Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; Or, The Round-Up Not Ordered Read online

  CHAPTER VII.

  EVERYBODY BUSY.

  "My turn next!" shouted Jack, as a further rushing sound announced thearrival of a second detachment of the escaped wolfish horde.

  Ned had his shooting eye at its best when he sent the first leadenpellet toward that leading sprinter. The beast had come with a furiousrush, and chanced to pass through a succession of shadowy patches, sothat the scout master could not pull the trigger as quickly as he mighthave wished. The wolf had actually made one wild leap upward afterJimmy's retreating and plump form before the crash of the gun came.

  It happened that Jimmy was looking back over his shoulder at the time,though he knew that must be a foolish thing to do, and cost many afleeing hunter dear. He would not soon forget the picture that met hiseyes, as that gaunt gray pirate of the herd came rising toward him withthat splendid bound.

  "Why," Jimmy was heard to say afterwards, when the shock of battle wasa thing only of memory, "both his lamps looked like yellow fires, andthat red tongue hung from his mouth, while I could see his long whitefangs bared to beat the band. Then I heard the bang of Ned's gun, andthat wolf fell back in a heap. When I saw the way he lay crunched up atthe foot of my tree, I knew he'd gone and croaked. Gee whiz! but thatwas a pretty close shave for Jimmy McGraw, let me tell you!"

  Jack got his turn and he found it no easy task to knock over a leapingwolf, as glimpsed in the deceptive light. The moon's rays dazzled hiseyes, and when he saw the newcomer flashing through the bars of lightand shade Jack pulled the trigger with no assurance that he had heldpositively on his target.

  It was true that the beast took a header, which proved that he musthave been hit by the bullet; but, even as Jack's nervous hands startedto pump another cartridge from the magazine into the firing chamber ofhis rifle, he saw his intended victim scramble to its feet, utter onelong howl, and then start to slink away.

  "No you don't there; just hold on a bit!" cried Jack.

  In his excitement, he fumbled more than he should with the mechanism ofhis gun, and thus lost a couple of precious seconds. Indeed, thewounded wolf might have vanished from view amidst the brush, only thatHarry took it upon himself to "put his oar in," with the result thatthe bombarded beast crumpled up.

  By that time even Jimmy was ready for business, having managed tosnatch up his Marlin, and then look eagerly around for some target atwhich to fire.

  "Don't forget the directions!"

  That was Ned calling out. He knew the value of economizing ammunitionwhen far from a base of supply; and, consequently, did not want theothers to needlessly do anything of this sort. One bit of lead ought tobe enough for each beast, if properly delivered.

  This warning was really meant more for Jimmy than either of the others;for he had been known to get tremendously excited on other occasions,when peril threatened, and mix things up considerably.

  As everybody had had a shot but Jimmy, it was now his turn, accordingto the order of events which had been arranged. Jack recognized thisfact by advising him to "be prepared" as a true scout always should.

  "Here they come with a whoop!" Amos was heard to exclaim, as there camea louder rush through the brushwood than at any previous time, provingthat quite a bunch of the hungry animals must be at hand.

  "Steady, Jimmy, and be quick to pick your game!" called Ned, thinkingto thus keep the other from getting "rattled."

  From the furious way in which the balance of the pack was coming on, itseemed evident that they did not realize what sort of a surpriseawaited them near the river bank. Hunger and a keen scent was doing thebusiness for them. They appeared to know that there was something worthwhile in the eating line around that particular part of the country,and evidently meant to make a bold bid for the same, regardless ofconsequences.

  Jimmy was straining his eyes to discover the first sign of the oncomingpack. He had his faithful repeater up against his shoulder and wasaiming at the spot he believed would speedily be occupied by a leapingwolf.

  Jimmy was no sharpshooter, though he had done some fairly creditablework along the line of knocking over game in times past. As a rule, hepreferred shooting at random into a bunch of quail and taking chancesof making a fine bag. So now he indulged in the hope that several ofthe wolves would break cover in a heap, when he could just blaze awayand, perhaps, knock over a couple with one shot; which he fancied wouldput a feather in his hat as a marksman who knew how to conserve hisammunition.

  Then the time came to fire. He could see a confused mass tearing alongthrough the spaces where those bars of light and shadow rather dazzledthe eye; and, not daring to wait any longer, Jimmy let fly.

  "Hurroo! did you see that beggar roll over? And listen to the otherhowl, like he had the toothache, and no dentist within twenty miles!Tell me about that, will you? Soak it to 'em, fellers, good and plenty!"

  Of course, all this was pretty much lost, because, what with the racketcreated by howling, yelping and yapping wolves, and the banging of theguns in the hands of the scouts, a din had started that made itimpossible to hear any single human voice.

  Jimmy realized that if he wanted to have a further share in thedisposal of the savage pack, he had better be getting busy again. So heup with his rifle, and looked eagerly for some target at which he couldfire.

  There never could be a more exciting affair than that battle with theescaped wolves that Harkness, the herder, had been feeding and keepingfor breeding purposes. They were far from tamed by their recentconfinement; indeed, Ned could not remember ever having run across amore savage pack in all his experience.

  Afterwards, in commenting on this strange fact, he came to theconclusion that it was caused by a combination of two things: theanimals had not been fed recently, and were almost crazy for food; andthen, he learned that Harkness had ever been a cruel despot, using ablack-snake whip with a long cutting lash to quiet his pack in theirenclosure, whenever their howling annoyed him--always keeping well outof the reach of their fangs when plying the whip, it may be understood;for he had a species of "pulpit" built out far above the pen, in whichhe was free to swing that instrument of keen torture.

  It was just slaughter, for the wretched wolves really had no chance atall to retaliate. Ned sickened of the business quickly, but what couldthey do otherwise? It was a condition that had been forced upon them.They had not invited the attack, and must defend themselves against thepack, no matter at what cost.

  Before long there were dead and dying wolves lying all around, as"thick as blackberries in the good old summertime," as Jimmy put it.Others that had received wounds, and no longer felt the same furiousdesire to try conclusions with the enemies perched beyond their reachin the trees, began to slink away. Doubtless, they remembered old lairsin the distant hills to which they might fly; and, in some fashion,supply themselves with the necessary food, without taking suchdesperate chances.

  "All gone, it looks like, Ned!" sang out Jack, "and just when I've goneand got the magazine of my gun charged again, too."

  "Set 'em up in the other alley!" cried Jimmy. "I accounted for some ofthe victims, you can roll your hoop on that!"

  "My stars! but that _was_ a warm session!" exclaimed Harry; "and Iwonder now if you got any sort of picture, Jack, when you used yourflashlight on the scrimmage?"

  That was just what Jack had done, laid his rifle aside for a minute,and made a good use of his camera, prepared for the occasion. Thesudden flare of the cartridge had illuminated the scene as might aflash of lightning; and, possibly, this had been one of the causes thatfrightened the balance of the pack away, for the attack weakened fromthat moment.

  "Dast we get down now?" asked Jimmy.

  While he was speaking, Amos Adams dropped from his perch, as though hecould see no further reason for playing the part of a bird and perchingthere among the branches.

  During the racket Ned had several times heard the lighter report of asix-shooter, and understood that the kid cow-puncher was trying to
dohis share of the work in diminishing the number of Harkness' pets.Whether success followed his efforts or not, Ned was unable to say,though he imagined the boy knew how to shoot the gun he "toted" in theholster at his belt.

  As there was no reappearance of the wolves, the rest of the camperscame down. The burros and the calico pony had acted as though franticduring the melee; but, as the boys had made sure to secure themproperly, they were all there and by degrees quieting down, when theyfound that they were not going to be made a meal of by those savagebeasts of prey.

  The scouts counted just thirteen dead wolves scattered about. Twoothers were trying to crawl away, dragging their broken limbs afterthem.

  "We must knock those fellows on the head," said Ned; "because they'lldie anyway, and it's the duty of a scout to put an end to needlesspain."

  Although he had already had more than enough of the slaughter, Nedfollowed after the two escaping animals. They showed their venomousnatures by turning on him and snarling furiously; but Ned stopped farenough away not to endanger himself from those glistening fangs exposedwhen the red lips were drawn back.

  Two quick shots did the business, and then there were fifteen.

  "Huh! Harkness' game is about up this time, and he won't raise any moreyoung wolves to sell the skins for lap-robes and turn over the scalpsto the State for bounty money," Jack observed, as they all gatheredagain near the fire, which was started up afresh; for they could notthink of such a thing as sleep for some little time, after so muchexcitement.

  "If there's even two dollars apiece, it would net a feller thirtyplunks right now, to raise the hair of this bunch," speculated Jimmy.

  "But we don't want to go into the wolf scalping business, do we, Ned?"expostulated Harry, who viewed the idea with considerable disgust.

  "Certainly not," replied the scout master. "Let Harkness come and gethis property if he wants, for all of us. We've saved him all thetrouble of cleaning up his pack. He ought to thank us for it; but, ifwhat Amos here says about him is true, I don't believe he will."

  "Well," said Jack, frowning, "he'd better not get too gay and try toblame us for cleaning out the pack, because we won't stand any abuse.It was a case of give and take. They meant to pull us down and make afine meal; and they got what was coming to them. Harkness had better goslow how he complains."

  "I was wondering," mused Ned, as he settled down comfortably again,just as though nothing worth mentioning had happened to disturb him,"whether anything had come to Harkness?"

  "How could there?" demanded Jimmy.

  "Oh! of course, I don't know, but then it might be the wolves hadcaught him off his guard and torn him to pieces before they skippedout. If we have time, perhaps we ought to go around that way and see ifthere's anything wrong."

  The others did not seem to look at it in the same light that Ned wasdoing.

  "A waste of time, Ned," Jack declared, vehemently.

  "That's what I say," added Harry.

  "Can't see what it matters to us whether the old rascal has beenhoisted by his own infernal machine or not!" grumbled Jimmy.

  "But don't forget that we're scouts," Ned continued impressively, "andthat we ought to follow the scout law which teaches us to do good, evento our enemies, if the chance opens up."

  "After we've licked the same good and plenty, I admit," Jimmy spoke up,with one of his famous grins decorating his freckled face and a twinklein his eye. "P'raps you're right, Ned; and, as we've upset the oldman's business, we could call that a lickin' and let her go at that. Ifyou're of the same mind in the mornin', tell me. But say, I b'lieve Icould snatch a few winks right now, since things have calmed down."

  Save for the distant mournful howling of several of the hungry wolvesnothing was to be heard all around them. So after arranging for keeping"watch and watch," the scouts turned in. Amos snuggled down alongsidethem; while Jack, upon whom had fallen the choice for the first spellat playing sentry, settled his back up against a tree, laid his readygun across his knees, and prepared to do his duty.

  The fire burned brightly for a long time and Jack sat there thinking ofmany things connected with both the past and the immediate future.Doubtless, he felt that it began to look as though they were not yetthrough with hazards and adventures on this trip, when, on what waspractically their first night out on the open plain, they had been sosavagely beset by Harkness' escaped wolf pack.

  By degrees even the distant howling of the few survivors died away, asthey no doubt started for the distant mountains, afraid to come back tothe scene of the recent carnage, even though the scent of blood musthave tempted them dreadfully.

  Jimmy had gone to sleep immediately he lay down, for he never knew thetime when he could not forget his troubles in sweet slumber. Once ortwice he managed to get on his back and aroused Ned by his heavybreathing. On these occasions the scout master was in the habit ofgiving the offender a sharp punch in the ribs and it seemed as thoughJimmy understood what was wanted, even in his sleep, for he wouldinevitably turn over on his side.

  Ned had just been through the third experience of this kind and waswondering whether he had not better suggest that they always tie Jimmyin a certain position as he lay down to sleep, when he heard a voiceclose by.

  As Ned instantly sat up he recognized the tones as belonging to PardJack, who was evidently laying down the law to some party:

  "Hold up your hands, you there in the bushes, and step right up to thefire, or I'll shoot; and, let me tell you, this gun goes straight!Lively now, Mister, and no foolishness! Oh! Ned! come here, will you?We've got a visitor!"