Four Boy Hunters Part 18

This advice was followed, but try their best they could not locate their camp, although they saw Firefly Lake at a distance to the south of them. The sun was setting behind a bank of clouds and soon it grew positively black beneath the trees.

It must be admitted that the young hunters felt in anything but a cheerful frame of mind. Giant suggested that there might be more rattlesnakes at hand, and this made all nervous and on constant guard against reptiles.

"Are we going to stay here all night?" demanded Whopper, after a spell of silence.

"I don't see what else we can do," answered Snap.

"If we do have to stay, I am going to have a fire," put in Giant. "And somebody ought to remain on guard."

"To be sure, Giant. All of us can take turns at watching and at keeping the fire going."

Wood was handy, and finding something of a cleared s.p.a.ce, they built a fire and over this cooked the single squirrel Giant had brought down shortly after leaving the regular camp. It was not much of a meal, but it was all they had, and with it they had to be content.

Even with one on guard, it was rather hard for the other two to go to sleep, though they were worn out by their long tramping around.

They slept only by fits and starts, and they were glad enough when morning came and they saw the sunlight stealing over the tree-tops.

"And now for the camp!" cried Snap. "I hope nothing has happened there during our absence."

CHAPTER XIV

THE BOYS AND THE WILDCAT

"Oh, what a night! What a night!"

It was Shep who uttered the words. The long spell of darkness had at last gone, and looking up overhead he could see a bit of sunshine striking the edge of the hollow.

In vain he had tried to get out of the tree. Every plan had proved unsuccessful, and he had been held a prisoner through the long hours which seemed to have no end.

He was both hungry and thirsty and had slept only by winks, as the saying goes.

He no longer dared to think of the future, fearing he would go mad.

Was he really to remain there to die of thirst and hunger? Was the hollow tree to prove his coffin?

A bird fluttered down into the hollow and startled him. He raised his hand softly and tried to catch it, but like a flash the bird was gone, and he was left as lonely as before.

Another hour pa.s.sed and his thirst seemed to grow upon him every minute. Then he grew desperate, and bracing himself, tried with all of his strength to burst the hollow tree asunder. But the effort availed nothing.

Presently he heard something that caused him to rouse up. It was the sound of a shotgun, discharged at a distance.

"They must be out---perhaps they are looking for me!" he murmured.

"I hope they come here!" And he breathed a silent prayer that they might not pa.s.s him by in his sore distress.

A little later he heard a curious scratching at the top of the hollow. He strained his eyes and saw a bushy tail swishing around.

"A wild animal!" he thought. "Will it come down on top of me?"

He gave a low call and the animal disappeared. But then, after a period of several minutes, it came back again and this time looked down into the hollow tree, longingly.

"A wildcat!"

Shep was right; it was indeed wildcat that had come to pay him a visit, and the beast seemed to be in anything but a good humor as it glared down upon the imprisoned young hunter.

Would the beast spring down upon him? That was the question Shep asked himself. As quickly as he could he raised his hand which contained his jack-knife.

"Scat!" he hissed, and, alarmed once more, the wildcat backed away from the hollow and sat down on a limb of the tree to think matters over. As a matter of fact, the hollow tree was one of the wildcat's favorite haunts and it did not know what to make of it to find it thus strangely inhabited.

In the meantime the three young hunters who had lost themselves in the woods were doing their best to find their way back to camp. They had reached a small opening and Whopper raised an unexpected cry:

"Boys, look!"

"Shep's gun, as sure as fate!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Snap.

"And his game-bag," added Giant. "What can this mean?"

"I think" began Snap, and then chanced to glance up into the tree.

He caught a full view of the wildcat, and stopping his talk, took quick aim and fired. The wildcat turned over in the air, gave a second whirl, and then disappeared from view.

"Where did he go to?" asked Giant, recovering from his astonishment.

"Fell into the tree," answered Whopper. "Hark!"

They listened and heard a faint cry for help.

"Where is that from?"

"The tree! Shep must be in the tree!"

"And the wildcat's on top of him!"

"I'm going to his help!" exclaimed Snap, and began to climb up the hollow tree without delay.

When he gained the opening he peered down into it.

"Shep! Are you there?" he called out, anxiously.

"Yes," was the faint answer. "Is that you, Snap?"

"Yes. Is that wildcat alive?"

"I guess not. But he has almost smothered me."

"How did you get down there?"

"Slipped down. Get something and help me to get out."