem twenty times longer than the "down"! - -Hal called for Ned, and together they made for the levee, where they -were to meet Tom. Ned thought that he had done the feat of slipping off -without Bob's seeing him. Bob was a very able dog, _in_ the water; but -_on_ the water he was of very little use whatsoever. If in a boat, he -became seasick; and if on ice, he slipped and slid. - -When the boys arrived at the levee they found there not only Tom but -also Zu-zu and a girl friend of hers. - -"Why, _you_ aren't going, are you, Zu-zu?" asked Ned, in surprise. - -"No--but I would if mamma'd let me," replied Zu-zu, tossing her head. -"I could skate that far as easy as not." - -"I bet you couldn't," said Hal. - -"I could, too," insisted Zu-zu. "You needn't think that just because -we're girls we can't do anything." - -"What made you bring Bob?" queried Tom. - -"I didn't," said Ned. - -Yet, at the moment Bob came sidling up from behind; grinning, begging -pardon, hopeful that he would be forgiven and taken. It was very, very -rarely that he stole such a march upon his master, for when he wasn't -wanted he usually had strength of mind enough to stay away. But to-day -had entered into his head the idea that, willy-nilly, he would make -one of the party; and keeping out of sight he had slyly sneaked along -upon the opposite side of the street from the two boys, until farther -dodging had been impossible. - -"Bob! What are you doing here?" scolded Ned. "Aren't you 'shamed of -yourself!" - -Bob was. He hugged the snow, and with his nervous tail confessed his -hopes and fears. - -"Go home!" thundered Ned. - -Bob flattened himself still more, willing to be whipped, but unwilling -to go home. - -"Oh, Ned, don't hurt him," begged Zu-zu. "We'll take him back, won't -we, Bess? Poor Bobbie!" - -"All right," responded Ned. "Only, he's a bad dog, just the same. He -knew he'd no business to come." - -Zu-zu gave Bob a friendly little pat. - -"You'd like to go, the same as us, wouldn't you, Bob?" she said. "And -we _would_ go, too, if we were only boys." - -"Oh, I wouldn't be a boy," asserted Bessie. - -"I would," averred Zu-zu. - -Bob said nothing upon the subject. As a rule, he was quite satisfied -with being a dog. Zu-zu's touch and voice, and the fact that the -threshing did not descend, filled him with sudden energy. Up he sprang, -thinking the crisis over; bounding and barking he rejoiced mightily, -and bade his master rejoice with him. But on the contrary Ned paid him -not the slightest attention. Bob was a dog in disgrace. - -Off the six went, the girls proudly keeping abreast just to show what -they could do, and Bob clawing behind, trying to prove that he was as -good as any one on the ice, but nevertheless making poor work of it -when it came to turning corners. - -They passed the Diamond Jo warehouse, and Commodore Jones' -"boats-to-hire" establishment, where wintered under cover the -scull-boat; and still skirting the shore sped under the bridge, between -the first pier and the high stone base. - -Here the girls must stop. - -Here Bob must stop. - -"Mother said this was as far as you could go, Zu-zu," reminded Tom. - -"Bob, go home!" ordered Ned. - -"Come on, Bob," cried Zu-zu. - -"Good-bye," said the boys, gliding on. - -Bob was astounded, disappointed, hurt. He had not been taken. All his -apologies had been for nothing. He was to be left with the girls! - -He stood stock still, as if stunned, watching the receding figures of -the three boys. Then he lifted his nose, and voiced his feelings in a -piercing howl. - -"Good-bye," again called Ned, turning and waving his hand. - -"Good-bye, Ned," called Zu-zu, waving back at him. - -"Wow-ow-ow-ow-u-u-u-u!" lamented Bob. - -"When a dog howls it means somebody's going to die," croaked Hal. - -"Well, I guess it's none of us, anyway," spoke Ned, quickly. - -"How do you know?" argued Hal. "Maybe we'll skate into a hole." - -"Oh, pish!" said Tom. "Shut up." - -"Wow-ow-ow-ow-u-u-u-u!" still mourned Bob. - -"Yes, I know; it's a shame, Bob," said Zu-zu, patting him. "We could go -just as well as they, couldn't we? Only they're boys, and we aren't." - -Bob never gave her a glance. He turned his back on her, and looking -neither to one side nor the other, with his tail curved downward and -inward he climbed the bank, and headed for home. - -"He's disgusted. Come on, Bess," laughed Zu-zu. So they skated up to -the levee again. - -The morning was glorious, with the sunbeams glistening over the ice, -and the air full of little crystals. The river stretched broad and -flat; here and there a hummock, and here and there a change from dark -to light or from light to dark. - -The steady rasp of the saws in the ice fields mingled with the angry -shriek of the circular steam saws in the lumber-mills. All sounds were -carried far, through this crisp atmosphere, over the level plain where -once had been rippling water. - -The boys felt like Mercuries, with winged heels, so swiftly their -skate-blades bore them onward. Before they had uttered another word -they were at the head of Eagle Island. Here they had the choice of -taking Paper-mill Slough, or continuing upon the river proper. - -"Let's go outside the island," suggested Ned. "They say the water that -comes from the paper-mill is so warm it eats away the ice, and that the -slough's chuck-full of air-holes." - -Ned's picture was enough to remove any question as to routes, and down -along the outside of the island they dashed, their skates clinking a -merry tune. - -At first they followed, as Ned had assured his father they could, a -"regular path," made by the skate-blades of numerous others. They -met nobody save three or four Hollanders from the island settlement; -odd-looking people on wooden skates, bound, with easy, graceful motion, -for town. - -The tracks dwindled and dwindled, and presently there were none at all. -Not a person was in sight. Before the three lay the vast expanse of -ice, waiting to be explored. - -What had become of those reputed marks of Lou Ravens and "Duke" Burke, -the frozen river said not, and the boys spent no time in searching. - -Stillness reigned, broken only by the wood chopper's ax echoing from -the island, the cawing of the black crows crossing overhead, the -metallic rhythm of the skate-blades, and the rumbling groans of the ice -as it cracked for miles under the grip of the cold. - -"My--isn't this fine!" cried Hal, spurting to relieve his spirits. - -"I should say so!" agreed both his comrades, spurting also. - -For a quarter of a mile they fairly flew. - -In spots the ice was so smooth that they flitted over it with a -velvety, rocking sensation; in others it was of coarser grain, through -which their steel "zipped" only slightly less easily. In others it was -rough enough to make the blades clatter. - -But all the time the trees and bushes of the shore spun by as when -viewed from the windows of a railroad train. - -Now the ice was black and clear so that in shoal spots one could descry -the sand beneath. Now it was dense and milky. To glide suddenly from -the white ice upon the black was apt to give one a shock, for the black -looked like water. - -Zigzagging upon their course, trying to select the better ice, and -ever keeping their eyes fixed before them in order to avoid air-holes, -the boys, at times in close file and at times considerably separated, -skated at full speed. - -Gradually they cut away from the island side, and when they had reached -the foot of Eagle they were far out, toward the shore of the mainland, -opposite. Such a thing as slackening to rest never occurred to them. -The miles fell behind with no effort; in fact, the pace was so blissful -that the boys hardly cared to break the charm by talking, and only -risked an occasional, "Isn't _this_ bully, though!" when they skimmed -across a particularly glossy patch. - -With the island out of the road, here the river was again a mile -wide--a vast sheet of ice, with a few narrow strips of sparkling blue -which denoted areas that never froze over. - -The shore line bent inward, slightly, and looking down the mighty curve -the boys could already see Newton, the clustered houses forming the -background to a sandy sprit. - -"I'll stump you not to stop once till we get there," challenged Hal to -his companions. - -"All right," agreed Tom. "I could keep this up all day." - -"So could I," asserted Ned, although his ankle, not so strong as it was -before the sprain, protested that _it_ couldn't. - -Ned ought to have supported it by a strap; but he claimed that only -girls and molly-coddles wore straps. - -Aiming straight for the village spire the three dashed on as though -they were dispatch bearers. "Clink, clink, clink," and the yellow dunes -of the shore danced past, and Newton steadily drew nearer. - -A last glorious burst of speed, to prove how fresh they were, and up to -the Newton levee, fringed with skaters, they dashed. Panting, running -perspiration, with a flourish and a scrape they halted. - -"There!" they congratulated themselves, all together. - -Thus they might go back home, and boast that they had come those miles -without a stop--for although Tom had caught his toe in a crack and had -pitched headlong, even while sliding the fastest he had regained his -feet and continued his way. - -They took off their skates, and went up town. As they climbed the levee -their feet felt very flat and awkward, as is only natural when one has -changed from flying to walking. Ned's ankle pained him like sixty, but -he minded it not. - -There was not much to see in Newton. It had only the single business -street. However, they sauntered here and there for an hour, feeling -like distinguished visitors. - -"Let's eat," at length spoke Ned. - -His proposal was instantly adopted. They recalled a sign which stated -"Oysters in All Styles"; and presently they had clumped into a -little back room, and seated about a small round table were waiting -impatiently for "three stews." - -"Say--but this tastes good!" sighed Ned, when they had drawn up their -chairs, and the first spoonfuls had gone down. - -"Um-m-m-m-m!" mumbled his two companions. - -The stews disappeared; also, disappeared crackers and butter and -pickles and celery. None of the boys ate pickles at home, but -everything tastes good after a fifteen mile skate! - -They pushed back their chairs, and sat a moment in silent contentment. - -"Well, what do you say to starting?" yawned Hal, whom the warm soup and -the close room were making sleepy. "Then we can take it easy." - -So they arose, and stiffly passed out. - -"You boys come down from Beaufort, didn't ye?" inquired the -storekeeper, as each, with the air of a millionaire, planked his -quarter down upon the glass cigar-case near the street door. - -"Yes, sir," responded Tom and Ned together. - -"Wa-al, if you're calculatin' on skatin' back I'd advise ye to be -settin' off," drawled the storekeeper. "It's gettin' ready fer a big -storm." - -"Do you think it will storm right away?" asked Hal, anxiously. - -"Can't say; but she's a comin', all right enough," assured the -storekeeper. - -As soon as they were in the open air the boys could perceive a great -change in the atmosphere. The sun no longer shone. Everything was gray, -and the wind was wailing. - -It blew full from the north. When they had left the levee, and were -headed for home, it was exactly in their teeth. - -It was a gusty, mean wind; sweeping upon them, with naught to -interrupt it for miles and miles of ice, it at times almost took them -off their feet. - -With heads down, and coats closely buttoned, they stanchly pushed on. - -Very different was this from the trip out. - -"Whew!" gasped Tom, when they paused, after having covered about a mile. - -"We'll do like the geese, when they fly," proposed Ned. "I'll go first -for fifteen minutes, and break the wind, and then you fellows can take -your turns." - -They started, this time in single file, with Ned leading, and Tom next -and Hal at the rear, all taking short, choppy strokes together. At the -end of fifteen minutes, according to Hal's watch--which his father had -given him instead of a gun--Ned dropped back and Tom came to the front. -Hal succeeded to Tom, until it was Ned's turn again. - -This plan worked very well; in the unity of action, the regular, -unvarying stroke for stroke, was a certain force that carried them -forward famously. - -At the end of an hour and a half Hal suddenly called, from his place at -the rear: - -"Oh, fellows, stop a minute." - -Tom and Ned looked behind. There was Hal, lying flat on the ice! - -"I've got to rest," he explained, as the wind drifted them back upon -him. Evidently he was the weak one in the party. - -"Get up," commanded Ned. "You'll get all stiff." - -"I should say! You'll feel worse than you did before," chimed in Tom. - -But Hal only lay and puffed. - -"It's snowing!" exclaimed Ned. "Come on, Hal; we've got to get home." - -Hard particles of snow were rushing with the wind, cutting through the -air and scudding along over the ice. - -Hal clambered to his feet, and the three lamely started again. The stop -had stiffened not only Hal, but also the other two, and it required -some effort to limber up once more. - -The snow increased, coming in blinding squalls. The wind was keen and -raw. The boys kept on as before, now swinging their arms, now skating -with arms behind the back, and in other ways trying to ease their labor -by variety, until soon they were appealed to by Hal to stop again. - -"You needn't lead any more, Hal," said Ned. "Need he, Tom? We can break -the wind, and he can keep behind." - -"Of course," agreed Tom, stoutly. - -But even then poor Hal needed frequent halts; he was doing his best, -only his best was not so good as the best of the two others. Tom, also, -began to be in distress. As for Ned, his weak ankle burned like fire. - -The snow grew thicker, whirling out of the north, and with a wall of -white resisting their advance. The ice was covered, so that their skate -blades threw up little furrows. Now black ice and milk ice, rough and -smooth, looked alike, and over the air-holes was spread a treacherous -curtain. - -"Come on, Hal! Don't lie down!" urged Ned. - -"I can't. I'm tuckered!" gasped Hal. "You fellows go ahead, and let me -freeze." - -"No, we won't do any such thing," declared Ned. "I tell you--we'll land -on Eagle and walk up it as far as we can. Walking will be a change." - -Tom said nothing, but his lips were white. - -The foot of Eagle was still over a mile beyond; how far they did not -know, because they could not see the shore on either hand. They were -alone in a trackless desert. - -"You _must_ come, Hal," bade Ned, stooping and raising him. "Tom and -I'll push you." - -"No, I'm going to freeze. That's what Bob's howling meant!" moaned Hal, -dismally. - -But Ned and Tom each took an arm, and with him between them valiantly -struggled on. And it _was_ a struggle, with Ned doing most of the -pushing, and Tom having hard work to stand up for himself, and Hal a -dead weight. - -After they had floundered on, in this way, with pauses to catch breath, -for seemingly a thousand miles, the wooded end of Eagle showed darkly -through the driving storm. - -"Hurrah. There it is, Hal!" cheered Ned. - -His ankle had ceased to pain him; it had lapsed from fire to an icy -numbness. Now it kept turning under him and his strokes were irregular -and lacked force. Tom, still thinking that he was helping Hal, was -walking on his skates, rather than skating. Ned was the only one who -talked. Hal was heart-sick, and Tom was one of those chaps who simply -press their lips the tighter, and plod on until they drop. - -Eagle approached, oh, so slowly. Risking the danger of possibly thin -ice close in shore, Ned, pushing Hal, and with Tom stubbornly stumbling -along on the other side, strove for the point. - -"There!" breathed Ned, as all three had done before, at the Newton -levee. This time, however, he was the only one to say it. - -They flopped down among the brittle bushes, for a rest. It seemed good -to be on land--bleak as the spot was. - -Presently Ned, arousing himself, kicked off his skates, and while Tom -was fumbling with his, removed those of the passive Hal, also. - -Ned stood up. Tom stood up. Hal tried, and fell back. - -"Hal, you must!" again ordered Ned. "Don't be a baby!" - -"I'm _not_ a baby!" sobbed Hal, stung to the quick, and staggering to -his feet. - -Tom looked on, saying nothing. - -Off they went. As they warmed to their work, they found that walking -was an agreeable change. The wind was broken by the trees, and although -it wailed and roared, and the snow sifted in their faces, still they -were far more comfortable than they had been upon the river. - -Hal pluckily braced up, and would take no more help. Tom made no sign -either way. Ned sang and whistled and joked, all by himself, and ever -one leg from the knee down was only a dead weight. Sometimes he stole a -glance at it to make sure that it was there. - -Eagle Island seemed deserted. In all their long, dreary march, -slipping, tripping, faint with hunger and wet with snow and -perspiration, they saw not a house, nor heard, save Ned's, a human -voice. - -When they reached the edge of the woods, they found that they had cut -across the island, and were at the Paper-mill Slough. - -Here Hal broke down again. - -"You aren't going to walk the slough, are you?" he whimpered, seeing -that Tom and Ned were hobbling on, without swerving. - -"Sure. Why not?" answered Ned. "We want to get home, and that's the -quickest way, isn't it?" - -"I'm afraid. The slough's all full of air-holes!" faltered Hal, -beginning to cry afresh from weariness and fear. - -"We'll go first, Hal," comforted Ned. "You aren't afraid to follow in -our tracks, are you? See--Tom's half way across already." - -For Tom had never paused, but had trudged ahead like a machine. - -"N-no," said Hal, trying to be brave, and not think of Bob's howling. - -It was dark. The slough was ghostly, and the farther shore was but a -dim line. Here and there a light glimmered; northward were more lights, -and Beaufort. - -A couple of miles, and they would be home. - -Over the slough stumped Ned; behind him trailed Hal, sobbing and -moaning, but coming on, just the same. It was no use for them to pick -their way. Air-hole and solid crust looked alike. And while the ice -cracked under them, sending their hearts into their mouths, and the -wind lashed them and the snow blinded them, they pushed forward and -arrived in safety at the mainland. Tom was waiting for them, like a -statue. - -South Beaufort did not interfere with them as they toiled through it. -Big Mike and the Conners and all were housed from the blasts. As they -gained their own more familiar territory Hal blurted, suddenly: - -"I'm sorry I was scared, fellows. But Bob howled so like the dickens -that I thought something was going to happen." - -"Oh, pish!" muttered Tom--the first time in hours that he had spoken a -word. - -"That's all right," said Ned. "Hal had more grit than _any_ of us, -because he came ahead even though he _was_ scared." - -Mrs. Miller was half frantic, and even Mr. Miller, sure as he was that -Ned would "turn up," was getting restive, when Ned tramped upon the -front porch and in through the welcoming door. - -"Oh, Neddie!" cried his mother. - -"Don't scold me. I'm so tired!" pleaded Ned, now feeling free to give -in. - -He pitched into a chair before the sitting-room stove, and they removed -his cap and scarf and mittens, and pulled off his boots. After he had -swallowed some warm supper, and had stammered his tale, he stumbled to -bed; and his ankle throbbed, throbbed, throbbed, through all the night. - -The next day he was on crutches again. Hal reported as well as ever. -It was Tom, the silent, dogged Tom, who fared the worst, just as he -had said the least. For a month he was sick from the strain and the -exposure. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -AN UNEXPECTED BAG - - -Spring came early, but none too early for the majority of Beaufort -people. In particular, none too early for Ned, whose ankle was proving -a check on his farther winter sports; and none too early for Tom, to -whom Christmas had brought a gun which he had hardly been able to use -even on rabbits; and none too early for Bob, who, as has been said, was -not a cold-weather dog. - -With the advent of the south winds and the steady dripping thaw, -Ned's ankle and Tom's cough--keepsakes from that memorable Newton -trip--rapidly disappeared; and the nearer ventured the ducks, -the stronger felt the two boys. Together--Tom no longer Ned's -squire, but now, by virtue of that Christmas present, become his -brother-at-arms--they haunted the levee, watching for the flight to set -in and the ice to go out. - -Bob accompanied them. But he was not especially interested in ducks. -Dread of gun forbade him to hunt them, alive; and instinct forbade him -to gnaw the bones of them, dead. Summer really was Bob's only unclouded -season, for then he could share in all Ned's excursions. Still, even a -dog cannot go through life without trials. - -All through the spring vacation that ice which had made such good -skating on the Mississippi hung and hung, regardless of the fact that -its mission had been fulfilled, and that it ought to leave the field -to the hunters. Meanwhile the wild fowl had been making use of the -Missouri waterway; and when, at last, the blockade in the Mississippi -was lifted, and in the shape of enormous floes of slush swept down the -channel, mashing against the piers of the Beaufort bridge and piling up -on the shores, the relief was too late. - -Most of the ducks had passed by, on another route, and Ned and Tom had -killed never a one. - -Tom was disappointed beyond measure. His new gun yearned for its first -duck, and but illy submitted to the superior blood-record of Ned's gun. -Probably this is why, in its mistaken zeal, it brought to bag what it -did. - -The duck crop being a failure, the boys had to content themselves with -the snipe crop. After the ducks, save now and then a wood-duck or a -blue-winged teal which had decided to stay all summer, were beyond -reach of even a thirteen-inch cannon, not to speak of a twelve gauge -single-barrel, jack snipe and plover still lingered in the marshes and -along the edges of the streams. - -It was the second Saturday in April, and Ned and Tom were among the -sloughs across the river, raking the country for whatever might be so -unlucky as to offer itself as an acceptable target. The withdrawal of -the ice from the Mississippi had given release to that in the sloughs, -and everything was springlike and green and watery. - -Now it was afternoon. As to what the boys had thus far secured, the -less said, the better. Of course, one cannot have good luck on every -trip. But there was a chance, yet, to round out the day well, had not -Tom's gun, impatient and unruly, sailed in without waiting, and on its -own hook. - -The slough was on the boys' right. They were walking single file--Ned -carelessly a few paces ahead, or Tom carelessly a few paces behind, -just as critics choose--on the alert for game. It might be a pair -of plover winging overhead, or a jack snipe whisking from under -their feet, or, possibly, a belated duck squawking from its covert, -or--something else. - -"Boom!" And Ned was on his knees, and, astonished, was trying not to -fall farther. - -It had happened so very suddenly. The first thing that he knew, his -ears had been deafened by a tremendous crash, and at the same instant -he had been struck a violent blow on the back, and thrown forward. The -next thing that he knew, he was tottering on his knees, and Tom was -bending over him, wailing: - -"I've killed him, I've killed him! Oh, dear, what shall I do!" - -"I know you didn't mean to, Tom," comforted Ned, still rather hazy as -to just what had taken place. - -"Are you dying, Ned? Don't die! Oh, don't die!" pleaded Tom. - -Ned examined himself, inwardly, a moment, to determine what his exact -state might be. He could place no pain; but this was what seemed awful: -that he might be dreadfully wounded somewhere, and yet not know it! - -"Where did it hit me, Tom?" he asked, faintly, and not daring to stir. - -"I shot your shoulder all to pieces!" cried Tom, wildly. "And my gun -wasn't even cocked!" - -Ned fearfully looked over at his left shoulder. He beheld his coat at -that spot in tatters, and his whole left sleeve torn so that it hung in -only threads. - -With such havoc made, surely there ought to be pain; but on the -contrary the sole sensation was a curious numbness in his left side and -extending to his left elbow. - -He wondered if it could be true that he was about to die. He found -himself not afraid, although it was hard to die away off there, in the -open country, beside a slough. He was sorry for himself, and for his -father and mother, and for Tom. What would Bob think? What would the -boys and girls say? Poor little Zu-zu would cry and cry, and keep his -duck wings forever. - -"Can you move your arm? Try!" implored Tom. - -Ned cautiously tried, and found that he could swing his arm and wiggle -his fingers. But it was as though he was experimenting with the arm of -somebody else. - -Both were now becoming somewhat more hopeful. Of the two, Tom, as was -natural, was the more excited and frightened, because upon his head -rested the accident, and because it was he who could view the full -extent of the damage. - -Ned could only imagine; Tom could both see and imagine. - -"I don't believe I'm shot so bad, after all," mused Ned, easing himself -by settling back upon his heels. "It doesn't hurt a bit." - -"But you are! I'm afraid you are!" moaned Tom, pitifully. "And it's all -my fault, though I don't see how it ever happened." - -From the appearance of that back it seemed to Tom that the whole load -must have entered Ned's shoulder. - -"Isn't any one in sight to help us?" queried Ned. - -"Not a soul," said Tom, with a quaver of despair in his voice. "Shall I -fix you as good as I can, and then run like lightning and get a wagon, -or something?" - -"I bet I could walk as far as the road," asserted Ned, pondering. "That -would be a better place to leave me, for people are more apt to come -along there, you know." - -"But I hate to have you walk, Ned," said Tom. "It might not be right -for you." - -Nevertheless he took Ned's hand and helped him get on his feet--which -was done with no apparent harm. - -"I don't need to be held up," objected Ned, as Tom started to put -an arm around his waist, and lead him off. "You carry the guns. You -weren't going to forget them, were you?" - -Tom raised Ned's gun from the spot where it had dropped when Ned -himself had dropped, and then gave his own, lying where he had flung -it, a kick. - -"It can stay here and rust, for all of me," he declared. "I'll never -touch it again; never." - -"Shucks, you will, too," scolded Ned. "Now you pick it up." - -So Tom roughly picked it up. Together the two boys--the injured and the -sound--slowly walked across the field, with Tom watching Ned askance, -as if expecting him to keel over at any instant. - -Ned, however, while keeping himself well in hand, and on the lookout -for any new and warning symptoms, did not feel the least discomfort -from the motion. - -His shoulder was numb, and only numb. - -To reach the road they had to cross a railway track; and as they neared -it Tom halted and cried, joyfully: - -"Listen!" - -A clattering rumble, around the curve, fell upon their ears. - -"A train--it's a train!" cried Tom. "You stay here and I'll go ahead -and stop it." - -"Maybe it won't stop," said Ned. - -"Yes, it will. I'll make it," assured Tom, running forward. "They -wouldn't go on and leave you here to die!" - -Uncertain as to how he would do it, but determined to stop the train at -all hazard, Tom flew for the track. - -Around the long curve swept the Pacific Coast Limited, due in Beaufort -at 3:21. The engineer, peering ahead, was startled to see, planted -between the rails in the rapidly nearing distance, a boy with a gun in -each hand, threatening the advance of the train. - -The engineer opened the whistle valve, and the engine sounded its -angry, impatient command: "Out of the way!" - -Tom saw the white flare of steam, and a second later heard the quick -shriek of warning. But he never budged. He only waved his arms and guns. - -He tried to make the engineer know; now he flourished the guns, and now -he patted his left shoulder, and now he pointed off toward Ned, and -wept aloud in his fear that he was not being understood. - -The engineer and the fireman noted the gestures, and saw that the boy -stubbornly stood and budged not. - -It seemed to be a question of either slowing down or running over him. - -To Tom it was a question of either saving Ned or being run over. - -The engineer's hand tightened on the air-brake lever. The other hand -grudgingly jerked the throttle. - -Tom saw the engine still closing in upon him at relentless speed--and -he only gestured the more. - -Then, on a sudden, with grinding of wheels, and a disgusted wheeze, the -train stopped; the pilot of the engine just touched his boot-legs. - -"What's the matter with you, eh?" demanded the engineer, savagely, -leaning out of his window. - -"A boy's been shot! He's got to be taken to town right away," explained -Tom, hastening around beside the cab, and looking up at the grimy face -far above him. - -He clutched the cab steps imploringly, resolved that the train should -not start without him. - -The fireman had jumped to the cab door and was listening. - -"Well, where is he?" demanded the engineer. - -"There----" began Tom, but he was interrupted by a brakeman, who, -followed by the conductor, came running up from the foremost coach. - -"What's the matter here?" asked the brakeman. - -"A boy's shot, and you've got to take him to Beaufort," announced Tom, -again. - -"Where is he?" snapped the conductor, now taking hold of affairs. - -"He's coming. All right, Ned," encouraged Tom, beckoning to Ned, who -was walking as fast as he could, through the field, toward them. - -"That him?" demanded the conductor, shortly. - -"Yes, sir," replied Tom. "He's----" - -"Go ahead," ordered the conductor, turning on his heel, to the -engineer. "Young man, this is a dangerous business you're in--stopping -limited trains just for the fun of it. I've a mind to take you to town -and turn you over to the officers." - -He glared at Tom, and the brakeman glared at Tom, and the fireman and -engineer glared at Tom, and all the faces stuck out of the windows of -the line of coaches glared at Tom. - -The engineer reached for the throttle, and Tom reached for the -conductor's coat-tail. - -"Oh, but it's true, it's true!" cried Tom. "He _is_ shot. I shot him -myself. You look at his shoulder and you'll see. Please wait! Please -wait, just a second. If it isn't so, you can do anything to me you -like. See--how his left sleeve is all torn." - -"Have him hurry up, then," said the conductor, moved by Tom's appeal, -and able to see for himself that evidently something was wrong with Ned. - -Tom dropped his guns, and jumping down the slight embankment sped to -Ned, to help him pass a barbed wire fence, and climb the gravelly slope. - -"By Jinks--the boy _is_ hurt!" observed the brakeman. - -The conductor tapped with his foot impatiently. - -"At any rate, he's making us lose lots of time," he remarked. - -"All aboard!" he called, as Tom and Ned toiled up to the track. And -he added, kindly, as the sight of Ned's pale face and tattered back -impressed him: "Get in the first coach, lad. Help him in, Jack." - -With a boost from the brakeman Ned safely landed upon the vestibuled -platform. At the same instant, as though he had touched a concealed -lever, the train started, so eager was it to be again under way. - -Ned, with Tom steadying him, entered the coach, and sat meekly in -the seat next to the door. The conductor came to interview them, and -curious passengers crowded around; the news that "a boy has been shot" -had spread adown the long line of aisles. - -Tom answered a multitude of questions; and Ned, too, had his share. He -told everybody, in reply to their queries, that he felt all right, but -in truth his shoulder was beginning to throb and sting. - -Presently a physician came through, and after a keen look into Ned's -face, and a light fingering of the arm and shoulder, pronounced no -bones broken; and being told that the victim was going only to Beaufort -gave it as his opinion that the wound should wait, rather than be -examined on the train. - -Over the bridge rumbled the train; and in a moment Ned and Tom, two -forlorn figures, descended at the depot. - -Their car had stopped beyond the depot crowd, and nobody noticed them -emerge from the vestibule, upon the bricks below. Tom, who had halted a -limited train, was equal to this next crisis. - -The hacks and 'buses were at the other end of the depot, but across the -wide brick walk he saw Luke Denee's white horse and veteran express -and transfer wagon, with Luke himself standing by it, waiting for -whatever hauling the train might have brought him. - -"Oh, Mr. Denee! Mr. Denee!" called Tom, running forward. "Won't you -carry Ned Miller up town--he's been shot!" - -"What's that?" inquired Luke, bustling forward. "Ned Miller? Where is -he--why, bless my soul!" catching sight of Ned himself. "Who shot him?" - -"I did. My gun went off by accident," explained Tom, wearily; he was -growing tired of confessing it so often. "He ought to be got to a -doctor right away." - -"You bet I'll take him, and we'll get him there in a jiffy," assured -Luke. "Golly the grog and the great horn spoon, Ned boy--did Tom take -you for a goose, or a snipe, or what?" - -"A what, I guess," replied Ned, as Luke helped him into the rear of the -wagon, and settled him upon a trunk. The train was pulling out, and -from every window the passengers' faces stared out upon them. - -Barely waiting for Tom, with the two guns, to leap into the wagon, Luke -plumped upon the seat and lifting the lines clucked vigorously to his -white horse. The report of Ned's plight was now being repeated from -mouth to mouth through the depot and vicinity, and as the wagon rolled -away and turned down the street it was followed by a murmur and many -eyes. - -With Ned sitting upon the trunk, and Tom standing beside him to steady -him, and Luke laying the whip on his astonished steed, the wagon -rattled down the thoroughfare. Scenting something wrong, the people -whom it passed gazed after it in wonder. - -"Where to? Which doctor?" asked Luke, over his shoulder. - -"Dr. Mathews--he's the one the Millers use," directed Tom. "Is that all -right, Ned?" - -Ned nodded. - -Dr. Mathews' office was at his house, and luckily they caught him in. -Ned was wearing a hunting coat, and an ordinary coat under it. The -doctor put him in a chair, and not saying "by your leave" swiftly -and skilfully cut away the layers of cloth, and ripping up the shirt -underneath laid bare the shoulder. - -Tom, gazing, beheld a group of little round, blue holes, and some -smears of blood. - -"Oh, dear!" he groaned. "Isn't that awful!" - -The doctor was delicately inserting a slender steel probe into one of -the holes. Ned, hunched over, holding his breath and clenching his -teeth, feared a sorry time. - -"Does it hurt you much?" asked the doctor, gently exploring with the -probe. - -"N-n-no, it doesn't," replied Ned, relieved. He could not feel the -probe at all. - -"Numb, eh?" remarked the doctor. "Well, that's good." - -"Is it very bad, doctor?" asked Ned. - -"Not a bit of it!" assured the doctor, cheerfully. "Just a flesh wound, -and in a week or so you'll be as well as ever! You've been struck by -only--let's see--ten, eleven, thirteen--by thirteen shot, and they're -on top of the shoulder-blade, every one of them, so far as I can tell." - -"Oh, I'm so glad!" sighed Tom, bursting into tears. Now that the worst -was over, he collapsed. - -"Don't cry, Tom, old fellow," begged Ned. "Everything's all right, now." - -"Yes, indeed," assured the doctor. "But you had a very, very narrow -escape. The load must have passed between your shoulder and neck--and -if it had swerved a fraction of an inch to the right, or so as to enter -lower, you'd have bled to death long before this." - -"Oh, Ned!" exclaimed Tom, aghast at what might have been. - -"But it _didn't_ swerve, you know," prompted Ned. - -Here Mr. Miller, frightened as he never had been frightened before, -rushed in. Bad news travels fast. - -"Ned!" he cried, at the sight of his son under the probe. - -"Now that will do, Mr. Miller," cautioned the doctor, smiling to quiet -his fear. "Ned is right side up, and almost ready for another hunt. -He's pretty tough, you must understand." - -"Nothing serious?" questioned Mr. Miller. - -"Not in the slightest," asserted the doctor, with a belittling shake of -his head, and withdrawing the probe from the last hole. "I'll simply -dress this place with antiseptic, and you can take him home in my -carriage. Just have him keep quiet for a few days, and I think that -he'll soon be as fit as a fiddle." - -So Ned was carried home in Doctor Mathews' carriage, his father -driving. Tom was left to bring the guns, and answer queries along the -way. - -One would suppose that Mrs. Miller, by this time, would have been so -used to having Ned return after having figured in some hair-breadth -escape, that she would take no especial notice of such a little thing -as thirteen shot in his left shoulder. - -But when she witnessed him gingerly clamber down upon the horse-block, -his arm in a sling, she acted as though this was his first, instead of -maybe his hundredth, accident. - -Yet the thirteen shot in his shoulder did not concern her so much as -did the rest of the load, that had passed so near, just missing his -neck and his lungs. - -Bob followed Ned in from the gate, and sniffing the antiseptic, and -wondering why his master did not respond, as usual, to his energetic -greetings, remained upon the front porch, to consider the new smell, -and ponder over what was up. - -Ned's wound did not trouble him much. He got his hurts easily, as a -rule, and just as easily he was rid of them. Young blood is good blood -for healing purposes, as well as for purposes in general. - -Tom was constant in his attentions, as were Zu-zu and Mrs. Pearce. They -sent or brought fruit and books and everything that might benefit or -amuse. - -Neither of the boys could understand why Tom's gun had exploded, when -it wasn't cocked. However, upon examining the cartridge it was found -that the cap bore a faint dot, where the plunger of the gun had rested -upon it. The cap had been too sensitive, and a light jar had sent it -off. - -"Still, I'd no business to have it pointed toward you," asserted Tom, -when Ned tried to excuse him. - -"Tom says he guesses you'll never want to go hunting with him again," -said Zu-zu, one day, on paying a visit to Ned. "He says _he's_ never -going again, either." - -"That's all nonsense," vowed Ned. "You tell him so, Zu-zu. He's the -safest fellow in the world to go with, now, he'll be so mighty careful. -My folks think that way, too." - -When Zu-zu went home she carried in a little pill box six shot that the -doctor had cut out from just beneath the skin of Ned's back, where they -had come to the surface; and right and left she proudly showed them -among her friends. - -Only one thing remains to note. Ten days after the shooting, Mrs. -Miller finally succeeded in tracing to its source an unsavory odor that -had been bothering her, about the house, for some time. She searched -Ned's ill-fated hunting coat, and with a cry of disgust bore it, at -arm's length, into the room where Ned, with the contented Bob beside -him, was sitting. - -"What do you think I found?" she asked, thrusting in her hand, and -drawing out, between her finger tips, a mass of feathers. - -"It's a plover!" fairly shouted Ned, with a howl of laughter. "That's -what I shot the day I was hurt. I'd forgotten all about it. Ugh! Take -it away!" - -"And Tom was so jealous that he shot _you_!" retorted Mrs. Miller, -hurrying out. "Well, his bag was the biggest, I think." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -BIG MIKE AGAIN - - -"Mrs. Miller, can't I take Ned fishing?" asked Tom, through the open -door. - -He and Ned and Bob were sitting on the front porch. It was two weeks -after the shooting accident, and Ned, aside from the arm still carried, -for safety, in a sling, was apparently as hale as ever. Never a day -passed that Tom was not in to see him at least once, and often more -frequently, and visits from Hal and other friends swelled the calling -list. - -Ned had told so many times just "how it felt" to be shot, that now it -was an old story, and he was getting tired of being the fashion. - -"Why----I hardly think it would be wise, Tom," responded Mrs. Miller, -from within. - -"But fishing'll soon be over--that is, the best of it," pressed Tom. -"Perch are running thick as flies, so you can catch them as fast as you -can throw in and pull out. Hen Swiggert brought home a hundred and four -yesterday, and he was gone just part of a day. It's too bad Ned has got -to miss the fun." - -"'Twouldn't hurt me a bit, mother," urged Ned. "'Twould do me good." - -"I think you ought to keep quiet," declared his mother. - -"He can be just as quiet as he is here," argued Tom. "We'll go over on -Eagle. I'll row him, and we'll get up in Catfish Slough, and all he'll -need do will be sit in the shade and fish. He can fish with one hand, -easy." - -"Of course I can," agreed Ned. - -"Well, we'll see what the doctor says about it," promised Mrs. Miller; -and that was the best word that the boys could squeeze out of her. - -The doctor said: "Go ahead, but don't get heated." - -"Isn't he a dandy doctor, though!" exclaimed Ned, reporting to Tom. - -"When I'm sick he's the doctor _I_ want! I'll tell my mother so," -answered Tom. "When a fellow's ready to go out he doesn't keep him in!" - -The boys had planned to use the scull-boat; but unluckily it turned out -that Hal wanted the craft upon the same day as they, and Ned said, "All -right." - -"I should think Hal could let you have the boat, considering you're -hurt," hinted Tom. "Why can't he?" - -"He and Orrie Lukes are going up the river and stay all night," -explained Ned; "and they haven't any other boat they can sleep in very -well. The scull-boat's dandy for sleeping in because it hasn't any -seats." - -Which was true. - -"We can hire a skiff from Commodore Jones, I suppose, then," said Tom, -but in a tone not wholly satisfied. - -"I suppose we'll have to," replied Ned. "We'll get the No. 19--she -pulls the easiest of any. But I'd rather have the scull-boat." - -"I tell you what!" exclaimed Tom, struck with an idea which had popped -into his brain. "We'll get a boat down at the Paper-mill Slough and -then all we'll have to do will be to row across." - -"Whose boat?" queried Ned. - -"Oh, I don't know," answered Tom. "Anybody's'll do. There are always a -lot of skiffs tied along shore there--old leaky things, but good enough -for us to fool with." - -"It wouldn't be stealing, would it?" asked Ned, anxiously. - -"No; I wouldn't call that 'stealing,'" asserted Tom. "Some of them -don't belong to anybody, 'special. They're just used by the South -Beaufort fellows to monkey in, and aren't even locked. Nobody'll care -a bit if we take one for a day, and bring it back. It'll save us a big -row up against the current, too." - -"Save _you_, you mean," corrected Ned. "I can't row, except with one -hand." - -"You shan't row a stroke!" decided Tom, alarmed lest Ned might be going -to try. "I'm running this shooting-match!" Then he added, doubtfully: -"Zu-zu wants to go." - -"Let's take her," urged Ned. "Of course! She wouldn't be in the way a -bit." - -"Girls are a kind of bother, usually, out fishing, but Zu-zu's -different from most of them," said Tom, highly pleased. - -"Zu-zu's got sense. She doesn't just stand round and squeal," observed -Ned, sagely. - -"That's right. I'll say it, if she _is_ my sister," agreed Tom. - -Half-past five o'clock Saturday morning found the four of them--Ned -and Tom and Zu-zu and Bob--at the Paper-mill Slough. Ned had under -his sound arm his and Tom's jointed rods, while Zu-zu proudly bore a -slender little pole purchased for her by Tom, on the previous evening. -Tom was in charge of a basket of lunch. - -This basket vexed Zu-zu, who would have preferred that each one carry a -few slices of bread and butter and sugar done up in a paper bag, just -as the boys did when they went alone. But her mother had insisted upon -the basket, with lunch in it for three. Ned was to furnish nothing; he -was guest of honor. - -Bob carried himself. - -The morning was ideal--dewy and balmy and clear. Zu-zu, who rarely -had been up so early before, and who looked on this outing as the -greatest event of her life, was in the seventh heaven of delight over -everything; even Bob could not keep back a few yelps; but Ned and Tom, -as befitted old hunters and fishers, used to all hours and to all -sights, were very matter-of-fact and stoical. - -Indeed, Ned had thought it quite out of keeping with his dignity to -have his mother arise before him, and hover over him while he ate his -early breakfast, to make sure that he was well provided for and that -his shoulder was not troubling him! - -The sun was half an hour high, and, peeping over the trees of Eagle, -opposite, was shining across the smooth waterway. Fish were jumping, -birds were twittering, and the air was deliciously fresh. - -With their noses resting upon the shore, and the little ripples lapping -against their sides, just below the paper-mill there were, as Tom had -predicted, quite a number of skiffs, of various shapes and in various -stages of ruin. But, contrary to that which he had predicted, all -seemed to be padlocked, with chains, to rings and staples. - -"That's a pretty idea!" grumbled Tom, prying along the line. "You'd -think the old shebangs were worth something!" - -"Isn't it almost stealing, Ned?" inquired Zu-zu. "Tom says it isn't." - -"N-no," replied Ned, weighing the pros and cons of the matter. "You -see, if we find a boat that's unlocked it's a pretty sure sign that -either it hasn't an owner, or else the owner doesn't care if people -borrow it. We're just going across the slough in it." - -Zu-zu accepted the decision as final; Tom and Ned ought to know. She -looked on anxiously as Tom examined the various fastenings. What if the -trip had to be given up! - -Bob sat down near Ned, and whined. He wondered why this fussing and -delay. It was only a short swim. - -"Hurrah--here's one that's only tied," announced Tom. - -"Goodie!" exclaimed Zu-zu, jumping up and down. - -Ned heaved a sigh of relief, and Bob pricked up his ears. - -"Come on, Zu-zu," said Ned, descending to the boat, at the bows of -which Tom was fumbling. - -The boat proved to be the worst of the lot. It was a clumsy-looking, -flat-bottomed affair, with square ends, and unpainted. - -"What are you going to row with?" asked Zu-zu, stopping short. - -Ned stared at Tom, and Tom stared at Ned. Somehow, oars had not -occurred to them, although had they thought, they would have known that -whatever the boat, the oars would not be left in it. - -"I'll paddle with a board," declared Tom. "You get in while I'm hunting -one." - -"Sit in the other end, Zu-zu," bade Ned, holding out his hand to help -her as she sprang from seat to seat. Bob was less polite. He rushed -rudely past her, as if afraid of being left, and planted himself in the -stern. - -"Bob! Shame on you," reproved Ned. "Don't you know that the rule is -'ladies first'?" - -"But that's meant for men, not dogs, isn't it, Bob?" comforted Zu-zu, -perching herself beside him, and sitting on her feet to keep them out -of the water that swished about in the leaky craft. - -Tom, with a piece of board in his hands, hurried back, and when Ned -had securely squatted upon a seat in the middle, with a lusty heave he -slowly started the heavy boat from its mooring-place, and tumbled in. - -He stood up, and with a long, sweeping motion paddled first on the -one side and then on the other. The craft, with its load, gradually -crept toward the shore of Eagle, a stone's throw away. Zu-zu, fixed -in the spot assigned her, longed to trail her hand in the water, but -refrained. She did not dare so much as move, lest she should become a -"bother." - -Under Tom's efforts they floated into the narrow mouth of a little -bayou, called Catfish Slough, which wound through the island and -emptied into Beaver Lake, in the centre of the island. - -"Gracious, but this is hard work!" spoke Tom, after they had run -aground several times in rounding corners. "The old thing won't answer -her helm." - -"Poor Tom," cooed Zu-zu. - -"Let's get out and walk," proposed Ned. "It'll be quicker, and easier, -too." - -Bob already was walking--or, rather, scampering. According to his -custom, as the boat approached the land he had deserted. - -"Let's," chimed in Zu-zu. - -Tom swung the unwieldly craft in broadside against the bank, -where trees and bushes came clear to the water's edge, and all -disembarked--although by different methods. That is, Zu-zu skipped out, -Ned leaped out, and Tom merely stepped out, so that he could stoop and -tie the chain painter to a root. Bob was present to welcome them. - -"There!" Tom said. "We've got here, anyway." - -"Nobody'll take it, I guess," remarked Ned. - -"Not if they have to row it," asserted Tom. - -"It's the _Black Swan_!" cried Zu-zu, gazing back upon it. "See? It has -the name on the--the--well, I don't know whether you say stern or bow, -but it's right under where I was sitting." - -"Huh! _Black Swan!_" commented Tom, in scorn. "They ought to name it -_Mud Turtle_." - -"You ought not to complain, Tom," lectured Zu-zu. "You might have had -no boat at all." - -Then she suddenly closed her lips, and grew red, for fear lest she -might have said too much. - -But Ned and Tom only laughed good-naturedly. - -They walked ahead for a short distance, following a path along the -little bayou, until they came upon a place where the bank was rather -high, and the water before it was unusually wide and deep. - -"This will do, won't it?" spoke Ned, who was in advance, halting. - -"I guess so," replied Tom, also halting. - -Zu-zu said nothing; she had faith in the two boys. Bob dashed up and -pausing an instant to catch the drift of things, dashed off again. When -he was in the woods he was always very, very busy. - -The bothersome basket, which nevertheless was soon to make itself -exceedingly agreeable, was dropped at the foot of a tree; the boys -fitted together the joints of their rods, and Ned baited Zu-zu's hook -for her, that she might be first to throw in. Although he was limited -to one arm, he could use the fingers of both hands. - -Presently Zu-zu was staring at her cork, bobbing upon the ripples. - -"Oh, it's under--it's under!" she cried. "What shall I do?" - -"Pull it out, quick!" commanded Tom. - -Thereupon Zu-zu gave a tremendous jerk, twitching high into the air an -astonished perch, which fell back with a splash. The empty hook landed -among the bushes far behind. - -"Oh, dear! It got away!" complained Zu-zu. - -"You mustn't jerk so hard, Zu-zu," advised Ned. "Watch how we do it." - -At that instant his bobber, too, wavered, and ducked, and he cleverly -lifted to land a fat yellow perch. - -"I've got one, too!" exclaimed Tom. - -"Hurrah!" laughed Ned, joyfully. "They're biting fine, aren't they?" - -"Poor things--just see how they flop," said Zu-zu, watching Ned string -his spoil. "Do you suppose it hurts them so very much?" - -"I don't believe fish feel as much as we do, or they wouldn't have been -made to be caught," replied Ned. - -"Well, please don't handle them any rougher than you can help," begged -Zu-zu; and plunged in thought, she freed her line from the bushes, and -dropped it in the water again. - -Nothing more happened to her cork, and after guarding it for some time, -while her companions were pulling out fish right along, she hopped up, -and saying: "I shan't fish any more; I'm going to find Bob and look for -flowers," she tripped back into the woods. - -Ned lifted her hook and glanced at it. - -"Why, your hook isn't baited!" he called after her. "No wonder you -didn't catch anything." - -"I don't care," answered Zu-zu. "I hate to see them flop so." - -Ned baited it and let it down again. - -"We'll give you all that are caught on it, anyway," he said. - -Each of the boys was fishing with three hooks on a line; and the perch -bit so boldly that often three were hauled out at a time, with others -chasing them clear to the surface, trying to take the worm from their -mouths. - -Sometimes a round sunfish elbowed a perch out of the road, and grabbed -the bait, only to meet a sudden fate. - -Zu-zu's pole and hook and line, attended to now by Tom and now by Ned, -added to the general collection--and very nearly did more! - -"Tom! Grab Zu's pole--quick! I can't!" warned Ned, abruptly, himself -engaged in safely landing two large perch. - -It was high time, indeed, that somebody came to the rescue, for behold, -Zu-zu's cork was completely out of sight, and her pole, pulled by an -invisible force, was sliding into the water! - -"It's a pickerel--it's a big pickerel!" cried Tom. "I saw his tail!" - -He sprang for the pole--and at the very moment, with a bound and a -splash, that blundersome Bob bolted into the water, from the other -side, and made for their spot, laying a course that would cut exactly -across Zu-zu's line. - -"Go back, Bob! Bob, go back!" ordered Ned, furiously. - -But Bob swerved not. He merely flirted the water out of his ears, as if -to say: "I don't hear you," and ploughed on, barking his defiance. - -Mr. Pickerel took alarm. Any fish might, with Bob's legs, working like -the flappers of an immense turtle, bearing down upon him. He darted -for cover. The line grew taut--and then relaxed, limp and lifeless, -while the thrill all went out of the pole in Tom's eager hands. - -"He broke the hook!" mourned Tom, hauling in. - -"Oh, Bob!" accused Ned. - -Bob clambered up, shook himself, and hied into the woods once more. The -bayou was free for all, and he saw no reason why he should not swim in -it. He certainly had to cross, some way. - -"He was longer than my arm!" asserted Tom, grieved, and gazing with -regretful eyes at the worthless shank dangling where the pickerel ought -to have been. - -"Shucks!" muttered Ned; and his tone held a world of vexation and -disappointment. - -Zu-zu came upon the scene. She heard the sad tale without being in the -least vexed. - -"I don't care a bit," she said. "I'm glad the fish got away. He didn't -want to die, I'm sure. And we have lots of other fish, you know." - -It was plain to the boys that Zu-zu, being a girl, could not understand -what a truly great loss had been suffered. So they did not argue the -case. - -As suddenly as they had commenced, the perch stopped biting. The corks -lay idly upon the surface. The sun was high o'erhead. The dragon-flies -shot here and there over the water, and the gnats buzzed around the -fishermen's ears, and the ears of Mistress Zu-zu. - -"Let's eat," suggested Tom. - -"Yes, let's eat," wagged Bob, appearing as if by magic. - -The rest of the company being of the same mind, the napkiny depths of -the basket were laid bare--and the way that basket heaped coals of fire -upon the heads of those who had despised it was a caution! - -Fish bit only slowly during the remainder of the day. One might have -thought that they had worn themselves out with their greedy efforts of -the early morning. Zu-zu and the two boys idled in the shade on the -turf, and Bob, tireless, roamed east, west, north and south. If the -island, formerly his home, recalled any memories to his doggish mind, -he showed no will to sit and dream over them. - -The shadows of the trees were long and pointed, bridging the bayou, -when the boys drew in the lines, and unjointed the poles, and counted -their fish. - -"How many?" asked Ned. - -"Fifty-three," proclaimed Tom. "How many you got?" - -"Forty-two," answered Ned. "You beat me." - -"But you had only one arm," reminded Tom. - -"Let's see--fifty-three plus forty-two--that makes ninety-five; and -then there's the big fish that got away, which makes ninety-six!" -exclaimed Zu-zu. "My, what a lot! You ought to put some of them back." - -"We've put the big pickerel back; that's all we can spare," asserted -Tom, ruefully. - -They retraced their steps of the morning, along the path, until---- - -"Say--where's our boat?" cried Ned, astounded. - -They had arrived at the spot where they had left the _Black Swan_, but -the craft had disappeared. - -"Certain this is the place?" asked Tom. "Yes, it must be," he -continued. "There's the root I tied to." - -"Somebody came along and helped himself, that's all there is to it," -declared Ned. - -"Maybe it just floated off," guessed Zu-zu. - -"No, it couldn't; or else it would have come our way, with the current, -you know, Zu-zu," corrected Tom. "I call that a downright mean trick, -to take our boat like this." - -"But we did the very same thing, ourselves. The boat wasn't ours in the -first place," retorted Zu-zu, daringly. - -"Well, the only thing to do is to follow on up the slough, and if we -don't come across the boat we'll have to wait for somebody to take us -over to the paper-mill," spoke Ned. - -They followed Catfish until they reached its head, where it branched -off from Paper-mill Slough. They caught not a glimpse of the _Black -Swan_. As they reached the shore the Beaufort whistles were blowing six -o'clock. The sun was slipping behind a heavy bank of clouds, and dusk -was at hand. The three could not make out a single person anywhere near -them, to succor them, and standing there upon the muddy strand, with -darkness closing in, and with nothing to eat and no place to sleep, -they felt like forlorn, shipwrecked sailors. - -Bob, however, curled himself in a ball, and went into a shivery doze. - -"Here come some people," announced Tom. - -Through the mist now rising out of the water a boat approached from the -town side of the slough. It carried a dozen Eagle Islanders who worked -at the sawmills, and were returning home for the night. - -"I'll go and ask them to take us over," volunteered Tom. - -"No, I'll go," cried Ned. "They'll listen quicker to a fellow with one -arm." - -The islanders landed some distance above the little party, and tumbled -out so quickly that by the time Ned had arrived all but one had trudged -into the woods. This one was bending over, fastening the boat. - -"Hello," hailed Ned. "Can't you please take us over the slough? We've -lost our boat." - -But the man only grunted, and shook his head; and picking up his dinner -bucket and coat, and the oars, stolidly tramped away. - -Ned, indignant, examined the boat's chain, with the hot idea of using -the craft, anyway; but he found that it was padlocked. - -He went back to his companions, who had been eagerly watching, and -reported. - -"Oh, dear, what shall we do?" wailed Zu-zu, beginning to be dismal from -the mist and the shadows, and the suspicion that everybody but them -was going to supper. - -"We'll yell like everything, and attract some one's attention on the -other side," proposed Ned. - -"I'd swim and get a boat, if the water wasn't so cold," said Tom. - -"Don't try, Tom. You'd get a cramp," begged Zu-zu. - -The boys shouted, and Zu-zu screamed, and all waved their -handkerchiefs, while Bob raised his head in astonishment. Presently Tom -panted: - -"Somebody's putting out in a boat, all right enough. Keep it up." - -From the mainland opposite, where lights were beginning to twinkle, -a boat, barely seen against the dark shore-line, was starting out -into the slough. They heard the rattle of the oars dropping into the -oar-locks. - -"Keep yelling," gasped Ned. - -And they did, until it was plain that the boat was making for them. - -"It's the _Black Swan_!" whispered Zu-zu, excitedly, as the craft -neared. - -"Oh, no," scoffed Tom. - -"But it is, it is!" insisted Zu-zu. "I know it is!" - -And as it glided up through the muddy shallows at their feet they saw -that the _Black Swan_ it was. The rower stood up, and turned to face -them. He was Big Mike! - -Bob growled. - -"Want to go across?" asked Big Mike, with a grin. - -"Yes--that is, we've lost our boat," stammered Ned, awkwardly. - -"Get in; I'll take you," offered the South Beauforter. - -"Will you? Good for you!" exclaimed Ned. - -"I should say so!" spoke Tom. - -Zu-zu was too flabber-gasted by the sudden presence of this arch ogre -to say a word. - -They marched in. Bob followed, with a dash to get past his enemy in -safety. - -"Was it you folks that took this boat? I found her up Catfish a little -ways," queried Big Mike, pushing off. - -"Well--yes. You see, it was unlocked, and we didn't know it belonged to -anybody especial, and we wanted to get across," explained Ned. - -"It didn't make no difference," said Big Mike. "If I'd knowed who had -it I wouldn't have cared. Only, I thought some of them Dutch on the -island had got it. They're all the time doin' that." - -"Let me row," urged Tom. - -"Naw; she rows easy after she gets started," grunted Big Mike. - -"It's an awful nice boat. Did you name it?" piped Zu-zu, timidly, -hoping to please their dreadful host. Who knows--he might be planning -to dump them in the slough, and drown them! - -Big Mike wriggled uneasily, evidently flattered. - -"Naw; she was named before I got her," he answered. "She ain't very -pretty, but she's good enough for 'round here." - -"How's your shoulder?" he asked, gruffly, of Ned. - -"It's about well. It wasn't much, anyway," responded Ned. - -They were half-way across, and the rest of the distance was covered in -silence, save when once Big Mike remarked again gruffly: "Perch runnin' -thick, ain't they?" to which both boys assented. - -"We're much obliged, Mike," spoke Ned, as they rose to step out. -"Aren't we, Tom?" - -"Yes, sir-ee!" exclaimed Tom. - -"Oh, 'twasn't nothin'," growled Big Mike, tying the boat. "I jest -heared somebody yellin', an' thought I'd go over an' get 'em. I seen -there was a girl, and a feller with one arm done up." - -Ned whispered to Tom, and Tom nodded, and with a gesture passed a -string of fish to Zu-zu. - -"Here," said Zu-zu, holding out the string to Big Mike. - -"_I_ don't want 'em," declared Big Mike, straightening after his task. - -"But we ought to pay you for the use of the boat," said Zu-zu. "And -for coming after us, too; and we've got more fish than we can eat. -There--you'll have to take them," and she dropped them in a scaly heap -at his feet. Then the three of them hastened up the bank, with Bob, -glad to be free from the presence of his foe, frisking ahead. Looking -back, they saw Big Mike slowly lift the fish, and, shouldering his -oars, start off, no doubt homeward. - -"Big Mike's not so bad, after all; is he?" asserted Zu-zu. - -"No," agreed Tom and Ned. - -Bob did not join in this opinion. Nothing that Big Mike would do could -make up, in the mind of Bob, for past offenses. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -JUST ABOUT BOB - - -Bob had now rounded into a fine, strong dog, pleasing in manners and -respectable in appearance. At the time of his rescue from the barn by -Ned and Hal he was in his hobbledehoy period--in dogs, as in boys, that -awkward, sappy state betwixt puppyhood and eye-teethhood. Out of this -he had grown up, under the good food and kind treatment of the Miller -household, into a dog who was a credit to the family. - -He was rather larger than a pointer should be, with a head unusually -wide and full, a sign of great intelligence. His nose was a bit blunt; -and this, and his head, and his stubbornness, caused critics to hold -that somewhere in his ancestry was a strain of bulldog blood. - -His ears were thin and long and velvety, drooping below his chops; his -lips were loose and swaying, and the skin of his neck was loose and -wrinkly. His eyes were a beautiful, faithful brown. His coat was a rich -mahogany, and was even and glossy. He had a magnificent chest--broad, -massive, with a bone that jutted out like that of a turkey gobbler. -Behind it was a barrel of a body, which all of Mrs. Miller's stuffing -never could make else but lean; while his ribs narrowed away until at -his flanks they ended in a sad hollow. - -In truth, Bob's front half was much superior to his rear half, which -ran off into a short, stubby tail tipped with a warty knob. Whether -some accident had happened, to blight this tail in Bob's infancy, or -whether his mother's family had been so unexpectedly large that there -had not been material enough for finishing Bob completely, no one could -say. At any rate, he was not fitted with a tail such as a dog of his -size and breed should have, and he was always more or less conscious of -the fact. - -Reference has been made to Bob's grin. When he was tickled over -anything his whole upper lip curled back, exposing a row of shining -white teeth and brilliant red gums. Thus, grinning at one end and -wagging at the other, he tried to show his pleasure. However, it was -not a becoming face that he made when he grinned, and many people, not -used to his oddity, mistook it for a snarl, and were afraid. As soon as -they came to know him, they understood what a good-natured fellow he -was. - -Indeed, a more good-natured dog never lived. Also, never lived a dog -queerer and more human. No one made his acquaintance but to like him, -and he was suffered to do things that would have earned rebuke for any -dog but him. - -When Ned was absent at school, sometimes Bob would become lonely, and -would start out to find his master. In manner unknown--but through his -nose, or ears, or eyes--he had discovered the room in which Ned was -caged during school hours, and there, in his quest, he would betake -himself. - -If the door was open, in he would saunter, and sniff down the aisle; -and perhaps the first hint to Ned of Bob's presence would be that -sturdy head laid, amid titters, upon his knee. - -As a rule Ned was asked by the teacher to escort Bob to the door again. -But occasionally Mr. Bob would choose, rather, to climb into an empty -seat, and there, by quietly curling for sleep, make amends for his -intrusion. In this case he was allowed to remain, and the room speedily -forgot that he was there. - -At the stroke of the bell, Bob always promptly arose and trotted out. - -Whether or not he learned anything of mathematics or physiology or -grammar during his snooze may be a mooted question; but Ned and friends -claimed that he did. - -When it happened that Bob did not find Ned's seat occupied, he hopped -into it, and there sat bolt upright, as if to fill the vacancy, until -Ned returned. Once in a while he would refuse to get out--and then -would be hauled down by the collar, and led in disgrace to the door. - -With all the wisdom got in school, nevertheless Bob did many foolish -tricks. For instance, he should have known better than to bury pancakes -in the fall, expecting to dig them up and eat them in the winter! When -the pancakes were buried, they and the ground were soft together; but -when they were sought again, a month or so later, they came up--if at -all--in flinty shreds scarcely to be told from the dirt. Yet Bob seemed -not to foresee this; and even during winter thaws he persisted in -scratching small holes and placing in them buckwheat cakes, for use in -the future! - -He so loved to bury things that his nose was nearly always crowned -with a little ridge of soil. Once he brought home a five-pound roast -of beef, which a neighbor had got at the butcher's with intent to have -it for dinner. Bob buried it in the garden, and for a week and more -regularly uncovered it, took a few delicious gnaws, and covered it up -again. - -Ned was obliged to find the neighbor another roast. - -Bob was a dog not easily convinced. This is a polite way of putting it, -for the trait was neither more nor less than downright stubbornness. -When he would not do a thing, he wouldn't, until at last persuaded by -kind words, or hope of reward, or fear of punishment. - -Ned found that patience and gentle argument were better than blows, -to make Bob yield, so threshings were dropped from the list of -"persuaders." Bob had a keen sense of shame, and the tone of the voice -could make him feel worse than the hardest licking. - -His stubbornness was twice very nearly his death. The first time, he -was simply bound not to budge one inch from the way of a heavy farm -wagon. He lay flat in the road, and waited for the wagon to turn out -for _him_. But the wagon kept upon its route, and Bob, still sticking -to his position, did nothing but howl his protests as the wheels passed -over his back. - -His bones being soft, he arose unhurt, and stalked off in the sulks. - -The second time had as a scene the approach to the high trestle -bridging a slough just beyond the farther end of the river bridge. -Ned and Bob had been for a walk, and upon the return Bob had refused -to walk the trestle. According to his custom he flopped down, like a -spoiled child, on the spot. - -Ned went ahead, hoping that at last Bob would arise and follow. He had -gone a short distance, leaving Bob sprawled on the gravel in the middle -of the railroad track, when suddenly he heard the rumble of a train, -nearing from behind. - -"Bob! Here, Bob! Here, Bob!" he called, running back. - -But Bob dumbly declined. - -"Get up! Bob! Get up!" cried Ned. - -Bob, with his master coming from one way and the train coming from the -other, stayed on his spot, deaf to the appeals of the former and the -warnings of the latter. - -The engine reached him first. Ned, horrified, saw him hurled into the -air, up, up, twenty feet, his legs dangling and his ears flopping. -Turning slow somersaults down he came, clear of the trestle, into the -depths below. Ned caught a glimpse of the engineer and fireman looking -back from the cab and laughing, which made him mad. - -The first freeze of the fall had covered the slough with an inch of -ice. Down dropped Bob, as swiftly as though he were from the dog-star, -and lit squarely, in a sitting position, on a shallow place. - -The sound of a shrill yelp floated up to Ned, leaning over to gaze. Bob -bounced to his feet, and leaving the outlines of his hind parts, with a -hole marking where his tail had bored, across the slough he fled, his -ki-yi's drifting behind him, fainter and fainter. - -After much whistling Ned found him again, hiding in the woods. In body -Bob was uninjured, but his feelings had been hurt; and for some time he -could not be made to believe but that a mean trick had been played upon -him by Ned and the train. - -Finally he allowed himself to be coaxed upon the trestle, and with -whimper and trembling, with tail between his legs and with many a -backward glance, he made the journey across. - -Thereafter he took the trestle in a hurry, without a sign of -hesitation. He had learned a lesson. - -Bob's stubbornness was not always of mischief to him. Sometimes it -stood him in good stead, and above all in his fights. Now, Bob was not -willingly a fighter. There were times when he would run from a dog not -half his size. This lack of spirit was a cause of great vexation to -Ned, who, while he would not have Bob a bully like some dogs, upon the -other hand would not have him a craven and a coward. - -But when cornered, or when once started, Bob was a perfect demon at a -fight. The dog that picked upon him, thinking to be able to nag him -without return, was likely to have a sudden rush of trouble. - -Bob's great jaws closed on him with a grip that no struggles could -break. When Bob bit, he bit for keeps. - -He had, in Beaufort, two particular enemies--almost the sole enemies -that he knew. Both were white bulldogs; one lived down town in a drug -store, and the other lived behind a picket fence, out toward the flats. - -Up and down before this picket fence would race Bob, and up and down -behind it would race his enemy, and between the pickets sped a thousand -names and epithets, the most stinging in dog language. - -These were Bob's moments of bravery; but let the bulldog dart out at -him, around a corner or through a hole, and Bob would flee for dear -life, with his foe bellowing at his heels. - -This state of affairs lasted for several months, until, one day, Bob -was surprised and crowded against a high sidewalk, and obliged to make -a stand. The bulldog, after worrying him for a short space, on a -sudden found himself matched against a very angry lion. Bob's temper -was roused. He outweighed the bulldog, he outdid him in strength -and agility, and that canine had a sorry time before the people who -gathered could force Bob's teeth to unclose from a certain white -fore-leg. As for Bob, the loose skin about his throat had been all that -the bulldog could seize. - -This bulldog's day as an ogre was over. Henceforth he was a wiser and -more humble animal. - -The drug store dog learned a like lesson in a like way. One evening he -cornered Bob in between some dry goods boxes, and set about to have -fun out of him. The "fun" ended with Ned dancing around in dismay, -while a policeman, by the aid of lighted matches and the handle of his -club, induced Bob to let go! Then the bulldog's owner, crestfallen and -wrathful, carried his fallen champion home in his arms. - -Bob proudly trotted on his way, licking his bloody chops. His enemy was -retired for a week, and came forth again more discreet, and smelling of -arnica. - -Yet, with all his victories, Bob never went around with a chip on his -shoulder. He much preferred peace to war. - -Bob's greatest gift was swimming. The pointer family is supposed not -to like the water, especially, save as a relief from the heat; but be -it hot or cold, Bob was ever ready for a plunge. His favorite fun was -to get out in the middle of the river, where the current was deepest -and swiftest, and swim up stream. He would do this with no object, it -seemed, except showing off his powers in the water. - -Ah, what a grand swimmer Bob was! With his splendid fore-shoulders high -and dry above the surface, and his mighty chest throwing the waters -aside in a rolling wave, he would plough his path, regardless of the -distance, to the goal. If permitted, he would swim for hours at a -time--aimlessly paddling hither and thither, chasing stray bits of wood -and even bubbles. - -He would make a pretense at diving, but this consisted simply in -sticking his head under, and withdraw it in a instant, coughing, and -shaking the water out of his ears. - -Had he not been gun-shy he would have been an ideal retriever for -ducks. Indeed, Ned taught him to retrieve sticks and balls, and other -things thrown for the purpose; and whether or not Bob had seen them -drop, by ranging in circles he always found them and laid them at his -master's feet. - -Ned also taught him to "charge." Bob would stay crouched against the -walk or road until Ned or Mr. Miller had gone on for a block, perhaps; -his eyes would be shining with eagerness, and his body fairly quivering -with excitement. - -"Come on, Bob," would sound the whistle. - -One note was enough. Up would he leap, and like a cannon-ball down -would he streak, yapping with glee at every jump. He never grew tired -of this game. - -He would mind Ned or Mr. Miller--but upon Mrs. Miller or Maggie, the -girl, he used to impose dreadfully. Let them try to stir him from the -space that he had chosen before the kitchen or dining-room stove, and -he would give a growl so gruff as to frighten them into the distance -again. They would not catch the chuckle under the growl. However, he -never tried to fool Ned or Ned's father. When they said "Get up," Bob -got! - -If he decided to accompany Mrs. Miller or Maggie, he always managed -to do it. They might send him back, as they supposed, a dozen times; -he only made a short circuit, and sneaking along behind fences and -sidewalks would come out upon them, and grin. In spite of their -scolding, and the stones and sticks that they tried to throw at him, he -persevered, and had his way. - -He did not bamboozle the two other members of the family. It was only -the women upon whom he played tricks. He knew that, with all their -threats, they could not bear to hurt him. - -His bedroom was the barn loft, save when, in the hottest weather, he -moved down-stairs. His favorite bed was a burrow in the hay; when a -fresh load arrived, Bob would dig and nose into it, until he had made a -long hole extending so far back that, in his nest at the end of it, he -was quite out of reach. - -To Bob, Ned was the whole world. It offered no bliss that could equal -the touch of Ned's hand, and no music that might equal the sound of -Ned's voice. Just to be near Ned was joy enough for Bob, and if allowed -to snuggle at his master's side he was in ecstasy. A kind pat and an -encouraging word was all the reward that he wanted, no matter how hard -had been his task. Ned was at once his playmate and his king, and life -held nothing more. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE LAST OF BOB - - -One o'clock in a morning of the last of May, and the Miller household, -all unconscious of disaster, was soundly slumbering. Then in amidst -Ned's dreams crept a dull series of noises, which became a persistent -pounding. Ned imagined that he had dived under his scull-boat, and that -the other boys were hammering upon the hull, outside, to bother him. -He struggled to escape, but somehow he seemed unable to get to the top -again. This is the way with dreams. - -Mr. Miller, too, heard a pounding; only, he awakened enough to know -that it was a real pounding, upon the front door, and was no dream. - -He sprang from bed, and sticking his head out of the window over the -porch called: - -"What's the matter down there?" - -"Are you folks all dead?" called back a man. "Get up! Your barn's -afire!" - -And Mr. Miller suddenly saw that the night around-about was strangely -lighted. - -Ned was still striving to escape from under the scull-boat, when he was -brought to the surface in a flash by his father's commanding voice: - -"Ned! Ned! The barn's on fire!" - -"Oh, dear!" wailed Ned, striking the floor in a heap. - -"Keep cool, Ned," encouraged his father. "And dress as fast as you can." - -Trying to force his eyes open, and collect his senses, Ned fumbled for -his clothes. Now the night in his room was turned to day by a glare -of red light, and he could see flames reflected in the mirror of his -bureau. In through the window floated a sharp crackling. - -"Oh, dear!" he groaned, again, his too-eager hands making sad work of -his dressing. - -He heard his mother's exclamations of alarm, and his father's replies -to calm her; and without, echoed the feet of running men, the cries: -"Fire! Fire! Fire!" and the doleful rise and fall of the water-works -whistle. - -His father rushed heavily down the front stairs, and the door slammed -behind him. - -Ned, his clothing only half fixed, instantly followed. As he flew -through the back hall he glimpsed Maggie, wringing her hands, quite -beside herself with grief and fright. - -"Oh, Neddie!" said his mother, whom he passed at the head of the -stairs, her hands filled with valuables. - -He did not reply, but dashed down, and out of the back door. - -The whole west end of the barn, joining the wood-shed, was blazing. His -father was already attacking the sliding carriage-door (fastened from -within), with an ax, while a little group of spectators, anxious to -help, stood about him. - -"Where's the key to this?" demanded a man, who was tugging at the -padlock of the smaller single door. - -"Under the step--I'll find it!" gasped Ned, stooping and groping in -front of the sill. - -The key had slipped into a crack, but he drew it out, and put it to the -padlock. - -"Bob! Here, Bob! Here, Bob!" opening the door, he shouted, up the loft -stairs just before him. - -At his words the flames and smoke sucked down upon him, nearly stifling -him. - -"Bob! Here, Bob! Here, Bob!" he hallooed again. - -But no Bob. With a sob in his throat Ned sprang across the threshold, -only to be seized from behind and dragged back, while the flames, -disappointed, licked after him into the outer air. - -"You little fool--are you trying to kill yourself?" roughly asked the -man, holding him tight. - -"But my dog's in there!" cried Ned, straining to break away. "Here, -Bob! Here, Bob!" he called. - -"He's a goner, then," declared the man. "Don't you see? The whole -loft's ablaze!" - -"Y-y-yes, I see," quavered Ned, growing limp with a sense of the awful -thing that had happened. Oh, Bob, Bob, Bob! - -He ceased his efforts to be free, and the man released him. - -In the meantime Mr. Miller's blows had splintered a hole so that he was -enabled to reach in and lift the hook. The sliding door crashed open, -and in through the smoke he dashed, seized the buggy by the rear axles, -and dragged it into the yard. Its varnish was blistering from the heat. - -Time for rescuing anything else was not given. In a fierce tide a -torrent of blaze from the burning hay above poured out between the -warping boards, and bending inward with the draft filled the doorway. -Through the barn, top to bottom, ravaged the fire-giant with his -flaming sword. - -Still the water-works whistle was tooting and yodling, but not a -hose cart had arrived. The crowd was growing rapidly, for the fire, -fed by a ton of hay, and a quantity of grain, was lighting up the -vicinity for blocks. There was a constant volley of queries about the -hose-companies, and a constant gazing down street for some sign of -their coming; Mr. Miller was in despair; but no cart was yet on hand. - -The kitchen gable was beginning to smoke. Ned hurriedly coupled the -garden hose to the faucet set in the foundation of the house, and -turned the nozzle upon the scorching paint. The stream appeared -ridiculously small, and was bent and shattered by the storm of -inrushing air. - -Mr. Miller crawled through a second-story window above the kitchen -roof, and hung a coverlet, hastily jerked from a bed and soaked with -water, over the gable where the heat seemed worst. A line of men was -formed from the pump and from the kitchen sink, up the back stairs, and -passed buckets of water out to him. These he emptied over the coverlet, -and here and there over the shingles. - -Below, inside, were Maggie and Mrs. Miller, the one naturally as strong -as any man, the other nerved, by the crisis, to unusual strength, -standing at the faucets of the sink and filling pails, pitchers, wash -pans, anything that might serve to supply the line of men. - -Outside, with the fire baking him, behind, and the spray from the -nozzle drenching him, in front, Ned valiantly plied his stream. On a -sudden it died away to a mere trickle. The hose, under the increased -pressure put on by the water-works, had burst. - -Ned dropped the nozzle. At the same instant a chorus of shouts arose, -and a score of hands were upstretched, pointing at a spot where, eight -feet above the kitchen roof, under the exposed gable-peak of the main -portion of the house a flicker of flame was licking along. - -Mr. Miller, bareheaded, his eyebrows and hair singed by the waves of -heat, from his position upon the sloping roof of the kitchen, heard the -cries of warning, and saw the blaze which had passed his defenses, and -was in his rear. But in vain he dashed water at it. Protected as it -was by the overhanging eaves, and occupying a place awkward for him to -reach, it resisted all his efforts. - -"Climb up with a rope!" yelled some voices. - -"Get a ladder! A ladder's the thing!" yelled others. - -But nobody seemed able to find rope or ladder, and the flame continued -to grow. - -Ned shot through the kitchen and up the front stairs. He bolted into -his room--it was hot as a furnace, poor little room!--and snatching -his ball of trot-line from the drawer where it had lain nearly a year, -bolted out again. He scrambled through the open window of Mr. and Mrs. -Miller's bedchamber, and running along the roof of the front porch -shinned up the water-spout and was upon the house-top. He scaled the -steep slant, and now, balanced astride the peak, shuffled toward the -farther end. The crowd saw him, and cheered. - -In a moment his astonished father beheld him perched on the burning -gable. - -"Ned! Go down," exclaimed Mr. Miller. - -Ned wasted no time in arguing. - -"Tie a bucket or something on this," he called, lowering his trot-line -as he unwound it. - -Mr. Miller grabbed a small tin pail which was just being passed out to -him, and fastened it to the dangling cord. With the water splashing -from it Ned hauled it up, and the crowd of spectators watched, -breathless. - -All he could do was to lean over as far as he dared and dash its -contents up under the eaves; a groan from the watchers told him that -he had done no good. Although attacked from above and below, the tiny -blaze lived on. - -The fire had spread from the Miller barn westward, and by means of the -on-stretching sheds was eating its way, rod by rod. The Millers' next -door neighbors, on the west, were battling stoutly, with garden hose -and buckets, and the structures across the alley had caught. - -[Illustration: ALL HE COULD DO WAS TO LEAN OVER AND DASH THE WATER -UNDER THE EAVES.] - -These were low sheds, and not barns, so that the houses were not apt -to catch. The Miller house was the only one that seemed doomed. Try as -they might, neither Ned nor his father nor other eager helpers could -put out that steady flame under the eaves; and now the kitchen eaves, -also, were smoking and smouldering in a dozen places. The kitchen roof -was getting so slippery that Mr. Miller could hardly move about on it. - -"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The approach of succor faintly fell on Ned's -ears. The hose-carts, at last! - -"The hose-carts! They're coming now!" he shouted to his father. - -"The hose-carts! There come the hose-carts!" murmured the crowd in -swiftly increasing tones. - -"Hurrah!" cheered Ned, scrambling back over the roof to the porch. - -"Thank God!" sighed Mr. Miller; and then he could not refrain from -adding, as he had a right to do, the mild criticism: "And it's about -_time_ they came, too." - -Indeed it was. Down the dark street, shaded by the trees, appeared four -spots of light. "Clang! Clang! Clang!" louder sounded the gongs--never -a more welcome sound. With tramp of feet and hoarse shouts up raced the -rival carts of the Pole Star and Defiance companies, drawn by their -volunteers, and unreeling their hose as they came. - -With a crash and a shower of sparks the loft of the barn fell in, but -there still was plenty of work for the two floods that presently gushed -from the fire nozzles. Mr. Miller hastily ducked through the window, -and above his head spattered a heavy stream before which the impudent -blaze beneath the main gable was blotted from existence. A driving -deluge swept against the kitchen, and all those little flames that had -been taxing the bucket brigade vanished in a twinkling. - -The house was saved; but seldom house had more narrow escape! - -Ned, climbing in again from the porch, had proceeded to do something -that long had been on his mind. His loaded shotgun cartridges! -Supposing the house should burn and they should explode and injure -people! He had a vague notion that he would be liable to arrest for -having kept powder around. Besides, he did not want anybody to be hurt. -So he groped his way into the attic, and piling the shells in his arms -carried them down and laid them under the front steps. Then he breathed -easier. - -He found that his care had been needless. The house was out of danger, -and already the fire, in its march from shed to shed, had been met by -the nozzle-men and stayed in its tracks. Two streams were playing on -the barn, their water hissing among the red-hot embers. Other hose -companies had arrived, and under the efforts the glare of a few moments -before had sunk to a fitful glimmer. - -Mrs. Miller and Maggie turned from their labors at the sink to the -gasoline stove and made a huge bucket of coffee. This they served to -the chilled, tired members of the bucket brigade, who were wet with -perspiration as well as with splashes from the pails. - -Ned now found time to recognize in the throng of helpers and onlookers -people from far and near. The whole town was there--and had come, as -the funny costumes proved, in a great hurry. - -Hal and Tom appeared in breathless haste, and sought him out, and -condoled with him. - -"It's too bad, Ned," said Hal. "But I don't believe that even if the -hose companies had got here sooner they could have saved the barn. That -hay made an awful blaze." - -"Why didn't they come sooner?" demanded Ned. - -"Why, they had the wrong signal," explained Tom. "They went 'way off in -North Beaufort, and then they saw the flames and turned 'round." - -"Didn't you save a thing?" asked Hal. - -"Just the buggy," answered Ned, with a gulp as heart-sickness rose in -his throat. - -"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed the two boys, their tones expressing much more -of sympathy than the mere words tell. Ned walked away, and they kindly -let him alone. - -By twos and threes the crowd thinned out. There was nothing now to see. -Gradually, as the need for their streams ceased, the lines of hose were -wound on their reels. - -Darkness settled over the scene. - -Before going to bed again the Millers had much to do. While they -themselves, with other fire-fighters, had been busy in the rear of the -house, a swarm of eager townsmen had been invading the front part, and -lugging out everything movable upon which they might lay hands. Chairs, -books, sofa, pictures, rugs,--all had been hurriedly borne across the -street and piled in a heap. - -Even carpets had been pulled from the floors, and bundled into the -outer air. - -On the top of the pile sat, as if on his own quarter-deck, Commodore -Jones. The commodore might be styled as in undress uniform; slippers, -trousers, and a red bandanna to keep the night damp from creeping down -the neck of his nightshirt forming his outer costume. - -"Who is it?" asked Mr. Miller, peering up at him, through the dusk. - -"Oh, it's only Jones. I was kinder keepin' an eye on these things o' -yourn," wheezed the commodore, carefully descending. - -"Well, I'm sure we're much obliged, commodore," said Mr. Miller, -knowing the voice. - -"You see," exclaimed the commodore, "I looked out o' my winder, and -I thought this whole end of town must be burnin'. An' after I'd got -started, I heared it was your barn an' house, an' I reckoned I'd come -on an' lend a hand. An' bein' as I can't stand a wettin' I thought I'd -mount guard over your truck, here. I've been burned out, myself, an' I -know how more things are lost by bein' stole an' damaged than by the -fire itself." - -"It wasn't necessary, quite, to carry out so much," observed Mr. -Miller, surveying, as best he could, the heap of goods. - -"They was a leetle premature, that's a fact," agreed the commodore. -"It's a pity you ain't goin' to move; you've got a fine start at it." - -With the aid of the commodore and a few neighbors the Millers placed -their household furnishings back under cover. Ned carried his -cartridges indoors, again. Mrs. Miller declared that she could not -sleep with her kitchen in such shape--the floor one big puddle and -streaked with mud--and she and Maggie went at it with mop and broom. -They not only cleaned the floor, but also the porch and the back -stairs, which were wet from top to bottom with the overflow from the -pails and pans. - -This done, the Miller household retired to resume its broken slumbers. -But during the rest of the night Ned, for his part, slumbered only by -snatches, now thinking that he smelled smoke from some fire anew, and -now thinking that he heard Bob appealing to him. Several times he found -his pillow wet with tears, despite his efforts to shut them back. - -At last he gave way, and blubbered well in the dark, while he moaned: -"Bob! Dear old Bob!" - -Nevertheless, all the time in his breast was a faint hope that perhaps, -by hook or crook, Bob was living. It did not seem possible that he -should be dead--gone forever. - -However, in the morning the insurance men, poking among the ruins, -found him. He was in the midst of the charred hay. The flames had -scarcely touched him, and Mr. Miller said that a painless death by the -thick smoke had come upon him in his burrow without his ever waking. - -Ned was glad to believe it, and was happier. He took only one look at -the still body of his faithful, loyal chum, and walked away across the -desolated yard, scarred and marred by the midnight events. He noted -naught of this desolation without, for his eyes were brimming, and -within, around his heart, reigned a greater desolation. - -Later, where the horse's stall had been, were found four -horseshoes--these, and nothing more. Yet the fate of Fanny appeared to -Ned as nothing, beside the fate of Bob. - -He went to school, as usual. Zu-zu came running up to him. - -"Oh, Ned! Is Bob really dead?" - -Ned nodded. Whereupon Zu-zu burst into tears and fled up the school -steps, into the shelter of the hall. - -Ned wished that for the moment he, too, were a girl, so that _he_ might -act as he felt. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE RAID THAT FAILED - - -Wood-piling time had come again. It found a new barn and a new shed -already standing, in place of the old ones, upon the Miller premises. -The scorched house had been repainted and the blistered buggy had been -revarnished. Thus far the damage by the fire had been made good. But -here the work must stop, for no new Bob could fill the place of the old -Bob. - -Bob had long been put away; still Ned often dreamed of him, and -while knowing that such a thing was impossible, was always expecting -to meet him, suddenly, around some corner. No other dog would Ned -have, although his father told him to get whatever kind he chose. To -Bob--faithful, human Bob,--there could be no second. - -The long vacation had begun, and Ned was making his morning attack -upon his eleven loads of slabs--that annual visitation to which he was -subjected--when he heard a familiar whistle, answered it according to -the code, and presently saw Hal climb over the alley fence. - -"Hello," greeted Hal. "Got to work?" - -"Yes," replied Ned, gloomily. "Just look at the wood, will you!" - -"Want to know something?" queried Hal--news fairly sticking out all -over him. "Well, listen here. What do you suppose old Belton has got -planted 'way off behind his house! Watermelons!" - -He paused in order to give his audience time to swallow the startling -fact. - -"Whereabouts?" asked Ned, delight in his tone. - -"Near the ravine, beyond the grapes," answered Hal. "He thinks he has -them hid, I guess; but I ran slap into them yesterday when I was taking -a short cut to the creek. Come on, and I'll show you." - -"I can't come now," said Ned, slowly. "I've got to pile wood till noon. -But I'll go with you right away after dinner." - -"Well, you come around, then," agreed Hal. - -Squire Belton's "place," at the outskirts of the town, was a standing -challenge, for half the year, at least, to the Beaufort youth. Of -course, the squire was only prudent in guarding his fruit as he did. He -grew fruit to sell, not to donate to greedy boys. But they regarded him -as a cantankerous, mean old codger, and perfectly lawful prey. - -It was very tantalizing to trudge along the dusty road, on a day of -late August, and to gaze helplessly at those trees laden with their -delicious, beckoning apples! However, the squire's big white house -commanded this orchard, and its windows were ever staring, and the -squire himself or some of his family never failed to catch the least -wavering from the straight path of honesty--in this case the path -outside the orchard fence. - -In addition, the barbed wires of the fence were close together, and -as tight as fiddle-strings--ugly things to scale when the squire's -vigorous yellow dog was coming full tilt. - -There were grapes, too; and these were on the slope, facing the house, -and in plain sight from the porch and sitting-room. - -Orchard and vineyard stayed proof against nearly all plots and attacks. -But now, thanks to Hal's "short cut," for two Beauforters, anyway, a -new field of action was opened. - -Hurrah for the melon-patch! - -His mind filled with the bright prospect, Ned gobbled a hasty dinner, -and made a bee-line for Hal's house. - -Together they took their way to the limits of town, and cunningly made -a circuit of the Belton premises until safe from those prying, alert -windows and the ever watchful yellow dog. Then Hal led his companion -into the ravine that pierced the squire's lands. Amidst a jungle of -undergrowth they worked a course, and when Hal gave the word warily -mounted the flank. - -"There!" said Hal, when they had gained the crest. - -In front of them lay a small, secluded area of low vines, with every -few feet a smooth, green oval showing itself--peaceful promise of a -fine feast to come. - -"Isn't this luck!" whispered Hal. - -"Say!" sighed Ned, overcome by his feelings. - -Having surveyed, they beat a crafty retreat. So very cautious were -they, that on their way home they scarce even dared discuss the find. -It seemed too good to be true, and might vanish. - -That evening, when at supper Mr. Miller remarked that an extraordinary -crop of melons was in view, Ned was so startled that he dropped his -knife. Yet his father's words had no reference at all to Squire Belton! - -As the days passed Ned and Hal made regular visits to the melon-patch. -When speaking of the patch, so careful were they that they always said -"it," and by "it" each knew what the other meant. Thirty yards was the -nearest that they ventured to "it," since this was the space separating -"it" from the ravine. They kept their secret to themselves, deeming -that they could manage the raid--and the melons--without help. Ned -wanted to let Tom in, but Hal thought that two was enough, and inasmuch -as the patch was his by reason of discovery, Ned could only yield. - -Week by week the melons swelled. The exact time for making closer -acquaintance with them was hard to decide upon. The raid must not be -too early, and on the other hand there was danger that it might be -too late. Finally, Ned and Hal could no longer stand it. Melons were -beginning to appear in market. The moment for action had come. - -The boys chose a Tuesday night as the date for the attack. Ned invited -Hal over to spend the evening at his house, and to sleep there. As this -was nothing out of the way, it drew no suspicion. - -They retired early up-stairs, the better to talk. They simply _had_ -to talk, or they would have exploded. About ten o'clock, when the -household was quiet and abed, they climbed out of the window of Ned's -room, scampered softly in their stockinged feet across the sloping roof -of the little side porch, lowered themselves to the ground, hurriedly -put on their shoes, scurried for the back fence, vaulted it, and at -last were safely in the protecting alley. - -There was no moon, and, old woodsmen though they were, their way seemed -to get all mixed up, full of sticks and cans and holes and hillocks. -Even in the most open road they were continually stepping on things -that snapped or clattered, and they imagined that the whole country -around-about must be aroused by the noise! - -Faint in the distance, or near at hand, barked dogs of farmyard and -town-yard. An owl hooted in an accusing tone, and Pete, Deacon Rogers' -venerable clay-colored horse, from his pasture wheezed at them through -the misty blackness. - -"What's that!" exclaimed Hal, huskily, startled; and Ned, too, jumped -at the sound. - -Had they not been setting out to "hook" melons, they might have been -braver. A nagging conscience is a bad escort, especially on a dark -night! - -They entered the ravine. What a ravine that was! Not very kindly by -day, by night it was downright wicked! Every twig thrust up a finger -to trap their feet; every branch shot out a hand to slap them in the -face. And there was not a single guide-post. Darkness had swallowed all -landmarks, and the boys could only guess. - -When it seemed that they surely ought to be opposite the proper spot, -they climbed the steep slope. - -"Hurrah!" cheered Hal, beneath his breath, when they reached the top. -"We've just struck it! Here's the poplar we go by!" - -"Sh!" hissed Ned. - -As they crossed the thirty yards that lay between them and the patch, -how the weeds crackled under their tread! At length they arrived at -the fence bordering the little field; formerly a fence with sagging, -swaying barbed wires betwixt which even the most awkward person ought -to slip without touching, but just at present a demon of a fence which -left a stinging scratch along Ned's back, and with a tearing sound -clutched Hal by the trousers. - -"Jiminy!" exclaimed Hal. - -"Shut up!" cautioned Ned. - -And they were among the vines! - -The only thing they could do was, carry off as many melons as they were -able--one under each arm--and eat them. The chief reward would be the -glory of having got ahead of Squire Belton. How mad he would be when -he found, in the morning, that he had been outwitted! - -The boys groped about on the ground, with hands and feet as happened to -be most convenient. What is apt to be the case, the fruit which they -felt now here, now there, did not quite suit them. They fancied that -a bit farther on they would come across some better in quality. Since -they could take only a small quantity, they wanted it to be high in -quality. - -So they proceeded, step by step, always in the hope that they would -light upon _the_ melon, a melon worth while. - -"Cr-rash!" - -"Oh, thunder!" - -Hal had tripped on a vine, and had been sent sprawling. - -"Bow-wow-wow! Bow-wow-wow-wow! Bow!" - -The Belton yellow dog! Nothing was left for them but speedy flight. -What a watchful animal that was! - -"Leg it!" ordered Ned. - -At the instant of the accident to Hal, Ned had been fingering a sphere -of unusual fatness. Now with a jerk he wrenched it from its stem, and -hugging it in his arms put his command into practice. He "legged it." -So did Hal. - -All sense of direction was lost to them; they remembered not which was -north or which was west; their sole thought was to escape the attack of -the yellow dog. Off to the left they dashed, dimly believing that they -were heading for the ravine. - -"Look out for the barbed wire!" gasped Hal. - -But they met with no fence, where they expected. Crunch, crash, stumble -and plunge, through the vines, out from the vines, and into a clump of -raspberry bushes! Cracky! How those bushes punished them! Yet on they -ploughed, each for himself, Ned clasping his melon, and the yellow dog -yelping in their wake. - -Out from amidst the raspberries--and suddenly Ned was hurled backward -for a complete somersault! A wire fence, fortunately not barbed, had -caught him fiercely, raising a huge welt across his chest and another -across his knees. - -"Hurt you?" panted Hal, alarmed, bringing up just in time. - -"Not much," panted Ned. - -With a rush they overcame the fence. Their hope lay in motion on and -on, until that dog was safely behind. - -"Bow-wow-wow-wow! Wow! Wow-wow-wow!" - -He was hard at their heels. Gallant old fellow, no doubt he enjoyed -many a hearty laugh over it all. - -Hello! The vineyard! They had actually been running _toward_ the house, -instead of away from it. No wonder the dog was so excited. - -Ned was a few feet in advance--a credit to his fleetness, but not to -his courage--and in trying to tack and veer in a new direction he -slipped, fell, and rolled down the slope, staying not for stalk nor -trellis, clear to the bottom. - -"And Jill (or Hal) came tumbling after!" - -Still Ned clung to his precious melon, which by a succession of -miracles was yet unbroken! - -With a thump they landed in the dry ditch that cut along the foot of -the vineyard. They vaulted the board fence just beyond, noting, at the -same moment, that a light was glimmering in the upper story of the -Belton house. Evidently the dog's clamor had been heard. - -The house was too close for comfort, but it gave them their bearings. -Only a stretch of level pasture now remained between them and the road. - -"Almost there! Keep going!" urged Ned. - -"Bow-wow-wow! Bow-wow! Wow-wow! Wow!" bellowed their pursuer. - -They imagined that they could feel his hot breath through the holes in -their trousers. Hit or miss, they scaled the final fence--this time a -vicious barbed wire thing which took tribute in the shape of both cloth -and flesh--and for dear life pattered down the welcome road. - -Towser's voice became subdued by distance. Looking over their shoulders -they saw the flicker of a lantern upon the squire's front porch. They -slackened their pace to a rapid walk. - -"Jiminy!" puffed Hal. "Didn't we track it, though! The dog couldn't -catch us!" - -"I've got a melon!" wheezed Ned. - -"Bully for you!" praised Hal. "Let's feel." - -"It's awful rough--it must be a musk-melon," he said, caressing it with -eager fingers. "Smell it." - -Ned obeyed. - -"Well, it doesn't _smell_ very musky," he muttered, doubtfully. - -"I guess perhaps it's a watermelon," declared Hal. "But either way it's -all right. What's the matter with eating it now? Nobody'll follow us -this far." - -"That's a go," agreed Ned. "I'm dead tired," and at once turning aside, -with a grunt of relief he threw himself upon the grass by the hedge -that skirted the road. - -Hal lost no time in copying his example. - -Mellowed by the damp night air, from the scene of the late hostilities -floated to them the fitful voice of the yellow dog, as he continued to -tell his family all about it. Of course he made out to them that the -boys were a band of determined robbers, whom he had surprised and put -to flight. - -The moon, just rising, was shedding an uncertain light over the -landscape. - -"Slice her open," suggested Hal--referring to the melon, not to the -moon. - -Already Ned was fumbling with a battered jack-knife, trying to divide -the prize in a scientific fashion, so as to give each some of the heart. - -It was a mighty tough rind. Could the melon be green, after all! He -worked as rapidly as he could, considering the poor light, and the -impatient remarks of Hal, who was getting thirstier and thirstier. - -Victory! He managed to stick his fingers in a crack, and with a tug -pulled the stubborn mass apart. - -"Here," he said, passing Hal a chunk. - -He himself took the mate to it, and carried to his mouth a handful of -the spongy, stringy stuff. - -The melon had not _felt_ precisely right--and certainly it did not -_taste_ precisely right! - -"Faugh!" exclaimed Hal. - -"Wa-a-a-a!" exclaimed Ned. - -How they sputtered! Their melon was a squash! - -Words cannot express their disgust. They had missed the melon-patch -entirely. All that trouble for only a squash! And now their chances had -been ruined. The squire would be on his guard. - -"Come on--let's go home," blurted Ned; and the two stiffly stood up. -Stiffly it was, indeed, for their spirits had been most effectually -"squashed," and they began to be conscious of tokens of their recent -flight. They were drenched with dew. Every inch of their bodies and -faces and hands smarted and ached from the briars and collisions with -posts, wires, sticks and stones. Their heads throbbed. They were cold, -hungry, and completely fagged. They wished they were in bed. - -Speaking scarcely another syllable they dragged their heavy feet along -the well-nigh endless mile of homeward journey. As they entered the -alley the town clock chimed twelve. - -They scrambled over the fence, shinned up the porch--so tuckered that -they did not care whether or not they made any noise--and tumbled -across the bed. Such a soft, soothing bed as that was! Feebly they -started to undress as they lay, but they did no more than kick off -their shoes, and were asleep. - -They slept like logs, until awakened by the rising-bell. Quite in vain -would they make themselves respectable, although they tried their level -best. All their scrubbings and brushings and pinnings really seemed to -improve their appearance not one whit. The raspberry bushes and the -barbed wire had been too thorough. Court-plaster, rather than pins, was -needed. - -They were late to breakfast; and this enabled them to escape the keen -eyes of Ned's father, who, having been a boy, would _know_! - -However, Mrs. Miller--thoughtful mother--was waiting for them. - -"Goodness, boys! What _have_ you been up to?" she cried, as they neared -the table. - -It might have been the scratches; it might have been the clothes; -probably it was both. - -"Oh, we fell down," answered Ned, sheepishly. - -His mother scanned him sharply, but made no farther remark; -nevertheless, Ned suspected that the end was not yet. - -Squire Belton, or his yellow dog, must have talked around town, so that -certain fathers heard; and certain mothers, having patched and darned -some sadly-abused garments, must have exchanged notes, as mothers -will: at any rate, in a day or two the Miller family--save Ned--had -watermelon for dessert, but Ned's dessert was a huge piece of raw -squash! - -And Hal reported exactly the same treatment. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -CHANGES - - -Thus passed the days in Beaufort; very good days they were, too, taking -them all in all. But they could not go on forever; in human experience -nothing--not even eleven loads of wood--lasts forever, and suddenly Ned -found himself on the brink of a change greater than his other greatest -one: the loss of Bob, now a year back. - -For some time it had seemed to him that his father and mother were -sharing a secret between them, and keeping him out in the cold. They -would be talking, and when he drew near they would stop, with a glance -from one to the other that said: "Look out!" If he hung around for -quite a while after he had made them do this, he would be sent off on -an errand; and once his father had even said, frankly: "Ned, boy, run -away. Your mother and I want to talk about something." - -The idea! - -It could not be about Christmas, for Christmas was eight months ahead. -And it could not be about his birthday, for his birthday had just -been. And it could not be about another dog, for he would not have -another dog--ever! Then what _was_ it about? He felt abused, as well -as excited. - -"Ned, how would you like to leave Beaufort?" asked his -father, abruptly, one evening, at the supper-table. - -"Leave Beaufort!" repeated Ned, astonished. - -"Yes," said his mother. "Move away, you know." - -"For good? Where to?" demanded Ned, eagerly. - -"Yes, probably for good; not for bad, let us hope," replied his father, -answering his first. - -"To Chicago," replied his mother, answering his second. - -"Will we take Maggie?" stammered Ned, with an eye to the pantry -supplies. - -"I suppose so, but that isn't the point," said his father--although Ned -thought it a very important point, indeed. "The point is, would you -like to go?" - -"I'd hate to leave the river, and--and everything," faltered Ned. - -"But you'll have Lake Michigan, instead," spoke his mother. - -"Tom and Hal and the other fellows won't be there," objected Ned. - -"They can come to see you," explained his mother. "And you'll pick up -lots of new friends. Why, the parks are full of boys!" - -"Having fun?" asked Ned. - -"Yes; baseball and all kinds of games, some that you never saw," -assured his mother. - -"But there isn't any hunting, is there?" objected Ned. "I want to -hunt." - -"You can do your hunting when you come back to Beaufort to visit," -proposed his father. - -"Can I take the scull-boat?" queried Ned. - -"No, I believe you had better leave that here," decided his father. -"The lake has yachts, and steamers running across, you know----" - -"Out of sight of land?" asked Ned, hopefully. "Do they get wrecked?" - -"W-well, not often," said his father. "But they _do_ get out of sight -of land, that's sure." - -"When are we going to move?" demanded Ned, now all ready to pack up. - -"About the middle of next month," replied his father. - -"Then I won't have any wood to pile!" cried Ned, overjoyed. - -"No," said his father, laughing. "I guess we have enough to last us -through." - -So they were really to move away from Beaufort! This was the secret. -Ned found out a lot of things before supper was finished, and as soon -as he could he rushed out to tell. He went up to Hal's--and Hal was -tremendously astounded. Hal and he went over to Tom's--and Tom was -astounded tremendously. And all three talked at once. - -"My folks say I can have you up to visit me, right away as soon as we -get settled," announced Ned. - -"I'll come if I can," agreed Hal. - -"So will I, you bet," agreed Tom. "I've never been in Chicago--at -least, since I was big enough to remember." - -"You can have the whole scull-boat, now, Hal," said Ned. - -"I don't want the whole of it. That wouldn't be fair. You can take it -with you," proposed Hal. - -"But I can't take it--and that wouldn't be fair, either," declared Ned. - -"I'll tell you! You give your half to Tom!" cried Hal. - -"That's so!" exclaimed Ned. "Good idea, Hal! You can have my share, -Tom. I'll make you a present of it." - -"Oh, you're fooling!" asserted Tom, staggered at the thought of owning -part of the famous craft. - -"No, I'm not," retorted Ned. "You can have it, truly you can." - -"Sa-a-ay!" gasped Tom. "I don't know how I can ever pay you back----" - -"Oh, shucks!" scoffed Ned. "'Tisn't anything. Besides, Hal thought of -it first. He's the fellow to thank." - -"Well," said Tom, "anyhow, whenever you come around and want it you can -have it again. I'll just keep it for you." - -The scull-boat being settled, the boys chattered and planned about -other things; and they talked as fast and as excitedly as though Ned -was leaving the next day, instead of the next month. So much had to be -discussed and arranged. - -That night, Ned dreamed that he came down to breakfast and lo, his -father told him to hurry, because they were all packed and ready to -start; and there in the front yard was the scull-boat, heaped with -household goods, and waiting. His mother and father and Maggie got -in, and then when he followed he had scarcely any room. Off moved the -scull-boat, down the street, with him trying to stick on; and into the -river it glided--and just across the river, where the swimming-beach -used to be, was Chicago. Faster sped the boat, and now one of his -legs dangled in the water, and next both, and next he was slipping, -slipping, slipping, and with one last despairing clutch he was left -behind! He swam after the boat as hard as he could, but his clothes -pulled him down, and nobody noticed him--until suddenly dear old Bob -was there in the water beside him, and catching hold of Bob's stiff -tail he was towed, at the rate of a mile a minute, back to Commodore -Jones' fish-market. - -But when he woke up, it wasn't so! - -The remaining weeks were busy ones for Ned. He had so many things to -do, as farewells. Strange to say, all his friends envied him because -he was going, and he envied them because they were staying! Only, he -did not let on how he felt; it is rather nice to be envied, you see! -Yet deep in his heart he wished that he might have a while longer in -Beaufort, where he knew everybody and where there was so much fun. - -At last his final trips down the river, and up the river, and across -the river, and to the flats, and everywhere else, had been made. He -had shaken hands with Commodore Jones--who took pipe from mouth long -enough to say: "Well, good luck to you, boy!"--and had patted the -scull-boat--who said nothing--good-bye for a space. At last all the -chores and errands of "moving" had been done. The furniture had been -stored, to be shipped later, the house was bare and empty, and it was -high time they got out, for another family was waiting to get in. - -The Millers slept, that night, at a neighbor's; and in the morning they -left. - -Ah, how limp Ned felt, at going. Chicago could not hold a candle, he -was sure, to Beaufort--even South Beaufort, where lurked Big Mike and -Big Mike's "gang." - -Hal and Tom and Zu-zu were at the station to see him off. Hal brought -as a parting gift a knife with six blades (better than even the knife -which had been lost among the Indian mounds), Tom a flaming red silk -handkerchief (a thing of beauty), and Zu-zu six No. 8 shot (once they -had been in Ned's shoulder) set in a watch-charm! - -"You've all got to come and see me as quick as we're fixed; don't you -forget!" reminded Ned. - -"We will--and you've got to come and see us, too!" they reminded, back. - -Ned was hoping that something might be wrong with the engine, so that -the train could not start. But alas! - -"All abo-o-oard!" sang the conductor, watch in hand. - -"Clang, clang! Clang, clang!" warned the bell. "Choo! Choo! Choo!" -warned the exhaust. The train began to move. - -"Good-bye!" called the friends--Mr. and Mrs. Miller's friends, as well -as Ned's, were on the platform--waving. - -"Good-bye!" called Ned, through the window, waving in answer. -"Good-bye, Hal! Good-bye, Tom! Good-bye, Zu-zu!" - -Across the bridge, over the river, rolled the train; past the -breakwater, where he had rescued Tom, and above which was the -swimming-beach; past the slough, where he had been shot, and over which -was the trestle from which Bob had taken his amazing flight; and on and -on, into the country. Beaufort and Beaufort people, Eagle Island, Deep -Creek, and all, were far behind. - -"Just the same, I'm coming back every chance I get!" vowed Ned, stoutly -fighting to keep down the tears. - -"Of course you are!" said his mother, putting her arm around him. - -Whereupon Ned proceeded to make the most gorgeous plans that ever were; -and the best thing about them is--that some of them came true! - - -THE END - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Beaufort Chums, by Edwin L. 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