Out with Gun and Camera Part 37

"That's what!" answered the doctor's son. "Look at this!" he added as he made a long dive from a rock beside which he knew the water to be deep.

They dove and swam and splashed around to their hearts' content for a good quarter of an hour, and even had a little race to a snag sticking up from the bottom fifty yards from the rocks. Then Shep said they had better dress and proceed on their way.

They ran out of the lake, shook themselves, and made for the spot whe'e they had left their clothing behind some bushes. Each stared in amazement. The clothing had been left in three heaps; now the garments were strewn around in helter-skelter fashion.

"Somebody has been here!" cried Snap. "Is anything gone?" demanded Giant. At this all took a hasty inventory of their possessions.

"My shirt is missing!" came from the doctor's son.

"One of my socks is gone," added Giant.

"My belt is gone," came from Snap, "and so is my camera."

"And my gun!" added Shep, looking around to where the weapons had rested against a tree.

"Boys, we have been robbed!"

"What enemy has done this?"

"Can this be the work of the Spink crowd?"

For a minute the talk was lively, and then the boys calmed down a little. Even in their excitement they were glad that nothing more had been taken.

"I don't think the Spink crowd did this," said Snap. "Ham Spink wouldn't stop short of taking everything."

"Exactly my idea of it," answered Giant.

"Whoever it was had a queer idea of what to take," said the doctor's son slowly. "A shirt, a belt, one sock, a camera and a gun. Why in the name of goodness did he take one sock and not the other?"

"He certainly threw things around pretty well," said Giant. "Maybe it was a wild animal," he continued suddenly.

"No wild animal would walk off with a camera and a gun, Giant,"

returned Snap. "Ha! I have it!" he cried. "That crazy hermit!"

"Maybe you're right," said Shep. "It would be just like such a fellow to do a thing like this."

"And if he did this he must certainly have taken the watch," went on Snap.

"It would seem so."

The boys lost no time in dressing. As it was warm, Shep did not miss his shirt very much, nor did Giant miss his sock. Having no belt, Snap used a piece of stout cord instead.

"The loss of the gun is bad," said the doctor's son as they were finishing their toilet. "For if that crazy fellow has it, it will be so much harder to tackle him."

"That's true," answered Snap. "Maybe he'll shoot himself with it---if he's so very crazy."

"Oh, we'll not hope that," murmured Giant.

They took the dead foxes and hung them high up in a tree, intending, if possible, to come for them later and turn the meat over to the captured lion. Then they pushed forward in the direction of the rocky waterway that connected the two lakes.

"You'll have to lead," said Snap to the doctor's son. "You've been here before."

"I'll lead as well as I can," was the answer. "But there is no regular trail---that is, on the other side of the river."

The walking now became very rough, and the three young hunters had to proceed slowly. At times they were in sight of the water, but often their course led them inland for a hundred yards or more.

"These rocks are something fierce!" exclaimed Giant at length, after slipping and sliding several times.

"You beware that you don't twist an ankle," cautioned Snap.

Presently they reached a spot where further progress seemed impossible.

Giant and Snap halted and looked at Shep.

Before them was a little hollow, filled with small stones, and beyond were some shelving rocks with large cracks between. Over the shelving rocks grew heavy ma.s.ses of vines.

"Don't drag," urged the doctor's son. "It is getting late. The sun will be down in another hour."

"I can't go any faster," panted Giant. All three advanced and tried to climb the shelving rocks by holding on to the vines.

Some of these gave way, and the three boys fell back. Then from under the rocks came a strange, hissing sound, followed by a curious rattle.

"What's that?" cried Snap.

"Snakes!" roared the doctor's son. "Back for your lives, fellows!

We have struck a den of rattlesnakes!"

CHAPTER XXVI

MORE OF A MYSTERY

There was a wild scrambling on the part of all the young hunters to get out of the zone of danger. They leaped for the rocks behind them, and Shep and Snap succeeded in mounting to spots of comparative safety. But Giant was not so successful, and, slipping and sliding, He rolled over and over, coming to a stop when flat on his back.

"Get up! get up!" screamed the doctor's son. "Hurry up, Giant!"

Shep and Snap had caught sight of three rattlesnakes, that had glided from between the shelving rocks ahead. They were all of good size. One had been caught in the torn-away vines and was hissing viciously, and the other two were sounding their rattles, preparatory to striking at the smaller youth.

Giant did not remain upon his back long. The instant he landed he started to turn over. He saw one of the snakes draw near and make a strike at his sockless ankle. Giant let out a yell like an Indian on the warpath, and, on all fours, made a leap like a frog a distance of several feet. Then he stood upright and made another leap for the rocks. As he came close, Snap caught him by the arm and pulled him still higher.

The doctor's son was the only person capable, just then, of using a gun, and having no weapon of his own he grabbed Snap's and blazed away. Whether he hit a snake or not he could not tell. There was a hissing and rustling among the torn away vines, and when the smoke of the discharge cleared away the snakes were no longer to be seen.

"Ugh! what---a---a thing t---to happen!" said Giant with a shiver.

His emotion was so deep he could scarcely speak.

"Where are the snakes now?" asked Snap, and drew himself up on the highest rock he could find.