active 1909-1917 Herbert Carter

“ It always gives a boy a sense of superiority to feel that he has come out first best in a battle with Nature.
Some of the scouts doubtless began to wonder how they were ever going to locate the man and the girl, deep in the gloomy recesses of Alligator Swamp; but those who kept their wits about them, and watched what Thad was doing, must have ere this come to the conclusion that he had not been wandering aimlessly about all this time, but on the contrary had some definite plan of campaign in view, which he kept constantly following. ”

“ The sheriff’s posse, including Alligator Smith, the swamp guide, stood there and just watched to see what he would do. Somehow all of them seemed to have taken a strange liking for the patrol leader. Perhaps it was his manly bearing that made Thad friends so quickly; while the errand that had brought him down to Dixieland may have had more or less to do with it; for the hearts of these Southern boys and men are always tender toward one who has suffered; and chivalry toward women and girls still abounds in the South as it can be found nowhere else in this broad land of ours. ”

“ Bumpus looked at him pityingly.
“You do love to carry on a joke to the limit, Giraffe,” he said, simply.
“Joke?” burst out the other in a vociferous voice; “let me tell you, this is a mighty serious matter; and if it keeps along, some of us in desperation may be tempted to jump on you while you sleep, and make the change ourselves. We’re getting to a point where self-preservation is the first law of Nature.” ”

“ Bumpus, upon being thus deliberately appealed to, nodded his head in the affirmative, and remarked:
“I sure would, and that’s a fact, fellows. Then you kinder look for a visitor in camp to-night, do you? And that means everybody’s just got to sit up and stand guard, don’t it? all right, you’ll find me as willing and ready as ever to sacrifice my comfort for the public welfare. I’m always there with the goods.”
“Hear! hear! Bumpus, we all know you like a book!” declared Step Hen, pretending to clap his hands in enthusiasm, though no sound resulted from the action. ”

“ It certainly did seem as though everything might be trying to assist Thad. Why, even the elements lent a helping hand; for the wind had only recently risen to such a busy degree that it was now sighing among the upper branches of all the trees, and rustling the leaves of oaks and pines and cypresses until there was raised such a commingling of various sounds that possibly one might speak in an ordinary tone without its being carried from the spring to where the concealed shack lay. ”

“ He had a cloak on, and the one that managed to get it off was to be the victor. So the wind tried as hard as anything, but the traveler only wrapped his cloak tighter around him. Then the sun got hotter’n hotter, till he just couldn’t hardly breathe; so what does he do but throw away his cloak; and of course the sun won, hands down.”
“Chestnut!” gibed Giraffe, from the other boat; “ten to one even six suns couldn’t force Bumpus to shed his coat when once he’d made up his mind to keep it on. Just like that stubborn will of his, it grows stronger and stronger all the time.” ”

“ He knew that doubtless among the members of this hastily summoned sheriff’s posse there must be a number of hotheads, men or boys who were so bent on accomplishing something that would serve the ends of justice that, given half a chance and they would spring forward, risking their lives recklessly in the hope of being selected by fate as the one to pull the rascal down.
Many a brilliant plan, Thad knew, had been spoiled by just such well meaning but thoughtless individuals. ”

“ As the twilight quickly deepened into night—for in the South there is not a very long interval between the going down of the sun, and the pinning of the curtains of darkness—the scene became quite an animated one, with eight lively lads moving around, each fulfilling some self-imposed duty that would add to the comfort and happiness of the patrol in camp. ”

“ Ain’t being determined what every good scout ought to try’n practice? Didn’t he tell us about how the hungry wolf over in Siberia will set out on the track of a deer in the snow, and keep everlastingly after him, even if the chase seems silly to begin with; but nearly every time he’ll get his game before he quits, just by his pertinacity. That’s what I am, one of the stick-at-it kind.”
“You never said truer words, Bumpus!” coughed Davy, toward the stern of the boat, “some things are like a rolling snowball, they keep on getting bigger’n bigger the longer they exist. ”

“ Besides the patrol leader, Thad, there were Allan Hollister, who had seen much actual life in the woods, and was perfectly at home there; a tall lanky fellow, with such a long neck that his chums had long ago named him “Giraffe;” a dumpy, fat scout, whose jolly red face was almost the color of his hair, and who came when any one called “Bumpus;” a very neat and handsome boy who had been christened Edmund Maurice Travers Smith, but who did not object when all that was shortened to just plain, every-day “Smithy;” ”

“ If old Ricky had followed us, the chances are we’d hear of him back there somewhere, and not in advance.”
“Guess you’re right, Thad,” muttered Step Hen, who at least was never so hard to convince as Bumpus; and quick to see the point at the same time.
“Then again,” resumed the other, pushing his advantage vigorously, as every wide-awake scout should always do; “from the fact that none of us seem to have sensed what Tom Smith has plainly heard; it shows, not only that his hearing is better than ours, but that the sounds, whatever they may be, come from a distance.” ”

“ Meanwhile Tom Smith was leading them carefully on.
It was entirely different now from what the advance of the sheriff’s posse had been before the scouts met the crowd. Up to that time noise had predominated, with the hounds baying wildly, and men shouting back and forth, as though by this means they expected to frighten the swamp fugitives into surrendering.
Scout tactics now prevailed. When real woodsmen start out to track an enemy, or even a wild animal, they adopt the ways of the wolf or the stealthy Indian, and keep utterly silent. ”

“ Bumpus was heard to say, half to himself.
“Oh! sometimes they keep the animals fast in the leash,” Allan told him, knowing what was still worrying the fat scout; “though there are occasions when they have to let them run free. They are trained to make a coon take to a tree; and there they keep him until the posse comes along.”
“But if he just won’t get up in a tree, or happens to be too heavy to jump?” inquired Bumpus.
“Why, then he has to fight for it, because the hounds will surely attack him, as they are pretty savage,” Giraffe hastened to say. ”

“ At the same time he did not forget his scout schooling, and that he must always be on the alert. So from time to time he would take his eyes away from the faint trail ahead, to scan the bushes, and seek for any sign that might spell danger.
When a lesson has been well learned it soon becomes what might be called “second nature;” and so Thad, even in the present excited condition of his mind, could not help acting as he believed a sagacious scout should when on duty, and following in the wake of a dangerous man. ”

“ Smith, I give you my word that I never yet knew of a true blue scout who was a coward!”
“Hear! hear!” cried Bob White, clapping his hands with delight.
“In fact,” continued Thad, enthusiastically, “I’ve watched more than a few boys who were known to be next door to cowards, change into resolute fellows, brave and self-reliant. One went into a burning house and saved an old man at the risk of his own life. Another stopped a runaway horse with as much skill as a policeman educated for the business might have shown. ”

“ Bumpus, do you know what that awful stuff is? Why, it’s just asafetida, one of the rankest drugs going. Most people have to keep it out in the barn, because it’s pretty nearly as bad as a skunk to have around. Perhaps your mother wanted to use it for a cold. I think that’s what they buy it for; and according to my mind it would scare any respectable cold off in one inning. Now, you just take this coat, and sink it as deep as you can in the swamp; yes, get in your tent and change to your new suit. We’ve stood about all we can of this thing.”
Bumpus looked around at his seven chums, and grinned. ”

“ Thad went on to say, “that this isn’t just an ordinary jaunt, or an outing for fun. It means a whole lot to me that I manage to find the man and the little girl. Either it will turn out to be Felix Jasper and my lost sister; or else we’ll prove that the gentleman was terribly mistaken. And you can understand, fellows, what a load I’m laboring under all the time that puzzle remains unsolved. But I want you to remember that we ought to keep as quiet as we can. Bumpus, you understand the situation, and why we don’t ask you to amuse us with some of your fine songs?” ”

“ The really keen woodsman never underrates the party or animal he may be hunting, but always acts as though he must expect the worst. It is better to be too cautious than to lack in this regard, and ruin well-laid plans.
Pretty soon there was a long line of men and boys making their way along that submerged ledge of solid ground. Thad came immediately after the guide, walking in the footprints of the swamp hunter, if such a thing could be said where the soft ooze instantly settled back as soon as one withdrew his foot. ”

“ Giraffe gaily told him; for the tall scout did not take to forebodings the same way as Bumpus, to whom small things often looked serious.
“I’m not bothering my head about what the dogs may do,” Thad spoke up; “but it is a matter of some importance as to what their masters may attempt. They’re on the hunt for tough characters, and of course hardly expect to run across a party of Boy Scouts in the swamp. We must find out some way to let them know we’re friends, before they start shooting at us.” ”

“ At that there was a general laugh, causing the fat scout to look around indignantly; whereupon the others, notably Step Hen, Davy and Giraffe exchanged winks.
“Ain’t that so, Thad?” demanded Bumpus, turning to the scout-master.
“You’re right about that, Bumpus,” came the reply. “Allan here, who has had lots of experience, will tell you that the most successful trapper is the man who manages somehow to keep from alarming his intended game, both by making few if any tracks around the place where he’s put his trap; and by eliminating the human odor that their sensitive noses detect.” ”

“ He will be very, very angry if he finds me talking to you in this way; because he has always told me I must never say a single word to a stranger.”
“Well, it’s different when you’re talking with your brother, you see,” Thad replied; but her words had awakened him to the fact that it was most unwise to continue to linger so close to the shack where Jasper was staying; and that the safest policy would be for them to reach the spot where Sheriff Badgely and his posse lay concealed, and leave the rest to that astute peace official. ”

“ Try again, Giraffe.”
“Yes, but don’t forget, Bumpus, where you are,” cautioned Thad. “This country in winter time can have anything we expect only in summer up North, and that stands for thunderstorms any month in the year. There, that was a louder peal; and now you’ll understand we’re not trying to make you swallow a tough yarn.”
“It sure did sound like it,” admitted the fat scout, “but I never thought we’d run up against a thunderstorm, or I’d have fetched my new raincoat along.”
“Goodness knows you did bring more than your share, as it is,” complained Step Hen. ”

“ If, as Alligator Smith believed, this was the only means of crossing the fearful muck bed, then, should they have the misfortune to do anything that would start the fugitive to action, he might still be nabbed in the act of trying to get over to the mainland at this point.
And this having been duly attended to, the rest of the posse, together with Alligator Smith and the Boy Scouts, prepared to leave the vicinity of the quaking bog, and start in among the trees with which this queer island, looking like an oasis in the midst of a desert, was pretty well covered. ”