The Pioneer Boys of the Mississippi; or, The Homestead in the Wilderness

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER III

  FROM ONE PERIL TO ANOTHER

  BOB did not need the warning from Sandy to put him on his guard. Themere fact that there was a panther near by was sufficient reasonfor his alertness, because no animal that roamed the woods was morerespected than this sleek gray beast with the square jaws, the powerfulmuscles and the sharp claws.

  Every slight movement of the bushes caused Bob to turn his eyes in thatdirection, with his gun half raised, ready to take a quick shot. And,yet, he knew well how important it was that he use extreme care, whenthe time came for firing. A wounded panther was a thing to be dreadedby even the stoutest-hearted hunter. He had heard many stories toldaround the family hearth at home about these animals, by such men asPat O'Mara, the jolly Irish borderer, old Reuben Jacks, the veteranhunter, and others; all of whom agreed that they would sooner face abear, or a pack of wolves than a big "cat" that was wild with pain andrage.

  Bob could see his brother now, on his knees, still struggling torelease himself from the hold of the fox trap, that seemed to grip hisankle with a stubborn determination to keep him from reaching his gun,standing there so close, but beyond his itching fingers.

  Once Bob thought he saw the beast crouching among some bushes that randown to the edge of the water; but he dared not waste his one shot onan uncertainty, since he would then be compelled to defend himself withhis knife or hatchet. And, as it turned out, he showed considerablewisdom in repressing his boyish desire to fire, for just then there wasa movement in an entirely different direction, and he had a glimpse ofa gray beast slinking past a small opening.

  At this moment, Sandy made a new discovery that added a new note ofalarm to his voice:

  "Oh! there are two of them, Bob! Be careful what you do, brother! Tryto scare them off without shooting, if you can! Oh! if I could onlyreach my gun, it would be all right; but I'm held here, a prisoner!"

  It was a time for doing the right thing, as Bob well knew. If therewere, indeed, a pair of the animals, eager to pounce upon the boy whowas so helpless there, he would certainly have his hands full.

  Fire would frighten them away, Bob knew; but he had no means of quicklyigniting a handful of dead leaves. In those early days, long beforematches of any kind had come to be known, the only way to get firewas by the use of flint and steel; and often it was a difficult task,requiring a pinch of powder, the same as was used for priming in thepan of a gun.

  In this emergency there flashed into the active mind of the youngpioneer a dozen schemes for frightening the panthers away, or, atleast, make the brutes hesitate long enough for him to have a chanceto hand to his brother the gun that was so tantalizingly close to hiseager fingers. Both armed, they might, by two well-directed shots, putan end to both of the panthers.

  Each scheme was, however, dismissed as impracticable as soon asthought of, and there remained to Bob only the one thought,--he must,regardless of the danger, reach his brother's gun!

  Believing that a sudden noise might momentarily disconcert the beasts,he gathered himself for a spring, and then, with a shrill, piercingcry, he leaped from the bushes, and dashed forward.

  The distance was but a few yards, and was quickly covered. SeizingSandy's gun, he, by the same motion, tossed it to his eager brother,and the two lads, back to back, stood with ready weapons, awaiting thespring of the crouching panthers.

  Moments passed and, to the boys, the tension was fearful. Suddenly thesilence was broken by a sharp, cracking sound, followed by a mightycrash, as a huge dead tree toppled down, its bare, gaunt branchesgrazing the boys, as they stood alertly eying the surrounding bushes.

  This was followed by a slight rustling sound and then all was againstill.

  For several minutes the lads maintained their tense attitude and then,with a sigh of relief, Bob relaxed his strained muscles.

  "I believe, Sandy, the fall of that dead tree scared the brutes away,"he said, at last.

  "You are right, Bob," answered the other, with a ring of disgust in hisvoice; "I do believe the cowards are slinking off over there, for Isaw the brush moving. I wish we could have had a shot at them."

  "Well, for one, I'm glad they've taken a notion to let us alone," Bobremarked. "I was afraid that they would spring at any second, and wemight have missed, or only wounded, one or both of the panthers. It wasexciting while it lasted, Sandy."

  "Yes, I can say it was," replied the other, with a shrug of hisshoulders. "Just think of me held up here like this, and with the teethof that old trap biting in deeper every time I pulled, or tried to turnaround. Please get me loose, Bob; my ankle will be pretty sore afterthis, I'm afraid."

  "So you couldn't turn around to unfasten it yourself," remarked theother, as he hastened to turn the trap over, so that he might stand onthe double spring, and thus throw back the two jaws. "There, does thatfix it, Sandy? Looks like those teeth had chewed pretty well into yourbuckskin legging, too. I hope you won't be crippled too badly to limpback to the boat."

  Sandy scrambled to his feet, and started to try his left leg. Hecertainly did limp considerably, but only made a wry face as he said:

  "I'll have to stand it, Bob. And, then, it might have been so muchworse. Think how those sharp teeth must have cut into my leg but forthe support of that stout deerskin legging. And even they would havebeen nothing like the teeth of a panther. I honestly believe the savagebeasts meant to get me. And, after this, I'm just going to add as manypanther skins to our bag as I can, to pay up for the scare they gaveme."

  "Well," Bob replied, "I think we'll give up all idea of keeping alongour line of traps to-day. Not to speak of your lame ankle, it seemsto get darker all the while; and, with the river before us, we'd befoolish to stay over here any longer than we can help. You rememberwhat mother told us, Sandy?"

  "Oh! I wouldn't bother my head about any trouble we might have inmaking the other shore all right," declared the confident younger boy;"but, then, with this pain in my leg, I don't see how I could manage toget over much ground. However, if you care to go on alone, I can getback to the boat, and wait there for you to come."

  Bob shook his head resolutely.

  "I'll return with you, Sandy," he said, "but first we will pick up themink I dropped, if, indeed, those hungry woods cats have not alreadyfound it. It looks as if we will have to be contented with a fox and amink for this afternoon."

  "With three more traps to hear from," grumbled Sandy, who hatedexceedingly to be kept from doing what he had planned. "This seemed tobe our lucky day, Bob; and the chances are we'd have found something inevery trap. Now those two panthers will just about run the line, andclean everything out for us."

  "Still, we have a whole lot to be thankful for," urged the older boy,as he picked up the red fox, threw it over his shoulder, and offeredto assist Sandy in walking. The other, however, scorned to appear likea cripple, and managed unaided to limp along close at his brother'sheels, though he made many a wry face, unseen by Bob, as pains shotthrough the injured ankle.

  They were fortunate enough to find the mink just where it had been sohastily dropped when Bob heard the shouts of the trapped boy, and, assoon as this had been secured, they turned their faces toward the pointwhere the dugout had been left.

  "You see that I was right about the weather thickening up again," Bobremarked, leading the way at as fast a pace as he believed the lamemember of the expedition could stand.

  "It does grow gloomy right along, for a fact. As you say, Bob, perhapsthe bad spell was only broken for a short time, and the rains may comeon worse than ever. Ouch! that hurt like everything then. I didn't seethat root sticking up in the trail. Don't I wish I was over home rightnow, so I could wash that sore spot with hot water, and have motherapply some of that wonderful salve which she makes out of herbs."

  "Only a little way more, and we'll strike the boat," called out Bob,encouragingly; "there, I can see the place now."

  "I was just thinking what a fix we'd be in if we found it gone!"remarked Sandy. "With the river booming bank-
full, and the current asfierce as a wolf pack, how in the wide world would we ever manage toget across, Bob?"

  "I'm not going to bother my head trying to guess," answered the other."Time enough to cross a bridge when you come to it. Besides, I happento know that the boat is still there, for I just had a glimpse of it.But, did you mean you thought the river could have risen enough, sincewe left, to carry it off?"

  "No," said Sandy, soberly, "I was thinking of that second warning youfound under the door of the cabin this very morning, and wonderingwhether those French trappers could be around on this side of theriver. If they saw our boat, and guessed whose it was, they'd be readyto send it adrift, and keep us from getting home to-night."

  "That is just what I think, myself; and they would do even worsethan that, if they had the chance. The only thing that keeps themfrom firing on us as we pass through the forest is their fear of thevengeance of Boone and Kenton, not to speak of Pontiac, whose wampumbelt hangs in our cabin, a sign of his protecting hand over theArmstrong family. But, here we are; and now to get started right away."

  One glance out upon the heaving bosom of the flood told Sandy that theyhad been wise to give up further idea of staying on the further shore.Indeed, with the gathering darkness, it began to look as if, even now,they had taken more chances than were wise or prudent.

  The boys pushed out with a fearlessness that was characteristic oftheir actions. Accustomed to facing perils by land or water, theyseldom hesitated, or allowed anything like alarm to influence them,when duty called. And both lads knew that, should they fail to returnhome on that night, there would be little sleep under the Armstrongroof.

  As usual, Sandy sat in the bow of the boat, while his brother managedthe stern paddle with considerable dexterity. Until they had come tothe Ohio country neither boy had had very much experience in boats;but, after the dugout was built, they spent much of their time on thewater, shooting ducks for the family larder, fishing, or crossing overto hunt on the other shore, where, later on in the fall, they hadstretched a line of traps that brought them in many a fine pelt.

  They soon found that, somehow, owing to the trend of the shore,perhaps, it was going to prove an even more difficult task to push theheavy dugout back to the southern side of the river, than it had beenin coming across. The current added to their troubles, for it carriedthem along faster than either of the boys had dreamed possible. For thefirst time, possibly, they were learning of the power of the flood,once it arose in its tremendous might.

  Both lads strained every muscle as they drove the blades deeply intothe water. They had, by the hardest kind of work, managed to get abouthalf-way over, though both of them were somewhat winded by theirefforts, when they noticed that heavy clouds, rolling up across theheavens, had begun to bring the dusk of night much earlier than eventhe careful Bob had anticipated.

  There were many obstructions that had to be avoided. Trees werefloating on the surface of the water in places, and logs seemedplentiful. Altogether, it was an entirely new sight to both Bob and hisbrother, for, until now, they had never known the beautiful Ohio torise to a point that could be called dangerous.

  "Take care, and keep away from that tree!" warned Bob, as he saw aparticularly ugly snag, with broken branches sticking out along itssides, bearing down upon them on the left.

  They had to paddle furiously in order to keep clear of thisthreatening object, and, possibly, in his eagerness, Sandy may havebent too heavily on his paddle, for, just as they reached a point wherethey would be safe from the floating tree, there was a sharp snap.

  "What happened?" cried Bob, alarmed more than he would have liked toconfess.

  For reply Sandy held up the stump of his paddle. It had broken offclean, and, from that time on, only one could paddle at a time. Thiscatastrophe was sure to delay their passage, and doubtless cause themto be swept some miles down-stream before they could land; but the boyswere hardy, and would not mind walking back, though doubtless Sandymight complain a little on account of his lame leg.

  Bob set to work again with a good will, and was making fair progresswhen yet another peril came booming along, this time in the shape of aheavy log that was sweeping with the speeding current.

  Bob saw the danger and strove the best he could to avoid it; but, inthe clutch of the current, the little dugout seemed but a plaything,and the log, driving three times as fast as they were going,bore straight down upon them. When Bob saw that a collision wasunavoidable, he called at the top of his voice to his brother:

  "It's going to strike us, Sandy. Hold on to your gun if you can, andclimb aboard the log as they come together; for I fear that the boatwill sink. Quick! jump now!"