Frank, the Young Naturalist Part 21

Archie did not like the idea of trusting himself among the unsound limbs, and, besides, the cunning animal had crawled out to the extreme end of one of the decayed branches, which bent beneath his weight, and the young hunter, of course, could not follow him.

There was only one way that Archie could discover to bring him down; and he straightway opened upon the devoted 'c.o.o.n a tremendous shower of clubs and sticks. He was a very accurate thrower, and, for some time, had hopes of being able to bring down the 'c.o.o.n; but, although the missiles frequently hit him, Archie could not throw them with sufficient force; and he again turned his attention to the tree.

Throwing his arms around it, he commenced working his way up. The bark was very smooth and slippery, and the lowest limb was the one on which the 'c.o.o.n had taken refuge; but he kept steadily at work, and his progress, though slow, was sure, and he reached the limb; and, bearing as little of his weight as possible upon it, he drew himself up to the sound limb above.

After testing it thoroughly, to make sure that it would sustain his weight, he commenced walking out on the branch on which the 'c.o.o.n was seated, keeping a firm hold of the limb above his head. He had made scarcely a dozen steps, when there was a loud crack, and the branch on which he was standing broke into fragments, and fell to the ground with a crash, carrying the 'c.o.o.n with it, and leaving Archie hanging in the air, fifty feet from the ground.

Not in the least terrified at his dangerous situation, the young hunter coolly swung himself up on the limb, and, crawling carefully back to the tree, slid rapidly down the trunk, and, as if nothing had happened, ran to the place where the 'c.o.o.n had fallen, hoping that at last he was secured.

But he was again disappointed. Nothing was to be seen of the animal, and only a few drops of blood on the leaves indicated the direction in which he had gone. This quickly caught Archie's eye, and he began to follow up the trail, which led toward a creek that flowed close by.

But when he arrived upon its bank he was again at fault--the trail was lost; and, while he was running up and down the bank, searching for it, he happened to cast his eye toward the opposite side of the creek, and there was his 'c.o.o.n, slowly ascending a tall stump that stood at the water's edge.

Archie could not refrain from giving a shout of joy, for he was confident that the chase would soon be over; and he hurried, impatiently, up and down the bank to find some place to cross, and finally discovered a small tree lying in the water, whose top reached almost to the opposite bank. The 'c.o.o.n had undoubtedly crossed on this bridge; and Archie sprang upon it. It shook considerably, but he kept on, and had almost reached the opposite side, when the tree broke, and he disappeared in the cold water. He rose immediately, and, shaking the water from his face, struck out for the sh.o.r.e, puffing and blowing like a porpoise. A few l.u.s.ty strokes brought him to the bank, and, as he picked up a handful of stones, he said to himself,

"I guess I'm all right now. If I could only have found some stones when I treed that 'c.o.o.n in the woods, he would not have been up there now, and I should not have got this wet hide. But we'll soon settle accounts now."

As we have said, the 'c.o.o.n had taken refuge in a high stump. The branches had all fallen off, with the exception of one short one, about two feet from the top; and the 'c.o.o.n, after trying in vain to squeeze 'himself into a small hole, about half-way up the stump, settled down on this limb, and appeared to be awaiting his fate.

Archie took a favorable position, and, selecting a stone, hurled it with all his force at the 'c.o.o.n. It whizzed harmlessly by, close to his head; but the next brought him to the ground, dead.

"There!" exclaimed the young hunter, as he shouldered his prize, and walked up the creek to find a crossing-place, "I've worked pretty hard for 'c.o.o.ns, first and last, but this beats all the hunts I ever engaged in."

He at length reached a place where the water was about knee-deep, waded across the creek, and started through the woods to find his companions. When he arrived at the place where they had felled the tree, he saw Harry sitting on a log, with Frank's gun in his hand, but nothing was to be seen of the other boys.

As soon as the latter discovered Archie, he burst into a loud laugh.

"No doubt you think it a good joke," said Archie, as he came up, "but I don't. It isn't a funny thing to tramp through the woods, on a cold day like this, with your clothes wringing wet. But I've got the 'c.o.o.n."

"You must have had a tough time catching him," said Harry. "But let us go down to the camp."

As they walked along, Archie related his adventures; and, when he told about being "dumped in the creek," Harry laughed louder than ever.

A few moments' walk brought them to what Harry had called the "camp."

It was in a little grove of evergreens, on the banks of a clear, dancing trout-brook. A place about forty feet square had been cleared of the trees and bushes and in it stood a small, neatly-built, log-cabin, which Frank and some of his companions had erected the winter previous.

Near the middle of the cabin a hole about four feet square, had been dug, and in this a fire was burning brightly; and a hole in the roof, directly over it, did duty both as chimney and window.

On the floor, near the fire--or, rather, there _was_ no floor, the ground serving for that purpose--stood some tin dishes, which one of the boys had just brought to light from a corner of the cabin, four plates, as many knives and forks, two large platters, a coffee-pot, four quart-cups, and a pan containing some trout, which George had caught in the brook, all cleaned and ready for the spit, and there was also a large plate of bread and b.u.t.ter.

Frank, who always acted as cook on these expeditions, and knew how to get up a dinner that would tempt an epicure, was kneeling before the fire, engaged in skinning some squirrels which Brave had treed for him.

George was in front of the cabin, chopping wood; and close by the door lay five 'c.o.o.ns--the fruits of the morning's hunt; and near them lay the dogs, fast asleep.

Such was the scene presented when Harry and Archie burst in upon the camp. The latter was greeted with a loud laugh.

"Well, boys," said he, as he threw his 'c.o.o.n down with the others, "you may laugh, but I wish some of you were obliged to go through what I did. I was bound to have the 'c.o.o.n, if I had to follow him clear to Moosehead Lake."

"That's the way to talk," said Frank. "Now, throw yourself down by the fire, and I'll soon be ready to give you something to eat. A cup or two of hot coffee will set you all right again."

Archie's ducking and his long walk in his wet clothes had chilled him completely through, and he was very willing to comply with his cousin's suggestion, and he drew up as close as possible to the fire.

When Frank had finished skinning the squirrels, he stuck them up before the fire, on spits, to roast. The trout he served in the same manner; and, raking out a few live coals from the fire, he placed the coffee-pot upon them, when the work of getting breakfast began in earnest.

In the course of half an hour the impatience of the hungry hunters (whose appet.i.tes had been sharpened by the savory smell of the cooking viands) was relieved by Frank's welcome invitation--

"Now, boys, you may help yourselves."

And they _did_ help themselves most bountifully.

Archie kept his place by the fire, and a plate filled with bread and b.u.t.ter, and roasted squirrel and trout, and a cup of coffee, were pa.s.sed over to him; and, supporting himself on one elbow, he did them ample justice.

The dogs were well supplied with what remained of the breakfast; and, after was.h.i.+ng the dishes in the clear water of the brook, and placing them carefully away for future use, the boys seated themselves around the fire, and Harry exclaimed, as he settled himself back into a comfortable position,

"Give us a story, Frank."

"Well," answered Frank, after thinking a few moments, "I remember one that, I think, will interest you. You will probably remember, Archie, that, during the last visit we made at Uncle Joe's, we met his brother d.i.c.k, who has pa.s.sed forty years of his life among the Rocky Mountains. You will remember, also, that he and I went mink-trapping, and camped out all night, and during the evening he related to me some of his adventures, and wound up with the following story of his 'chum,' Bill Lawson. I will try to give it, as nearly as possible, in his own words.

CHAPTER XIV.

Bill Lawson's Revenge.

"This Bill Larson," said d.i.c.k, knocking the ashes from his pipe, "was _some_ in his day. I have told you about his trappin' qualities--that there was only one man in the county that could lay over him any, an'

that was ole Bob Kelly. But Bill had some strange ways about him, sometimes, that I could not understand, an' the way he acted a'most made me think he was crazy. Sometimes you couldn't find a more jolly feller than he was; an' then, again, he would settle down into one of his gloomy spells, an' I couldn't get a word out of him. He would sit by the camp-fire, an' first fall to musing; then he would cover his face with his hands, an' I could see the big, scalding tears trickle through his fingers, an' his big frame would quiver and shake like a tree in a gale of wind; then he would pull out his long, heavy huntin'-knife, an' I could see that he had several notches cut in the handle. He would count these over an' over again; an' I could see a dark scowl settle on his face, that would have made me tremble if I had not known that I was his only sworn friend, an' he would mutter,

"'Only seven! only seven! There ought to be eight. There is one left.

He must not escape me. No, no; he must die!'

"An' then he would sheath his knife, an' roll himself up in his blanket, an' cry himself to sleep like a child.

"I had been with ole Bill a'most ten years--ever since I was a boy--but he had never told me the cause of his trouble. I didn't dare to ask him, for the ole man had curious ways sometimes, an' I knowed he wouldn't think it kind of me to go pryin' into his affairs, an' I knowed, too, that some day he would tell me all about it.

"One night--we had been followin' up a bar all day--we camped on the side of a high mountain. It was very cold. The wind howled through the branches of the trees above our heads, makin' us pull our blankets closer about us an' draw as nigh to the fire as possible.

"Ole Bill sat, as usual, leanin' his head on his hands, an' lookin'

steadily into the fire. Neither of us had spoken for more than an hour. At len'th the ole man raised his head, an' broke the silence by sayin',

"'d.i.c.k, you have allers been a good friend to me, an' have stuck by me like a brother, through thick an' thin, an', I s'pose, you think it is mighty unkind in me to keep any thing from you; an' so it is. An'

now I'll tell you all.'

"He paused a moment, an', wipin' the perspiration from his forehead with his coat-sleeve, continued, a'most in a whisper,

"'d.i.c.k, I was not allers as you see me now--all alone in the world.

Once I was the happiest boy west of the mountains. My father was a trader, livin' on the Colorado River, I had a kind mother, two as handsome sisters as the sun ever shone on, an' my brother was one of the best trappers, for a boy, I ever see. He was a good deal younger nor I was, but he was the sharer of all my boyish joys an' sorrows. We had hunted together, an' slept under the same blanket ever since we were big enough to walk. Oh! I was happy then! This earth seemed to me a paradise. Now look at me--alone in the world, not one livin' bein'

to claim me as a relation; an' all this was brought upon me in a single day.'