CHAPTER VIII.

LOOKING BACKWARD.

Now, if there was anything in the wide world that could give the fat scout a real hard scare, it had to do with snakes. Had he been told that there was a yellow-eyed wildcat crouching on a limb, and evidently planning to spring straight at him, Bumpus might have exhibited a certain degree of courage, and at least have tried to reach around in search of his gun; but a hideous, squirming snake was quite a different proposition.

And only that morning he had heard Thad tell about how venomous these numerous water moccasins were; how indeed, in some places, their bite is feared only second to that of a rattler; for while immediate death does not as a rule take place, often the wound will turn into an open running sore, and create no end of bother.

And so doubtless that brain of Bumpus’ instantly sent a “wireless” to other parts of his body, giving the alarm. Certain it is that at the very same instant the squirming object flashed before his eyes, falling in the boat directly ahead of Bumpus, who was in the bow, he made one magnificent backward splurge, his feet kicking violently every-which way, as in imagination he felt the fangs of the intruder fastened in his leg.

It was a sight never to be forgotten by those other scouts; though had not the canoe been very staunch the chances were that Bumpus in his frantic zeal to part company with the moccasin must have tipped the craft over, and deposited himself as well as his three companions in the water.

Even as he kept both legs working like the piston rods of an engine Bumpus was letting out roars that would have done credit to an angry bull. He afterwards confessed that it seems to be the one prominent feature in his mind that Thad had told them to make all the splash and noise they could if ever they were threatened by these contemptible water moccasins, as that would frighten them away. And as Giraffe afterwards avowed, the noise that Bumpus created would have given his comrades the one grand scare of their lives, had they not known the origin of it all. Bumpus actually took that as a compliment, too, mind you.

“Keep still, Bumpus, or you’ll upset the boat!” shouted Thad, sternly; and he had to exert himself to be heard above all the row.

“You’re safe enough, silly; he won’t jump at you!” cried Davy Jones, who had all he could manage with the head of the fat scout in his lap, and those legs going like the arms of a windmill in a stiff gale.

“Gimme just one chance to whack the beggar!” demanded Step Hen, who had managed to pick up the push pole, which was carried in case they became fast in the mud at any time, and must depend on brawn and muscle to get clear.

As the result of all these objurgations Bumpus recovered enough sense to slightly raise his head, so that he could take a peep. He discovered that the moccasin had coiled in the very bow, and was acting as though intending to retain possession of the canoe; for it kept thrusting venomously with its head, and showed a nasty disposition in the way it opened its mouth.

But Step Hen poised the push pole as though he meant business.

“Duck your head, Bumpus!” he called out; at which the other hastened to obey, not in the least inclined to feel the heft of that stout pole.

He heard a crash, and gave a yelp.

“Hey! that was my left foot you hit! Quit knocking me!” was his plaint.

“Well, you wouldn’t give me enough room!” declared Step Hen, complacently; “but it’s all right, Bumpus, you suffered in a good cause, and that ought to repay you. I got him, and he isn’t agoing to jab you this trip, mark my words!”

So Bumpus, despite his pain, raised his head again far enough to see that Step Hen had indeed settled the snake; for it was wriggling aimlessly this way and that, trying to strike even in its death throes, such was its venomous nature.

“Toss it overboard, Step Hen!” ordered the scout-master.

Managing to get the point of the pole under its folds, the other hastened to do so, and the struggling reptile floated off, much to the relief of all those who had been menaced, especially poor Bumpus, who was nursing his toes, and grumbling that he had “to pay the fiddler even if he didn’t dance.”

“I hope now that pesky thing didn’t go and get a bite at me unbeknown,” he said, as though a new feeling of alarm had suddenly taken possession of him; and though the rest laughed at the idea, nothing would ease the mind of the stout boy until he had taken off his leggings and closely examined both shins; when he felt relieved of his anxiety.

Of course the talk among the boys for some time afterwards was in connection with these dangers that are ever present in Southern waters, especially those of the swamps.

And again Thad cautioned them to beware how they allowed a moccasin to become in any way familiar.

“I reckon,” remarked Step Hen, after listening to these warnings, “that there ain’t any place agoing where the watchwords of Boy Scouts come in better’n they do down here; because, seems to me a fellow’s got to ‘be prepared’ about all the time. What with hungry alligators ready to make a meal off your feet; poisonous snakes dropping off slanting trees; bobcats waiting in the crotches above for a chance to scratch you into ribbons; escaped convicts atrying to steal about everything you own; and so-forth, it wouldn’t be a bad scheme to own three pair of eyes and ears to keep on guard.”

Thad was keeping up his watchful tactics of the preceding afternoon as they thus slowly advanced into the depths of Alligator Swamp. He did not wish to make an error of judgment, if it could possibly be avoided; for only too well did the boy know from past experiences how such a mistake can keep on swelling until the final consequences are simply tremendous.

So they kept on marking each bend that they turned, and Thad saw to it that he could pick up one “blaze,” if it could be termed such, from another. He also broke a smaller branch, always on the side they came from; so that if in doubt later on, it would be easy to make sure which way to go, a very wise precaution indeed, and one that Allan highly commended when he saw what was being done.

They did not hurry, since nothing was to be gained by making speed at the sacrifice of safety. And as they thus journeyed, it was perhaps only natural that, with the two canoes close together, one of the scouts should ask Thad further questions in connection with this man who had apparently taken such a peculiar dislike to the Brewster family, in that he could be suspected of having kidnapped the little girl sister whom Thad remembered so well as a baby.

“I was only a small chap at the time, which was nearly ten years ago,” Thad told them, as a strange look came over his young face, when thus recalling the past; “but I can remember him very well as a dashing looking man, smart enough too, but with a horrible temper, and some bad habits that finally got him into trouble; for he took things belonging to my folks, and was discharged from his position as manager of the property.

“That downfall he seemed to foolishly lay at the door of my mother, though to tell the truth she was only too lenient with the rascal, who should have been prosecuted, and sent to the penitentiary for a term of years. Then, later on, my baby sister strangely disappeared, and my mother never fully recovered from the shock; because although for some years she spent money like water, and had the best detectives in the country searching everywhere; but they never were able to find the least trace of poor little Pauline.

“Of course, sooner or later suspicion fell upon this Felix Jasper, and as he was located in New Orleans a close watch was kept upon his movements; but they found no reason to cause his arrest; and so it went until my poor mother finally left me alone, and Daddy Brewster, a brother of my father’s, came and brought me to his home in Cranford, where I met you fellows.”

“Which, I take it, was a red letter day for old Cranford!” declared Step Hen; “because right from the first you managed to inject more ginger into the boys than they’d ever known before. When you went off that summer to visit some other relative, and came back filled chuck full with Boy Scout business, didn’t you get every fellow in Cranford excited, and wasn’t the Silver Fox Patrol formed as a result?”

“Yes,” added Davy, for the subject was one that appealed to Thad’s close chums very much, “and whenever we played baseball, or any other game, wasn’t it you who took the lead, and made the name of Cranford respected through the whole county, where before it had always stood close to the bottom of the list? I should say we did strike it lucky when you came along the pike, Thad.”

“That’ll be enough for you, Davy; and suppose we change the subject,” remarked the scout-master; although his eyes snapped, and his cheeks grew red with pleasure to know that his comrades appreciated him so much.

“But do you reckon you’d ever be able to recognize this man if you set eyes on him again, Thad?” asked Bumpus, at this juncture.

“I am sure I would,” came the positive reply; “because he couldn’t have changed so much, only to look older. I’d never forget those snapping black eyes, and the straight nose, as well as the firm mouth. As I remember him, Felix wasn’t as cruel as he looked, but his temper often made him do things that perhaps he was sorry for afterwards, though he had a terribly stubborn disposition, and once started on a thing would carry it through, regardless of every consideration.”

“Did you ever hear of him after he was in New Orleans?” asked Allan, from the other canoe close by.

“I believe he prospered there for several years,” said Thad; “and then got into some sort of trouble. This same gentleman who wrote Daddy lately, used to keep him informed as to what Felix was doing, because somehow my uncle always believed that sooner or later something would be heard about my little sister through that man. Then came this letter stating that he had been seen near Alligator Swamp, and a girl in his company who might be some eleven years old; just what the age of Pauline must be if she is alive.”

“But when he was in New Orleans didn’t he have the girl with him?” demanded Giraffe, who was generally pretty keen when it came to asking questions.

“No, but then the chances were that he knew he was being kept under observation, and that at the time he was smart enough to have her at some other place. He did marry while in the city, but there were no children, and his wife left him, so we were told by the one who had been employed to keep tabs on the man, perhaps on account of his villainous temper.”

“Then you imagine that after he had to clear out from the city and hide, because of some crime he had done, this Felix Jasper may have gone and gotten the little girl, so that he would have company in his exile—is that it, Thad?” questioned Smithy, who had once known of a case something like that of the other, and could sympathize with his chum.

“That’s what I’m hoping, and what seemed to strike Daddy as perhaps the truth,” replied the other. “But if we have any decent kind of luck I’ll know more about it all before we start back home to Cranford again; because I’m determined to comb this old swamp through and through, asking every one I meet, to get pointers until I run across the man who was seen with a little girl. And if it turns out that after all he isn’t Felix, I’ll be feeling pretty sick, let me tell you. But something seems to keep telling me here,” and he laid a trembling hand in the region of his heart, “that there’s glorious news waiting for me; and every night I lie down I just pray with all my soul that it’s going to turn out that way.”

“So do we all, Thad, don’t we, fellows?” exclaimed Bumpus, soberly; and there was not one among the other six but who instantly expressed himself in the affirmative.

Thad quickly changed the subject, for he was feeling very much excited and shaken because of the sad memories recalled by his talk; and the other scouts, realizing that he did not wish to continue along those lines, readily fell in with his wishes in the matter.

The morning passed, and all of them noticed that it seemed to warm up greatly as the day advanced, until they had stripped their coats off, and with sleeves rolled up to their elbows as in the good old summer-time up North, paddled along under the arches of the closely growing trees. These were cypress for the most part, since these seem to do better in the midst of water than any other species; and their expanded butts always several times as large in girth as the trunks were five feet from the roots, gave the boys no end of argument as to the cause of such a strange growth.

“There!” suddenly exclaimed Bumpus, “that was an alligator bellering, Thad, wasn’t it? You said they generally talked just before dawn, but still one lonely fellow might happen to break the rule.”

“Wrong again, Bumpus, because that wasn’t any sort of animal or reptile,” the scout-master went on to say, with a smile.

“But you don’t mean to tell me a _bird_ could grumble like that, Thad?” continued the amazed Bumpus.

The rest set up a laugh.

“You sure have got snakes and ’gators on the brain, Bumpus!” declared Giraffe, scornfully. “Why, if you was up home right now, you’d aguessed like the rest of us did, that what you heard was the grumble of thunder, that’s all!”