CHAPTER XVII

PERK SHOWS HIS HAND

"Let me tell yeou, partner, that same bar he's some stickin'-plaster all right!"

A full half hour must have passed without any noticeable change in the conditions. The obstinate beast stayed close to the foot of the tree, never making any attempt at climbing the same; just as though he might be well aware of his own shortcomings.

A number of times, when one of the prisoners among the branches chanced to make some sort of movement, in order to relieve the numbness that had gripped his legs, the bear would exhibit the same ferocity he had shown all through the siege.

"The old chap certainly must have a long debt to pay toward somebody, and is taking it out on us, Perk," ventured Jack, breaking the silence once more.

"But it doant seem so much like a joke as at first," grumbled Perk, disconsolately. "What in thunder'd we do if he camped aout on us, mebbe fur a hull day'nd night--gorry! wouldn't we be in a pickle, though--nawthin' to eat'r drink it might be, an' so sore in aour bodies we'd feel like howlin'."

"Oh! let's hope it doesn't turn out so serious as all that," Jack soothed him somewhat by saying confidently. "What bothers me most is how we're going to do any sort of business, with that chap hanging out in this neighborhood, and likely to drop in on us any old minute."

"Drat the luck, any way!" growled the greatly annoyed Perk, aghast at the very idea of slow starvation; with that fat old husky camped at the foot of their tree refuge, daring them to set a foot on the ground.

The morning was wearing away by degrees, with the sun already peeping down into the deep ravine, from its more lofty position in the heavens. Perk was now busily engaged cudgeling his brains in the endeavor to conjure up some species of scheme by which they might have a chance to rid themselves of their four-footed jailor.

All at once Jack saw the other start to feeling of his person eagerly as though some dazzling idea had burst upon his mind. As a rule these occasions were few and far between, and yet Perk had been actually known to originate some amazing schemes, that perhaps did not always turn out as successfully as he himself might have fancied would be the case.

"I could a sworn I fetched it along, thinkin' there might be some pesky rattlers in this here coulie," Jack heard him muttering; and then an exclamation of delight announced that whatever he had in mind it had eventually turned up in one of his numerous pockets.

"Hey! what's in the wind now, I want to know?" Jack demanded, in idle curiosity, since he hardly anticipated that his chum would be able to offer any plausable plan for ridding themselves of that intolerable nuisance encamped below decks.

Perk was holding something up exultantly, and Jack could see it appeared to be a small _flask_--such things were very common nowadays, with prohibition in the land; but as he had never known his mate to use strong spirits Jack naturally felt more or less surprise to see such a bottle stowed away on Perk's person. But the word "rattlers" may have given Jack a slight inkling of what it all meant.

"Fetched this here stuff 'long, Jack, in case either o' us ran afoul o' a pizen snake," came the explanation; "kinder do hate to waste the same on sech a wretched beast; but seems like it might get us outen this nasty scrape."

Jack was forced to laugh.

"Quite an original joke you'd play on Old Eph, I take it, partner--get the poor stick drunk, you mean, of course; but what makes you reckon he'd take to the bottle; for of course you couldn't lean down far enough to pour the stuff into his open mouth--that'd be a heap too dangerous, I'd think."

Perk gave him a reproachful look as he hastened to explain.

"Say, I aint _quite_ that silly, I hopes, Jack ole hoss, as to give that critter half a chanct to nab me. I got another idee, it happens, such as ought to pan aout too, if I kin do what I want without spillin' the beans, or in this case the bootleg stuff."

"Sounds good to me, Perk," Jack told him as if to encourage further explanations. "If you don't expect him to swallow it what then, partner?"

"Jest yeou watch yeour Uncle Perk get busy, boy, that's all."

Long before this both of them had relieved their aching shoulders of the weighty packs they were carrying, attaching the same safely to certain broken limbs of the tree that came in conveniently enough. This allowed of a certain amount of freedom; and so Perk was able to wriggle down several feet, his movements as usual attracting the observation of the jealous guardian, for the great shaggy beast stood upright, with his snout elevated menacingly.

"Be careful now, and don't give him half an opening to nab your foot, brother," warned Jack.

"Shucks! he aint got a Chinaman's chanct to do that same, Jack. Hey! ole boy, do yeou smell it a'ready, to be makin' sech faces at me? Well, here goes to wet yeou daown nice an' easy like."

With that Perk leaned over still more--his hand holding the pocket flask was just a foot or so above the extended snout of the bear, when the first trickle of the liquor started to fall, striking the animal's nose, and running down on the heavy hair covering his neck and back.

"Glory be! look at the scamp openin' his mouth and puttin' aout his red tongue to ketch some o' the drops!" cried the excited Perk. "Hey! don't be so het up an' greedy, Mister; I sure aint atryin' to get yeou soaked--seems like he's quite took to the bottle, don't it, Jack?"

"Like an old toper, for a fact, brother," the other assured him, laughing as he spoke. "I've heard how the young black bears over in Yellowstone Park come up to tourists, and beg for some spirits, to which their taste turns; but I didn't know a big old tramp like this had a leaning that way. I see you're trying to keep him from swilling it down, Perk; must have some object in letting the stuff run all over his back as you're doing?"

"Kinder think I have got sech a neat little scheme, partner; on'y yeou wait up till I put the finishin' touch to the game--proof o' the puddin's in the eatin' o' the same, yeou know."

"I'm waiting to be shown, buddy--you know your hand, and can play it best. Go to it then, and I'll be the judge to say if it pans out okay or not."

Perk was now draining the flask of the last drop; for when he made up his mind to do a thing he always went the limit.

"There, that finishes my snake-bite cure, more the pity," he kept telling his fellow prisoner, with a vein of keen regret in his voice. "No, yeou jest caint have another drop yeou greedy rascal. Seems like yeou made things warm enuff for two ginks what never did any harm to yeou or the fambly; an' now suh, the tables got to turn--I'm figgerin' on makin' the likes o' yeou as hot as Tophet, that's right, Old Eph."

Still holding out the empty flask as though to keep the bear from dropping down on all-fours, Perk carefully took out a match, and held it poised between fingers and thumb. Then it was that what he really meant to do clicked in the mind of Jack; it rather staggered him in the bargain, so that he uttered an exclamation that told the other he had divined his secret.

"Kinder guess yeou're on to my curves, buddy," observed Perk; "well, here she goes, an' hopin' luck comes aour way."

He thereupon scraped the head of the match along a certain part of the tree trunk--several times was this repeated, but all to no avail, as the friction did not appear to be brisk enough to start things going.

Then Perk went back to first principles, and gave a quick scrape down the seat of his trousers; whereupon there followed a tiny flash, and the match began to burn brightly.

Waving the bottle, and letting a drop or two ooze from its mouth Perk, watching his opportunity cast the burning match directly on top of the bear's shaggy neck. He must have held his breath with suspense while so doing, for he felt as though he were casting the die, with everything at stake.

"Wow! it's a go, Perk, you wonderful schemer!" burst from Jack, as he saw a blue flame start up, where the booze had fallen on the thick, rusty looking coat of the astonished animal, instantly increasing as the liquor caught.

Both of them watched with staring eyes to see what followed; but they did not have long to wait. The bear dropped down on all four feet, and twisting his head around commenced snapping viciously at the spot where he already began to feel uncomfortably warm. This caused him to burn his tongue, and from that moment it took on all the aspect of a _circus_ to the two spectators lodged there amidst the branches of that friendly tree; although to be sure it was an altogether different kind of situation to the astonished bear.

The animal developed a surprising amount of agility, twisting and turning in a frantic endeavor to bite at the object that was giving him such a queer sensation as of pain. But all his antics had no effect on the fire in his coat, which was continually extending its circulation by streaks and bounds.

"Go to it, buddy--call aout the hull fire department an' smother the blaze, or yeou're sure a goner. Lookit him arollin' on the ground to beat the band--aint that cute though, partner--jest like sensible human bein's would do if they had their heads 'bout 'em when on fire. But it aint agoin' to help the pore ole dick any, either. There, he's a runnin' off like fun, headin' fur some sorter water-hole he knows 'bout, I kinder guess. What a sight that is, Jack ole geezer; but jest the same I'm sorry 'bout that snake pizen stuff, I sure am--didn't canc'late to have to use it on sech game."

"That's all right, Perk; it'd saved the cause, and possibly our lives in the bargain. I'd call it well spent, if you asked me," Jack told him.

"Say, look at him goin' licketty split, like the Ole Nick was after him, blazin', an' with spurts o' smoke bustin' outen his singed hide. He sure enough played outen his class that time, I figger. Mebbe, naow, he'll cut an' run next time he meets gentlemen o' aour stripe."

The spectacle was so extremely ludicrous to Perk that he writhed and twisted about as if seized with a fit; so, too, did he threaten to burst out into loud laughter only that Jack gave him due warning of what dire consequences would be apt to follow any indiscretion along those lines, which sobered the hilarious one, and brought him back to sanity.

"Kin we climb daown outen this tree naow, partner?" asked Perk, after he could no longer discern any further sign of the badly singed king of the mountain valleys; "I'll be tickled pink to be able to stretch my legs a bit, seein' they're so stiff an' sore; but it shore was too bad 'bout losin' my precious snake pizen cure--hopes we aint a goin' to need it any time, that's all."