"I don"t know what ails me," George replied, "but it must be going on half rations kind of frightened me, and now I"m thinking something might happen again; so I"m bent on laying in a good supply while it lasts."
"We"ll have to look around for a whole herd of deer if you keep on that way much longer, George. And I don"t know what your folks at home"ll do when you get back again. You"ll eat "em out of house and home, that"s right," Lil Artha expressed himself by saying.
George took this chaffing in good part. He was feeling splendidly now, since the danger of their facing real want was of the past.
"Oh! that"s all right, boys," he told them. "It was only a little while ago my folks were worried about me eating so little, and I guess they"ll sing the other way now. Dad"ll talk about going into bankruptcy when he watches me put away the food. Seems like I never could get enough again. I want to eat six times a day, and then complain because meals are so far apart."
"Listen!" exclaimed Lil Artha.
"What did you think you heard?" asked Elmer, after all of them had strained their ears without any result.
"Guess I must have been away off, and it was only a hoot owl after all; but I thought I heard some one cough!" the tall scout declared.
"I wouldn"t be surprised if it turned out that way, because it"s getting on toward time for him to show up, if he means to come along to-day,"
said Elmer.
"And now that you mention it," added Toby, "I remember Uncle Caleb does have a sort of cough. That was one reason he took to the woods, for he said it was going to add ten years to his life, living in the open, winter and summer, and eating the plainest kind of food."
After that they began to watch more closely than ever, and also listened carefully to catch a repet.i.tion of the sound that Lil Artha believed he had heard.
The great woods in their white snow mantle seemed to be deathly quiet.
The air had become far less bitter, and in the sun it was thawing slightly. Occasionally some branch would manage to dislodge its burden of snow, which was apt to rustle through other branches on its way to the ground. Away in the distance those crows were cawing again, as though disputing some lucky find, or holding a council of war concerning some contemplated movement in search of new feeding grounds.
Beyond these little breaks the silence remained profound.
All at once Elmer gave a low "hist!"
The others had caught the same sound, and as it was repeated again and again they began to believe that some one must be approaching from the very quarter in which Elmer had said Uncle Caleb was apt to come.
"What"s that queer sc.r.a.ping, shuffling noise mean, Elmer?" whispered Lil Artha.
"I bet you I know," spoke up Toby, also in a cautious tone; "snow-shoes, and my uncle is wearing the same. How"s that for a guess, Elmer?"
"You"re right that time, Toby; and there he comes!" was the scout master"s reply.
Looking again they could all see the figure of an elderly man, dressed in khaki-colored hunting garments, but warmly clad. He was advancing over the surface of the heaped-up snow, and with the free movements of one to whom the use of snow-shoes was an old story. To see the way he lifted his feet, still dragging the long shoe made of bent hickory, and stout gut that crossed and re-crossed diagonally from side to side, it was evident that Uncle Caleb had spent many days and weeks in the woods when it was impossible for him to get anywhere without the use of snow-shoes.
Toby watched him eagerly. He was evidently thinking that before he left this section of the wilderness he too would be able to walk deftly, after he had been shown the secret of manipulating the clumsy contrivances that served to keep the pedestrian from sinking into the drift.
As the hunter and naturalist drew closer to the spot where he had placed his fox trap they could see that he was getting more and more agitated.
Evidently he must have already discovered certain suspicious signs around that gave warning to the effect that he was about to receive a shock of an unpleasant nature.
Uncle Caleb was almost running now. Had there been a glaze on the surface of the snow he would have fairly flown to the spot; but as it was he floundered more or less in advancing hurriedly.
Now they saw him bend down to examine his trap. The presence of the stains on the trampled surface of the snow would be enough to tell him that there had been a victim held between those grim steel jaws of the Newhouse trap. When he found several almost black hairs present he would also understand that he had caught the coveted silver black fox; and while that might add to his joy under ordinary conditions it was only apt to provoke his additional wrath just then; for those telltale footprints all around gave him to understand he had been robbed of his treasure.
He presently got up from his knees. They could see that he was shaking his head as though he did not like the way things looked. Many winters had Uncle Caleb spent in this vicinity, and never before had he ever known of a case of thievery; that it should come when he had made such a fortunate haul was doubly provoking.
It was hardly wise to carry on the joke any further, Elmer thought; and accordingly he gave the signal for which Toby was waiting. The latter immediately jumped to his feet, and shouted at the top of his voice:
"h.e.l.lo! Uncle Caleb! how d"ye do? You see, I"ve kept my word, and dropped in to visit you at last. And as you told me to bring a friend or two along, I"ve fetched our scout master, Elmer Chenowith, also two other bully good fellows, George Robbins and Lil Artha Stansbury!"
The elderly recluse stared at the four boys as though he found great difficulty in believing his eyes. It was as if they had suddenly bobbed up out of the snow-covered earth to surprise him.
"Why, h.e.l.lo! is that you, Nephew Toby?" he presently called back. "Come along and shake hands with me. You"re mighty welcome, my boy, let me tell you; and your comrades too. I shall be delighted to meet the Elmer I"ve heard so much about in your newsy letters; also your other chums."
"But, uncle, we"ve got a little surprise for you, see?" and as he spoke Toby suddenly held up the silver fox, which act caused the other to smile broadly; "we were directed wrong by a boy, who must have had a grouch against all scouts; and so we got lost; and then that storm caught us; but we were hunting around for some sign of your cabin when we came on this fox caught in a trap, and with his leg nearly cut off.
Elmer said he"d soon be gone, leaving only a paw behind; so he knocked him on the head, and then said we"d better wait here till you came. Is it a real silver black fox, Uncle?"
"And are the skins worth as much as fifteen hundred dollars, sir?" asked George, as though he could never rest again until he had settled that bothersome matter in his mind.
"Yes to both questions, boys," replied the scientist; "this skin may be worth anywhere from a thousand dollars to twenty-five hundred, according to how it is graded; and I"m delighted that you had the good sense to save it for me."
CHAPTER X
POSSESSION NINE POINTS OF THE LAW
"I HOPE you"re satisfied now, George, about that pelt?" Lil Artha whispered to the doubting scout, as they stepped back, after shaking hands with the scientist, who was examining his prize with considerable delight; not that Uncle Caleb needed the money he would likely receive for the skin, if he chose to dispose of it; but it was something worth while to be able to say he had taken one of those rare little, and much sought after animals, a silver fox.
"Y-e-s, I s"pose it must be so, if he says they"re so valuable," George admitted, but in a way that told how slow he was to take stock in such a fairy tale; so that later on Lil Artha, finding Uncle Caleb had certain articles that had been published in connection with the wonderful prices paid for silver fox skins in the open London market, took pains to see that the doubter read them, and was finally convinced.
"Nothing else would have fetched me out after such a great snow storm,"
the recluse told them, presently; "only I was anxious about this trap.
You see, I knew all about the ways of mink and foxes, and also how they often gnaw a foot off in order to get free. It would have given me a bad feeling to come here and find that owing to my delay, and the little animal"s hunger, as well as pain, it had done that same thing, and was gone. The forepaw of a silver fox isn"t worth much, only to make the disappointed trapper say things he"d be ashamed to have any one else hear."
"Then we"re all glad we got here in good time to nip that little escape in the bud, Uncle," said Toby.
"And as my cabin is more than a mile off, with the going pretty poor, perhaps we"d better be setting out for the same right away," remarked the scientist. "I can give a pretty good guess that you"ve been having some rough times, and will be glad of a shelter to-night. As for myself, I"ll be happy indeed to have you with me. It does get pretty lonely at times, even though I"m deeply interested in my hobby of taking flashlight pictures of the small animals hereabout. I"ve even perfected an arrangement so that lots of times they snap off their own pictures; as you"ll see later on when we get to work."
"We"ve only got a few days to spend up here with you, Uncle Caleb,"
ventured Toby; "and we must see all there is in a hurry. We"ve just about got tired of roughing it in the snow, and a change to cabin life will set us up again."
"Then let"s start right away, if you boys think you can hold out for lunch until we fetch up at my place. The return journey shouldn"t take nearly as long as it did to come up here, because we can avoid plenty of pitfalls I fell into. How about that plan, Toby?"
"Whenever you"re ready, Uncle, let us know," replied the scout. "Can I carry the fox for you; and how about this trap? Perhaps after catching your prize you won"t want to leave it around again. If that"s so let me take care of it for you?"
"Well, from the looks of things, it seems to me each one of you has enough to tote right now," chuckled the elderly man; "while I have nothing except my rifle. I"m a pretty hardy sort of an old chap, and able to carry my share of the burdens still; so if you don"t mind, Nephew Toby, I"ll look after both the trap and the silver fox."
Which he calmly proceeded to do; and they discovered afterwards that Uncle Caleb had an iron const.i.tution, being able to do as much as any grown-up of their acquaintance, possibly barring the strong man of the circus, who could bend iron bars across his knee, and allowed an anvil to be pounded on his chest.
It appeared that Elmer had not been far out of the way when he determined on the direction from which they might expect the trapper to come. His figuring this out on the merits of the fact that their shots had not gone against the wind, had a great deal to recommend it, as Uncle Caleb admitted when he heard how scout tactics had been employed.
"I"ve been wanting to hear a whole lot more about what Boy Scouts do,"
he told them, as they trudged cheerfully along; "and while we sit before the fire evenings, you must explain everything to me. From the little I know about it up to date I"m inclined to believe they"ve at last gotten hold of a very big idea, and one that"s going to be of far more lasting benefit to American boys than any other scheme ever thought of in their connection."