Camp Mates in Michigan; or, with Pack and Paddle in the Pine Woods

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER I

  THE UNWELCOME VISITOR IN CAMP

  “Wake up everybody! Boarders ahoy! Hey! something’s after our grub!Hurry up, or we’ll be cleaned out!”

  There was an upheaval of blankets in the lone tent that stoodon the bank of a Michigan stream; then three boys came crawlingevery-which-way out, without more than a hazy idea as to what they weredoing.

  But at any rate, all of them seemed to know where their guns lay, forevery fellow gripped one in his hands as he emerged in this manner fromthe interior of the khaki colored tent, made so by some waterproofingtanning process.

  “What is it, Dolph?” demanded the first to arrive on the heels of theboy who had shouted the alarm, and whose name was Dolph Bradley.

  “It jumped back, Teddy, when I poked my head out; and I think made upin that pine yonder,” came the quick response, as the aforesaid Dolphpointed with his gun.

  “And was it getting away with some of our fine stuff?” asked Teddy, inevident dismay, as his eyes roamed toward a little pile of duffle atthe foot of another tree close to the tent.

  “It sure was. That’s the ham lying right out there, now, where I guesshe dropped it at seeing me. After this we’ve got to take that into thetent with us, if we want to save the same.”

  “But are we going to let the scamp get off scot free, after nearlywrecking the expedition; because if we lost our ham I’d feel like ourbest friend was gone? For one, I’d like to let this thief know whatwe think of him. I think I could put a charge of Number Sevens underhis jacket, from my little Marlin here, that would do the business indouble-quick style,” and Teddy Overton patted the repeating twelve-boremodern gun he held, with the air of one who knew he could depend on itshard hitting qualities.

  “Let’s spread out a little, so as to cover more ground,” suggestedDolph; and with that the three boys moved apart, each with his weaponhalf raised, so as to be ready for quick work, if the necessity arose.

  The one who as yet had not spoken a single word, gave the fire a kickin passing, and this caused it to blaze up afresh, just as he knew itwould.

  “Good for you, Amos!” exclaimed Dolph. “That makes it better to aim by.Does anybody glimpse him yet?”

  “Not I; but see here, Dolph,” Teddy went on to say, “you haven’t toldus what sort of a beast it was. Must be along the cat order, or itwouldn’t try to steal a whole ham, and then take to a tree, when youpoked your head out to see what was doing.”

  “It sure was a cat, and the biggest I ever ran across,” Dolph hurriedlydeclared. “You see, the fire was burning kind of low, and it jumpedso quick I didn’t get more’n a glimpse of the thing; but there wassomething queer about it. If you asked me right off the shoulder now,I’d be apt to say it had little bells hanging from its ears!”

  Teddy burst out into a laugh.

  “Hear that, Amos?” he cried. “Rings on her fingers, and bells on hertoes; she shall have music wherever she goes, eh? Sounds like that,doesn’t it? Now, I guess from what you say, Dolph, our bold visitor,that likes smoked ham so much, belongs to the lynx class of bob-cats.”

  “What, a real Canada lynx?” exploded Dolph. “That excites me a wholelot, let me tell you; for if there’s one animal in this country I’vealways wanted to run across it’s a genuine lynx. Heard a lot about thesly things, too. Shot cats in Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and up inMaine, but never saw a lynx. I hope you’re not mistaken, Teddy, andthat I get a chance to clap my eyes on him.”

  “Then look sharp; I know the beast’s habits pretty well,” ventured theother; whose father being a rich lumber merchant, it was only naturalthat the boy should be acquainted with these Michigan pine woods, andtheir furry inhabitants, “and the chances are that, having got a tasteof our fine ham, he won’t want to clear out without trying to carry itwith him.”

  “Wait! I think I see something that looks like a big knob on one of hislimbs!” exclaimed Dolph, eagerly.

  “Hi! there, go slow!” cautioned Teddy, fearing an attack, if anyblunder were committed; “a lynx only wounded can upset a whole camplike a twister of a cyclone had struck it, ain’t that so, Amos?”

  “It sure is,” answered the third member of the party of campers, astocky boy, who was not apparently as well to do as the others, if onecould judge from the old gun he carried, and his general make-up; forwhile Teddy and Dolph had donned pajamas when they retired for thenight, Amos had simply removed part of his day clothes, and crawledunder his blanket that way; but from the manner in which he handled hisweapon, he evidently felt pretty much at home in the wilderness.

  “Does it seem to move, Dolph?” asked Teddy, when the other continued tobend his head forward, and stare at a certain point among the ratherthick branches of the marked pine.

  “Don’t seem to, and that’s what bothers me,” came the ready reply. “Irather think it can’t be much, either, because, if it was the lynx, I’dalmost surely see his yellow eyes staring at me, wouldn’t I?”

  “That’s what you would,” answered Amos.

  “And that’s been what I’ve had my eye peeled for all the time,”declared Teddy. “But I wish somebody’d hurry up and glimpse the oldthief. This night air ain’t as salubrious as it might be. Fact is,I’m beginning to get the shakes; and give you my word, it ain’t theexcitement at all that’s making my hands tremble. Think that if Imoved over this way a little, perhaps I might stir him up. Watch now,everybody; and shoot at the drop of a hat!”

  As he said this, Teddy slowly started to walk farther away, so as tobe able to investigate parts of the suspected tree that, up to then,had not come fully under observation. The revived fire was doing prettywell, for the flames had seized on portions of wood only partly burned,and were crackling merrily. And the light revealed the presence of twoup-to-date canoes partly hauled up on the shore not thirty feet awayfrom the tent, thus disclosing the fact that the trio of lads had usedthe water way in order to reach their present camp in the Michiganpines.

  A sudden exclamation from Teddy announced that his latest move had metwith at least some measure of success.

  “See anything?” called out Dolph, eagerly, for he had been hoping thatthe opportunity to blaze away might come to him.

  “Looks like it, but I’ll soon know,” replied the other, as he stoopedto pick up some object. “I’m going to toss this piece of wood up there.Be ready now; for if it’s our visitor he’ll be apt to change hisposition. Here goes!”

  With that he gave the object a quick twirl, and they could distinctlyhear it stirring the outer branches of the pines, to fall to the groundagain with a soft thud.

  Teddy was heard to utter a sharp ejaculation, and from this the othersunderstood that in all probability his little scheme had met withsuccess. They glanced that way and saw him bend his head down to glancealong the repeating gun’s matted barrel.

  Then came a sudden report, and with it a shrill screech, that soundedvery much as though Teddy could have made no mistake when he believedhe was aiming at the hairy thief.

  Loud outcries arose with the opening of hostilities.

  “Did you nail him?” demanded Dolph, greatly excited.

  “No, I guess not,” replied Teddy, in a chagrined tone. “The beast gavea jump just as I pulled trigger, and I must have cut the air where hesat. But he hasn’t left that tree yet, fellows. We command every sideof the same; and unless he can fly, we ought to get another crack athim. Be lively, now, and try to do better than I did. I must still bein the greenhorn class, though I thought I’d graduated three years ago.”

  “Oh! don’t worry about that!” sang out Dolph, cheerily: “mistakes willhappen you know, even in the best regulated families. I’ve done worsethan that more’n a few times; and I’ve hunted in a good many countrieswith my dad, you know. Wow! I wonder now, can that be the sly cat? Yes,looks like I can see twin glow-worms up there in that dark pocket. HadI better give him a try, Teddy?”

  “If you feel pretty sure it’s the ham thief, why, go ahead and pot him;but as qui
ck as you shoot, leap to one side; because I’ve always heardthese lynx are just chain lightning on the jump, even when they’ve gottheir death wound.”

  “Reckon I will then, because I ain’t hankering after feeling his clawsrake me fore and aft,” replied Dolph, who came from Cincinnati, and wasthe son of a well known millionaire of that city.

  “Steady, boy; make sure!” cautioned Teddy, as he saw that the other wasaiming upward with his expensive gun, the finest that a celebrated firmin England could put together for any amount of money; but which eventhen Teddy would not have accepted for his own tried and true weapon.

  Hardly had he spoken than Dolph fired. Remembering the warning givenby his campmate the Cincinnati boy jumped backward as soon as he hadfairly pulled the trigger. His heels catching in a root, the presenceof which he knew nothing about, as a consequence he was tripped up, andwent headlong to the ground.

  Dolph was conscious of a shrill scream, this time not of anger butpain; and that some heavy body flew through space in the very spotwhich his form had occupied. That fall was the finest thing that couldhave happened to him, after all, because, in spite of his movement, theleaping lynx must have landed on him only for his sprawling on his back.

  Realizing the desperate nature of his position Dolph rolled over onceor twice before he even attempted to regain an erect position. Then, onhis knees he worked at the mechanism of his expensive imported shotgun,only to find that somehow his fall must have jammed it; or else in hisexcitement he failed to do exactly the thing that was necessary, for hecould not get another shell in the firing chamber.

  “This way, quick; I can’t get my gun to work!” he shrilled, halfbelieving that in another instant he would have the unfuriated andwounded lynx on top of him.

  He could hear a dreadful threshing about only a few yards away fromhim; and the awful thought flashed through his head that perhaps thebeast was clawing one of his chums. But as he immediately after sawTeddy coming on the jump from one direction, while the Michigan boyshowed up from the other Dolph’s mind became easier.

  “It’s over there--I must have hit it hard, from the racket the thingkeeps up! Be ready to cover him, Teddy, Amos; because my plaguey oldgun’s jammed, and I can’t get it to work!”

  “Don’t bother,” said Teddy, with a short, nervous laugh; “I guess youpotted your first lynx all right, old fellow. He’s sure kicking hislast, if I’m any judge of things. But don’t get too close, mind you;they’re nasty, treacherous beasts at the best. And he might give someof us a streaking with his last effort.”

  “Oh!” shouted Dolph, with such an odd inflection of alarm in his voicethat the others were naturally startled.

  “What’s the matter now?” cried Teddy, whirling around toward the other.

  “There’s another cat crawling along on the ground—by ginger! two of’em! Why, the woods must be full of them! We’re going to be swampedwith 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 themechanism 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 asingle shell left, I’m good for any amount of game. Where’s the nextvictim?”

  “Over yonder, crouching at the foot of that tree; don’t you see itseyes now, Teddy?” whooped the boy from Cincinnati.

  “Shure I do; and that means I’m due for another victim. Watch me roolhis hoop for him, will you, fellows?”

  “Bang!” went the repeating shotgun again.

  “You did it that time too, Teddy! Oh! if only this old gun hadn’t gotstuck just when I needed it most, I might have made a clean sweep ofthe lot!” cried Dolph. “I’ve got a good notion to smash the old thingagainst a tree, and do without the rest of the trip, that’s what!”

  “Don’t think of it,” called out the lumberman’s son, steadily. “Perhapsafter all you’re more to blame than the gun, Dolph. I’ve been thatexcited myself when in a bad hole, that I hardly knew how I was clawingat the right part of my gun to work a new shell in. Do you see any signof my cats coming out of their trance again?”

  “No, they seem as dead as doornails; that gun is a hard hitter, Teddy,”remarked Amos Simmons, as he handled his own rather old fashionedsingle shot weapon with something approaching a sigh, as of envy,though he never voiced such a feeling.