St. George Rathborne

“ If Amos missed the splendid “Kababs,” which Dolph knew so well how to prepare, as he had eaten it in canoeists’ camps, he at least had no reason to complain on the score of hunger; for he ate most heartily; showing that it takes something more than the shadow of possible coming trouble to seriously affect the appetite of a healthy boy.
After the meal Gabe stood in the doorway of the cabin smoking his pipe, and apparently listening, as though he half expected to hear something. ”

“ Dolph could not but watch the actions of his camp mate with considerable curiosity and satisfaction, at this stage of the game.
Teddy had had more or less experience in woodcraft, and long ago learned many of the lessons so essential in the make-up of a clever still hunter. To him the leaves of the forest spoke as eloquently as printed pages in a book did to the other canoe cruiser. He could read the language of the trail, and discover a score of valuable things, from signs that would never be noticed by ordinary eyes or at least deemed of no importance. ”

“ Dolph went on to say.
“Now, you’re thinking of trying those flies you brought along, on the bass they say inhabit that same lake, and of whopping size too,” Teddy jokingly remarked.
“Oh! I acknowledge the corn,” the other admitted, candidly; “because I do happen to be mighty fond of fishing at any and all times. If I can toss a fly, and get’em, so much the better; but if they won’t whiff at the feathered lure, why, then I turn to a frog, a minnow, artificial bait, a trolling spoon, and last, but not always least, the worm. I’m bound to get fish some way or other, if they’re to be had.” ”

“ He watched Teddy eagerly as the other forked his first “saddle,” pulled it apart, and took his first bite. There were no words spoken; none were needed, since actions always speak louder than any language.
Teddy hesitated, and Dolph frowned; then suddenly a look of deep satisfaction chased away this cloud from the face of the cook; for Teddy was gnawing savagely at both frogs legs at the same time, as though that single taste had set him fairly wild, and grunting like a satisfied porker, as he ate. ”

“ Discovering just where a monster was squatted on the bank, uttering sounds like the lowing of a bull, Dolph would creep up behind him, until he could glimpse his intended quarry. Then he would elevate his stiff rod, and allow that flaming bunch of red feathers to descend in front of the creature’s nose. There would be a start, the bull-frog could be seen to half crouch down, after the manner of a sly cat, and then he would jump up at the tempting lure, which, of course, the poor silly thing believed to be the finest moth it had ever seen. ”

“ With such vast quantities of easy burning pine all around them, and Amos just wild to always take care of the fire, which he dearly loved, of course, they could not resist the temptation; and soon a crackling blaze was sending up its cheery song, such as has bolstered up the spirits of many a lonely camper all over the known world; for the fire is certainly one of man’s finest servants; but like some other things, a very bad master, once it is allowed to have its own head. ”

“ Crawley was at that moment fairly transformed. Deep down in his rough soul he must have had a natural love for music which, owing to his clumsiness and lack of education could never find an adequate outlet. Old sinner that he was, probably he had stood many a time and listened as if charmed, to some song bird in the brush; and even the cheery call of the bobolink, heard in the early Spring, may have had the power to make him [167] look up and listen, when in the act of taking a mink or a muskrat from his traps.
Teddy saw this, and greatly marveled. ”

“ In the woods, men have to know each other before they become friends. Looks go for little, and words less. A man is what he proves himself to be.
Teddy was only a boy, and he had not rubbed up against a hard world after the fashion of Amos Simmons. And yet he certainly did not like the looks of this big man any too well. There was that in the other’s face to tell only too plainly his love for strong drink; and being a strictly temperance boy himself, Teddy had little use for any one who was addicted to liquor. ”

“ While the lumberman’s son and his friend from Cincinnati laid out this summer trip with pack and paddle through the pine woods of the upper reaches of the Wolverine State, Teddy had suggested hiring Amos to go along, not exactly in the nature of a guide, nor yet as a cook, but simply for company. And knowing that when far away from civilization two boys are apt to find it a bit lonely, Dolph had readily agreed. ”

“ Dolph even ventured to take another sly look. This revealed the fact that while Crawley was rudely binding up the arm of his companion, Amos had taken the job out of his hands, and was doing it as cleverly as any surgeon might, considering the poor material at hand.
From their talk it seemed that Big Gabe had caught his foot in a root he failed to see in the darkness. In falling clumsily he had managed to drop his hunting knife, and it pierced his arm, giving him a painful wound that bled freely.
Sometimes the fate of a nation hinges on a trifle. ”

“ They are being planned and executed right in our own country, every week. The only question that staggered Amos was how such a small-minded fellow as this giant, could ever engineer a scheme like this. But perhaps he may have backing they knew nothing of; and that there were wheels within wheels. Dolph might be made to disappear, just to make it look as though Teddy Overton’s abduction were in the ordinary nature of things; when in truth it was all being done to force the lumber company to seek new fields, and leave this region to the opposition. ”

“ He realized that every day he lived it was possible for him to learn something new. Because a man might be rough and uncouth, and perhaps even lawless in his way of living, was no evidence that he might not have a streak of good deep down in his nature.
In Crawley it was perhaps this passion for music; but Teddy guessed it was so very deep down, that it was hardly likely to do himself, or any one else in the world, any good. ”

“ Doubtless the woods boy had never in all his life sniffed coffee that had the delicious aroma of that high-grade Java; and when it came to tea, Amos, who had up to this time believed that to be a concoction only meant for old maids, discovered that a cup of fragrant Ceylon, made in the only proper way, was simply unequalled as “refresher,” after a hard day’s work.
This is the way he went about making it; and any boy who cares to get the best out of things, would do well to remember the simple directions. ”

“ When you’re fishing, you had ought never to knock the boat more than you can help. Sound travels through the water like everything.”
“You never said a truer thing, Dolph, and I know it,” declared Teddy, as they paddled for the camp landing place.
“Going to change your clothes?” asked the other, laughing again.
“Oh! I guess not, they can dry on me, all right. Laugh all you want to, Dolph. It’s a good joke, that’s certain. And I reckon Amos—listen, I wonder if that was him firing, and what he found to shoot at. Amos wouldn’t dream of killing a deer in the close season.” ”

“ Woods hospitality is no respecter of persons. If a hungry man comes into camp and asks for a bite, common decency compels one to feed him, even though later you expect to order him on, at the muzzle of your gun.
So Teddy made a motion to Amos, which the latter easily understood. He started to make a pot of coffee, knowing that the man would never drink tea. Besides, Amos deliberately opened another can of corned beef, which he expected the giant would entirely devour, since he must be possessed of a tremendous appetite. ”

“ Some fellows are born paddlers; and others seem to keep on bunglers all their lives. I guess I belong to that class,” and Dolph Bradley laughed in his jolly fashion, as though he did not mean to let such a little thing bother him, at any rate.
“Oh! rats! when you know you’re better than I am by several degrees. But then we’ve got little to be ashamed of as things go. Only Amos is away up in a class all by himself. ”

“ Amos kept them well shined too. He did not like to see the aluminum discolored, and was forever polishing the kettles and coffee and tea pots with a preparation that came with the outfit.
“The biggest mistake we made,” declared Teddy, as, having finished supper, they sat around, helping Amos clean up, “was about Amos here.”
Dolph looked up quickly, a puzzled expression on his face; and even the woods boy smiled as he waited to hear the other explain; though he knew only too well that Teddy Overton was too fond of him to say anything mean. ”

“ Big Gabe was pointing toward the girl, and his act was full of significance, for Sallie had not moved from her position, and she was exactly in the spot where Amos had last been seen.
Even duller-witted men than these must have been able to put two and two together, when the conditions were so plain. Crawley of course could easily guess where Amos had received his assistance, even before he strode over, and clutched the child by the arm, savagely dragging her to her feet. ”

“ Many’s the man he knocked down, and beat up terrible like, just for crossing him. They were that afraid of Gabe, that when he told a silly story everybody just roared. And I take it there ain’t anything to beat that, to show how one man lords it over twenty. But his time came,” and Amos snickered, as though even the recollection of what he had witnessed gave him the greatest pleasure.
“I suppose a bigger man than Gabe came to camp; and when set on, just up and took him unawares?” suggested Dolph. ”

“ Why, the woods must be full of them! We’re going to be swamped with lynxes, boys; and this gun just won’t behave half-way decent,” and Dolph ended with a groan as he kept working away excitedly at the mechanism of his repeating weapon.
“Where? I see one!” cried Teddy, as he swung his gun around swiftly.
“Bang!”
“That’s the end of him; now show me the other cat, will you, Dolph? Bring ’em on as fast as you like; as long as my little Marlin’s got a single shell left, I’m good for any amount of game. Where’s the next victim?” ”

“ Dolph went on. “I imagine the poor fellow’s feelings when his appetite keeps on calling for another, and he sees his comrades holding up a tempting morsel on their forks, but none for him! It is a terrible thought.”
“Make your mind easy, old fellow. Never despair. See, I’m game enough to offer myself as the victim. I’ll take just four as my portion,” Teddy cried out.
“I refuse to accept the noble sacrifice. We’ll have to draw lots,” said Dolph, with [99] an air of determination; while Amos listened to the humorous dialogue with a broad smile of appreciation on his face. ”

“ Why, in Maine, they won’t let hunters go into the woods without a licensed guide along, who is supposed to see to it that no chances are taken with fires left by careless city sportsmen; or rather men who like to call themselves by that name, though they are often a disgrace to the cloth.”
“Yes, I’ve run across a-plenty of that kind up here in Michigan, and over in Wisconsin,” remarked Amos. “We call ’em fish hogs up here, because, when they strike a lake where the trout bite free-like, they keep on throwing bushels out on the bank to die and rot. ”

“ Then, if our friend does come creeping around, we’ll pretend that we think it a bear or a cat, and blaze away. He’ll get his jacket dusted, and limp a little, maybe; but he won’t try that dodge again, I reckon.”
“A good idea,” declared Dolph; and even Amos grinned; for in imagination he could see that ill-natured giant, who had always been the bully of the logging camp, going limping away, grunting with the pain of the fine shot that Teddy kept for summer woodcock shooting in the brush, where close shots were the rule. ”

“ But then, I reckon human nature’s pretty much the same all over the world. The temptation to get hold of the mighty dollar makes men do heaps of queer stunts, I don’t care whether they’re white, red, black or yellow. Now, I guess you’re intending to sneak around, and creep up to this same haunted cabin by the rear route?”
“Yes, that’s the game,” replied Teddy.
“That is, while these two poacher chaps are lying in a snug little ambush at some point along their own trail, why, we can be spying on the cabin on our own account?” Dolph went on to remark. ”

“ Well just put some grub aside and keep the coffee warm, because Amos does dearly love his coffee.”
“I know another fellow who gave us to understand that he’d risk his immortal soul for such fine Java as this,” laughingly remarked Dolph.
“Meaning Big Gabe,” said Teddy. “That’s right. But if his stripe of lumbermen could only drink more coffee, and less whiskey, it would be better for them. Some people say coffee is bad for the nerves, but it never makes men crazy, and want to fight, like the other stuff does.” ”

“ A fellow has just got to be always prepared when he’s camping out; or sometime he’ll get caught napping, and have a healthy old time hustling to save his chattels.”
Amos knew how to cook, for he had filled that position, or rather as an assistant, in a logging camp one winter. But of course, the rough fare the husky timber choppers need, differs vastly from such food as the sons of rich men would be apt to take with them into the woods; and Amos had to learn a few new wrinkles, under the tutelage of the others, who were experienced hands at such things. ”

“ A couple of turns proved quite enough to carry Amos close up to where the husky timber cruiser lay.
Big Gabe had an abiding faith in his ability to awaken should anything amiss come about in camp. At the same time he possessed a still greater confidence in the value of the up-to-date repeating gun that had so fortunately fallen into his possession just when he wanted such a weapon very much.
When he lay down to sleep, therefore, he [213] had clutched the precious Marlin as though he meant to make it his bed fellow. ”