Phil Bradley's Snow-shoe Trail Part 14

"It's a habit that gives us a heap of lively satisfaction let me tell you," said Lub, earnestly. "For one I like to look back and think of a lot of things we've had a hand in carrying through."

"Yes," said Phil, "we've enjoyed them to the limit, and the best part of it all is that they leave no regrets behind. I hope it will always be that way with the Mountain Boys."

A little later on Phil took his turn at cuddling the small boy up close to him. He was talking to him in a low tone, and the others, knowing what he had in mind, did not bother him, but conversed among themselves of other things.

Presently Phil called softly to Ethan.

"Come and take him off my arm; he's sound asleep, and my arm is too, so I can't move it. Easy now, and lay him down where he'll be the warmest."

"That's where my blanket happens to be," spoke up Lub; "I've figured on having him with me to-night, Phil; so please don't interfere."

"I guess he'll be snug enough alongside such a hot-box as you are, Lub,"

interrupted X-Ray; and consequently Ethan gently laid the small chap so that Lub's generous blanket could be tucked in around him.

"Did you manage to find out anything worth while, Phil?" asked X-Ray.

"Well, he's some shy yet; and I'm a poor hand at trying to hold a talk-fest with a child that can't say a single word," admitted Phil; "but I'm sure now he does belong to the people we spoke about."

"Meaning that terror of a poacher, Baylay?" said Ethan.

"Yes," Phil continued, "but until we rub up against the man ourselves, and can testify to some of his awful ways, perhaps we'd better go slow about calling him all those names, boys. He may be a rough man, but what more could you expect up here in this wilderness? All loggers are of that stripe. For one I'm going to form my opinion of this Baylay more from how he treats his family, than from his relations to game laws he considers unjust, or other rough men who meet him on the level of give and take."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was a whole lot of good sense in that policy, Phil," a.s.sented Lub, for it agreed with his ideas exactly.

"But he does seem to have gotten a terrible bad reputation around these districts you'll admit?" ventured Ethan.

"There may be two sides to every story," Phil told him; "and so far we've heard only one. I'd like to know just what that kid over yonder thinks of Baylay; then I'd have a better pointer to the true character of the man than I could get from outside talk. He's a fighter, as nearly all these loggers are. He has licked lots of other sc.r.a.ppers in his time, and you couldn't expect them to say nice things about Baylay. So let's hold off a bit, and not condemn him unheard."

Even Ethan admitted that such a course was nothing more than fair.

"We'll wait then," continued Phil, "till the time comes when we can see into his home, and find out if he's a big brute there or not. Yes, that's the way to learn the truth; surface indications don't amount to much. You've got to scratch a man on the back and find out what he does when he's alone, or with his own family, to learn his real nature."

Though the boys may not have known it there was a deal of sound philosophy in what Phil was advancing; and if more people would carry it out there might be less misunderstandings and suffering in this world.

Some time later on they began to feel sleepy themselves, and Lub was the first one to crawl under his covers. Ethan helped him get settled, for the fat chum had to be unusually careful, so as not to awaken his little blanket-mate, who was apparently sleeping soundly.

The night wore on.

Though the wind outside might be cold and bleak the campers had managed to fix things so well that little of it could find entrance to their shack. The fire was to be allowed to take care of itself, unless one of the boys chanced to wake up in the night, and chose to crawl out in order to throw more fuel on the embers.

It is not the most pleasant task in the world to do a thing like this on a bitter cold night, when all seems so comfortable under the covers.

Even Phil might conclude to let it pa.s.s, since a fire was so easy to start in the morning, and he could have a merry blaze going long before any of the rest thought of sticking their noses out.

No doubt Lub, and perhaps the others also, dreamed of home as they lay there so many hundreds of miles away from those they loved. It would have been only natural, because their thoughts often dwelt with the distant scenes, even though they might be enjoying every hour of their vacation in Canadian wilds.

If any of them awoke they had no means of telling how the night was pa.s.sing unless they cared to peep out and note the position of the planets, those telltale clocks of the skies. All of the boys had paid more or less attention to such things, knowing how useful the knowledge can be when there is no watch in the party; and many times they had vied with one another in seeing who could display the better judgment in explaining where certain bright stars would be at a designated hour.

Lub was lying squarely on his back, and breathing so hard that some of his comrades would have reproached him for "snoring" had they heard him.

But Lub seemed to be far away in his dreams, and not concerning himself in the slightest degree as to whether he emitted little snorts or not.

From this happy condition, so free from care, the fat boy was suddenly and rudely aroused by a terrifying sound. It was a shout, and undoubtedly came from the throat of X-Ray, who could elevate his voice in a shrill manner that few of his friends could ever hope of emulating.

He was the cheer captain of their school football squad in Brewster, just on that account.

And what he now shouted was not calculated to cheer the hearts of his comrades but to send a pang of fear through every fiber of their being:

"h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo! rouse up everybody! Our shack's on fire!"

CHAPTER XI

ON GUARD

Everybody was awake in an instant. Even though the cry had thrilled Lub through and through somehow he did not seem to forget about the little fellow who was under the covers with him; for his very first act was to lift him up, blanket and all, and struggle to get out of the shack.

They had all seen a light, though it had remained for the keen eyes of X-Ray to discover what caused it. But as soon as they emerged from the shelter, Phil, Ethan and Lub found no difficulty in seeing that the alarm had not been a false one; for one side of the shack was all afire.

"Go for it, everybody!" cried Phil, as he started to throw all the snow he was able to s.n.a.t.c.h up on the fiercely burning ma.s.s.

"Fire-fighters get busy!" echoed X-Ray, copying the other's example; nor was Lub long in finding a place where he could deposit his burden and join in the attack.

Thus beset on all sides the fire quickly died down as the snow melted and drowned the ardor of the flames. Before many minutes had pa.s.sed away they had it under control.

"We want to save a part of it for our regular fire, because we'll need it to get warm by!" observed long-headed Ethan.

"Warm!" gasped Lub. "Why, I'm fairly roasting right now."

"Well, you won't be in a jiffy, when that cold wind strikes down your back," the other warned him; "how about the fire business, Phil?"

"It's a good idea," he was told; "but don't bother carrying any of what is left of this stuff over; we have plenty of good wood handy, you remember. And I want to look a little closer into this brush-heap, you see."

"Ginger popguns; that's so," cried X-Ray; "however did that stuff get there, I'd like to know? We didn't bank it up that I remember."

"Never mind about that yet," Phil told him; "get the fire going, and then we can talk it over. There's something about this affair that looks pretty suspicious to me, I want you to know."

All of them were thinking the same thing as they hurried to get their own fire going in front of the shack.

When this had been accomplished they found time to look around. The boy was sitting up, and Lub had seen to it that he had the warm folds of the blanket about him, so he was in no danger of taking cold. He looked both puzzled and full of wonder, but Phil noticed that he did not appear to be afraid.

"He's made of good stuff, most likely," he told himself; "and is a chip off the old block all right, if he's Baylay's boy; because they admit the poacher is a man without fear."

"Now," remarked Ethan, after they were all seated near the fire, "let's try and get a little light on this mystery. How did that fire come to be started; and who put all that brush up against the back of our shack, I want to know?"

"That's so, who did?" echoed Lub, wagging his head with the words, and looking unusually solemn.

"Notice in the first place," Phil continued, "that it was piled up on the windward side; that was done so it would take hold in a hurry, once the match was struck. I even got a whiff of _kerosene_ when I was working at putting out the blaze; and it strikes me some of it was used over the brush to make it burn more furiously."