"Ahoy! there, Bluff!"
Frank put both hands to his mouth, using them in lieu of a speaking trumpet; for really the children were making so much racket close by, that it was a difficult thing to be heard.
"What is it, Frank?" shouted a voice from one of the cabin windows on that quarter of the boat.
"You must scare the cat around to this side, so I can get a crack at him!" continued Frank.
"Sure! I understand that; but how can I do it?" demanded the willing Bluff; and had Frank suggested that he creep out, and make faces around the corner of the cabin at the panther, the reckless fellow would probably have agreed; for he placed the greatest dependence possible on his chum"s ability to shoot straight.
But, of course, Frank had not the slightest intention of placing the life of a chum in peril, when there were other means at hand for inducing the panther to whip around the cabin.
"Got your gun handy, Bluff?" continued the boy in the dinghy.
"Right here; and only waiting for a chance to give him every charge it holds, Frank," came the ready reply.
"Well, hold on till I get just where I want to be," continued the other.
"Then, when you hear me give a whoop, bang away several times out of the windows on the _other side_ of the cabin. And the rest of you in there, yell for all you"re worth. That ought to fetch him."
Frank knew that an animal can only grasp one idea at a time. In its sudden alarm the panther would undoubtedly forget all about its cause for vigilance with regard to the human being in the boat, and the chances were strongly in favor of its rushing around to the side of the cabin that was free from the new disturbance.
So Frank, using his paddle once more, manipulated the little boat until he had placed it just where he wished, and in a position for a clear shot, should his artful plan succeed.
Then, as he grasped his ready rifle, he gave the promised whoop.
The family in the treetop must have discovered that the crisis had arrived in their fortunes, for even the two children temporarily stopped shrieking; and were eagerly watching the boy in the little boat.
Immediately a tremendous racket broke out on the other side of the houseboat. A gun was discharged several times. There was also loud yells from three voices, even old Luther joining in with vigor.
Frank swung his gun up to his shoulder, and his eye glanced along the shining barrel. He could give a pretty accurate guess as to the exact spot where the panther must show up; and he was covering that place.
Just as he expected, the alarmed beast, forgetting its former design of keeping away from the enemy in the c.o.c.klesh.e.l.l of a boat that danced on the heaving water of the Mississippi, came leaping around the corner of the cabin. Possibly it had taken a sudden notion to return once more to its former perch among the lower limbs of the floating tree; since the houseboat did not seem to be such a desirable location after all, with all those noises so close by.
Frank did not wait to find out. He had no idea of troubling the panther by asking its intentions. The opportunity for which he had been waiting so long was now within his grasp; and as quickly as he could properly aim at the beast his finger only too eagerly pressed the trigger.
There was a single report, not at all like the crash of Bluff"s heavy shotgun. Immediately a shout broke forth from within the cabin, showing that no sooner had those in hiding carried out their part of the proceedings, than they jumped over to the other windows to see what would happen.
"You got him that time, Frank!" Bluff was heard to whoop.
"Oh! and this wire mesh prevented me from snapping him decently; I"m sure it won"t be even a halfway good picture!" echoed Will.
"Bully boy!" shouted Jerry, from the branches of the tree.
Frank was satisfied, for he saw the beast kicking his last on the deck of the houseboat which he had boarded, and taken full possession of, in such a bold and unheard-of manner.
Then, a couple of seconds later, the door of the cabin burst open, to allow Bluff to rush upon the deck, carrying his weapon; and evidently only wishing that some power would give the cat the balance of its nine lives, so that it might regain its feet, and make it necessary for him to pour in a volley at close quarters.
But even as he arrived upon the scene it seemed to become still.
"It"s dead, Frank!" cried Bluff, in what seemed to be a disappointed voice.
"Glad to hear it," returned the other, as he dropped his gun, and took to the paddle once more; for he knew that they must get the wretched fugitives of the flood out of the treetop before it separated from the houseboat.
"Hand down the woman first, and then the children," he said to the man, when he arrived at a place that seemed convenient for the transfer; "I"ll put them aboard the houseboat, and then come back for you."
By using great care, he managed to get them in the small dinghy, and paddled over to the larger craft. Those on board a.s.sisted them on deck, after which Frank, after handing up his rifle, to be rid of it, went back for the man and Jerry.
When they too had been safely transferred, Frank insisted that they separate the tree from the _Pot Luck_, so that they could move along faster. Will was busy with his camera about this time, determined to get as much of the affair on the records as possible.
Once the boat floated free from the slower moving tree, Frank set Jerry to work getting something to eat for the hungry fugitives, who had been made as comfortable as some blankets in the cabin could accomplish. The children had brightened up with the improved look of things. They watched Jerry working at the stove, and a smile of antic.i.p.ation came over their childish faces as they had a scent of cooking bacon and boiling coffee.
Meanwhile Frank and Bluff and Luther Snow were examining the dead panther.
"Bigger than any we ever saw before; isn"t it, Frank?" asked Bluff, as he turned the beast over, to see where the fatal bullet had entered behind the foreleg, just as Frank had intended when he fired.
"I never saw a larger, if you want my opinion, lads," remarked Luther Snow; "and I certainly have shot a round dozen of the animals in my time."
"We must try and keep the pelt, Frank," observed Will. "It will make a great addition to our collection; and as a mat, with the head on, it"d look fine."
Frank, upon asking the man about the misfortune that had befallen him, learned of the terrible nature of the flood that had taken the residents of the country up one of the Mississippi"s tributaries by surprise.
Their house was washed away during the night; and with the coming of dawn they found themselves floating down the swollen river, and out upon the great Mississippi.
When later on they discovered, as they clung to the roof of the building, that it was slowly but surely going to pieces, they hastened to climb into the treetop, as it came along, just as though sent by a kind Providence.
Hardly had the exchange been made than their house went to pieces. And then the alarming discovery was made that they were not the only pa.s.sengers aboard this novel craft; for one of the children shrieked out that a great cat lay along one of the big lower limbs, watching them with yellow eyes.
What that man and his wife suffered during all the time that elapsed before a.s.sistance came, with the gradual approach of the houseboat on the scene, can only be imagined, not described. He had no weapon save a pocket knife. This he had held open in his hand, determined to stand between the hungry panther and his dear ones, should the worst happen.
They told Frank that they had lost all of their possessions, save the land itself, by the coming of this cloudburst; but as they had relatives in a town down the river a few more miles, if the boys could put them ash.o.r.e there, they would be very grateful.
Jerry cooked a double allowance of food, since he felt pity for the unfortunates, and was anxious to see those hungry children eat their fill, for once. They did not look as though they had seen much else than hominy, three times a day, and scant allowances even at that.
Keeping in as close to the sh.o.r.e as seemed wise, Frank, an hour or so later, began to look for signs of the town mentioned. It proved to be not much of a place, but doubtless to the homeless family the wretched houses appeared like palaces.
The boys found that they could run in close to sh.o.r.e, and anchor. Then the skiff came into play again, in ferrying the family to dry land.
Frank was glad that they had had a chance to be of help to those in distress. He would have offered to a.s.sist the man with a little money, but the other a.s.sured him that he was supplied to some extent; and that his father lived there, who would gladly take them all in.
And so, after shaking hands all around, they saw the four late pa.s.sengers of the floating treetop land; after which the voyage was resumed.
The incident gave the chums plenty to talk about for the balance of the day; and as was natural, it seemed to revive various other affairs in the past, which had come their way. To all of this conversation old Luther seemed to enjoy listening greatly. He would sit there without saying a word, and taking it all in; while a queer little smile would occasionally cross his face, of which the observing Frank could make nothing.
During the day Frank managed to remove the pelt of his prize, and it was fastened with nails against the cabin wall, in a place where the sun could seldom strike it; for skins must always be dried in the shade. And every time he looked at it, in days to come, doubtless Frank would always see the strange picture of the flooded river; the houseboat interlocked with the floating tree; the family and Jerry perched amidst the branches; and that savage beast owner for the time being of the gallant _Pot Luck_.
CHAPTER XXIII-LEFT IN THE LURCH