CHAPTER XVIII

THE STORM

ROGER was considerably relieved when he heard his chum say this with so much confidence. A bear might be troublesome, but it was not to be compared with an Indian, for the latter was likely to have allies close at hand who could be summoned by a signal whoop.

"Do you think the beast can move the stump?" he asked Dick, at the same time feeling for his knife, which the other had turned over to Roger on discovering that it was really his property.

"He is trying hard to do so," replied Dick.

"Just listen how he keeps on sniffing at that crack," continued the other boy. "He knows that somebody has taken to his hollow tree, and he doesn't seem to like it at all. How about giving him a shot, Dick? At such close range you could easily knock him over."

Dick, however, had his own ideas about that. At least, he did not make any preparations for the shot.

"To tell you the truth, Roger," he finally explained, "I'd rather not waste my powder and ball on the old fellow. He'd be too tough for us to use as food, and besides, the sound of the report might bring some of the Indians down on us."

"I suppose you are right, Dick," commented Roger; "but it looks as if we might have to do something to frighten the bear away. There he starts again, trying to thrust the stump aside, and as sure as anything, Dick, the breach is getting a little wider every time he works at it."

"It seems so," agreed Dick, "and, as you say, we ought to do something to put a stop to his scratching and dragging. Wait a minute, I've an idea I can fix it!"

With these words he put his long rifle behind him so that it was safe in Roger's hands. In case of actual necessity the latter would know what to do with the fire-arm; but just then he was very curious to learn what Dick had arranged.

He could hear him moving, and he seemed to lean forward until his hands were perilously near the small opening at which the nose of the bear was working just as the snout of a hog might be used to move an obstacle.

The champing of teeth, along with the loud sniffing, continued.

"What are you doing, Dick?" asked Roger, finally, unable to stand the suspense any longer.

"Oh!" came the cheery reply, "I have wasted a charge or two of powder, placing it as near the opening as I can, and running a thread this way. Now I have my flint and steel ready, and, as soon as he starts to poking his nose in at the hole again, I'll strike fire, and explode the powder in his face!"

Roger saw the object of this, and was considerably interested in the outcome.

"I hope he gets the full benefit of the flash," he observed.

Dick saw his chance just then, and he could be heard striking the flint and steel rapidly together after the manner of one whom long experience in this line had made almost perfect.

There came a little shower of descending sparks, and then a sudden brilliant flash that lit up the interior of the hollow tree as though the sun had found a means of ingress.

"Hurrah!" cried Roger, clapping his hands in glee, "that was the time you gave old Eph the scare of his life! Hear him plunging off, will you, Dick? It seems as if he'd lost all desire to make the acquaintance of his new lodgers. And I don't think we'll be bothered any more by Mr. Bear, do you?"

Dick also laughed softly as he replied:

"He must have had his nose singed that time, and got a bad fright in the bargain, so I reckon we'll not be annoyed again."

"This powder smoke is choking me, Dick."

"But it's slowly rising in the tree, and things are getting better right along," Roger was told. "We'll wait awhile until the air is purer, and after that we'll drag the old stump back to where it was before the bear moved it."

"And then?" queried Roger.

"Go to sleep again, if you feel like it, because we have some hours of the night still ahead of us," Dick calmly told him.

Before they could settle down they noticed that the wind was soughing through the trees with a louder note than before.

"That storm is coming closer all the while," remarked Dick, "and we needn't be surprised to hear thunder at any time now."

"If it does come," added Roger, sleepily, "we'll be glad to have such a fine shelter in the rain. But it may fool us after all, and for one I don't mean to lie awake waiting for it."

Dick, too, managed to get to sleep before a great while. Both of them were presently aroused by a loud crash of thunder.

"Why, it did get here after all, Dick!" exclaimed Roger, the first thing.

"Listen and you can hear the rain further along beating down on the forest trees. One good thing about it is that the storm will probably not be a long one."

Dick's words were immediately followed by a vivid flash of lightning, and then came another loud detonation that seemed to shake the earth.

In these present days two wide-awake boys who had picked up some knowledge of woodcraft would be very much alarmed to find themselves in a hollow tree during an electrical storm, knowing that there was always a chance of the lightning's striking such an object and bringing about their destruction.

Dick and Roger were not worried on that point. Perhaps it was because they were accustomed to taking hazards; or it may have sprung from ignorance of the danger.

However, the hollow tree had lost its top long years ago, and was surrounded by loftier trees so the chances of its being struck were not serious.

Then the rain came, and, from the sounds that reached their ears, the boys decided that it was almost a tropical downpour. Roger was on the alert to discover whether their shelter was going to prove its worth, or begin to leak. After some time had passed he voiced his conviction in his usual fashion.

"Not a drop so far, Dick, and I believe we're going to keep dry jackets through the whole downpour. Why, this is better than being in one of the tents, for they nearly always let a stream of water trickle down your neck when you're not expecting it. I think we're mighty lucky to have such good shelter."

"And I agree with every word you say, Roger," his companion added.

"How is the night going, do you know?" continued the other.

"I'm sure I can hardly say, Roger. At a guess I might venture to say that we may have something like two hours more of darkness."

"Then all I hope is the storm will peter out before dawn, so we can start for the river right away. We ought to come upon the expedition by evening, unless we get lost, and that is something not likely to happen to boys like us, who have lived in the woods since they were knee-high to grasshoppers."

"One thing sure, we have had all the sleep we're going to get to-night," Dick remarked.

"It seems to me the rain has slackened some. At least, it doesn't make such a terrible noise when it strikes the trees. But there was a pretty lively wind blowing, Dick, and I think I heard more than one tree crash down before the gale."

"Yes," added the other. "And this old wreck did some groaning, too. Once I was in a sweat thinking it might go toppling over; but the other trees must have protected it some, for it stood through the wild storm."

When Roger hazarded the opinion that the gale was abating he spoke the truth, for in a short time it became manifest that the thunder came from a more distant point, the lightning was not so brilliant, and the rain itself began to fall more lightly.

In fact, things took on such a different tone that Roger actually settled himself down to try for a little more sleep.

Dick had been too thoroughly aroused to think of doing this. He continued to sit there, keeping a vigil on the crack, through which he knew he would catch the first glimpse of breaking day. He amused himself while sitting thus by letting his thought go back to the happy home far down the "Big Muddy," where his father and his mother, his little brother Sam, and his grandparents besides, occupied the big cabin in the clearing, close to the one where Roger's parents lived.

Finally, Dick discovered that it was no longer pitch dark outside. The moon had broken out from the scattering storm clouds, and was giving a fair amount of light.

Dick, always in touch with the positions of the heavenly bodies, knew, after he had located the fragment of a moon, that morning was indeed close at hand. Indeed, he believed that in less than half an hour the dawn would break.

He allowed Roger to sleep until it was broad daylight, and then, acting under the belief that they had better be on their way, he laid a hand on the other's arm.

"Morning has come, and we ought to be getting out of here," Dick told his comrade, as he felt the other move under his touch.

"Why, I did go to sleep after all, it seems," muttered Roger, as though he considered this the queerest thing of all; but Dick only smiled, for he knew of old some of the little weaknesses of his chum.

They succeeded in pushing the old stump away from the opening, leaving a gap big enough for them to crawl through.

"If Mr. Bear ever takes the trouble to come back to his den," remarked Roger, as he surveyed the big tree with its hollow butt, "he's welcome to his old quarters. I'd like to tell him that his hole is all right, too, when a fellow is caught in a storm; but we have other fish to fry just now."

His words reminded him of the fine mess of trout they had caught on the preceding day, just before the trap set by the cunning Indians had been sprung, and shortly afterwards he remarked:

"I do hope our friends found all the strings of trout we left along the bank of that stream; and that there were more than they could use at one time. It would be fine if we got a taste of the same, Dick, after all this fuss."

"I was just thinking," remarked practical Dick, who certainly was not bothering his head about trout, or any other kind of food, "that, after all, that storm may have done us one kindness."

"Tell me how, then?" demanded Roger, who failed to agree with him until he could be shown the facts.

"The rain must have washed all our tracks out, so not even the sharpest-eyed Indian brave could follow our trail," explained the other, and of course Roger found himself in full accord with the theory advanced, for, like the story of Columbus and the envious Spanish courtiers, things looked very different after the explanation.

With a last backward look toward the friendly old tree that had afforded them shelter in the storm, the two lads tightened their belts and set off on their long tramp, expecting to strike the bank of the Missouri by the time the sun was ready to set.