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Pony Rider Boys in Louisiana

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<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> <h3>TAKING DESPERATE CHANCES</h3> It was wholly due to the foresight of Billy Lilly that the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was not washed into the bayou. Had they pitched the camp two rods from it's present site, in either direction, their out?t would have been wrecked. As it was they were little the worse for their experiences although everyone was still soaked to the skin. As soon as the sun came out Tad rigged up a clothes line and stripping down to his underwear hung his clothing up to dry. The same thing was done with his blankets. The other boys thought this was an excellent idea, so they did the same. The water was going down rapidly and their island was growing gradually larger. All manner of driftwood, brush and heaps of muck lay strewn over the ground, and this Ichabod was clearing away as rapidly as possible. The colored man understood the needs of the camp without having to be told. In fact, it was seldom found necessary to give him orders. The dogs, for the first time in days, pricked up their ears and began to take interest in life. They were busy brushing out their bedraggled coats in the sunlight, now and then bounding back and forth, barking and leaping and playing. The Pony Rider Boys sang snatches of song, joked, and enjoyed themselves to the full. They were restless under inactivity; they wanted to be up and doing. Of course, the ground in the swamp was soft, so they decided to remain in camp another day. This time would be fully occupied in oiling and cleaning guns, which already had begun to show spots of rust, and in putting their equipment in shape. Tad found time during this bright day to make short excursions out into the woods, even into the brake, the better to acquaint himself with the conditions round about them. He eyed the dense brake, the giant trees, the queer formations of the cypress knees, and the thick vegetation, with the keen eyes of the experienced woodsman. "This is an awful hole," was the lad's conclusion. "I don't think I should care to be lost in this swamp. If the Dismal Swamp is any worse, excuse me, as Ichabod would say." Palmettos he found growing thickly in places above the black ooze of the swamp, bushes of varieties that he did not know covered the ground thickly in places, while vines and creepers climbed the trunks of the trees, hanging in trailing festoons from the branches. Coon and possum were plentiful, but he did not see any of them. Most interesting to Tad were the swamp rabbits. These lived mostly in the depths of the woods and beside the lonely bayous. These rabbits, he discovered to his amazement, could swim and dive like muskrats, being as much at home in the water as on the land. Tad never had heard of them before and he watched the antics of some of the little fellows curiously. While Tad moved about with caution, he was unafraid. His love of nature was too great to permit him to be afraid of it; even though he knew that at any second he might tread on a deadly reptile, so he strode on with the light, noiseless step of the experienced hunter and woodsman. Here and there Tad would strike a blaze on a cypress with his axe. He did not propose to be lost in this forest. The sound of the camp horn calling to him warned the boy that he had strayed a long distance from camp. He answered the call by shooting his revolver three times in the air, to which the horn responded by two toots. These horns were used by nearly everyone in the brake. Each person was supposed to carry a horn with him, the horn being useful not alone in calling the dogs, but in signaling positions to each other, and its notes could be heard a long distance in clear weather. The boy discovered from the direction of the sound that he had made a wide detour to reach his present position. However, instead of trying to take a direct course back to the camp, as an inexperienced person might have done, the Pony Rider Boy cautiously followed his trail back, never for a moment losing sight of his blazes on the cypress trees. It was more than an hour later when he strolled into camp, the guide having blown the horn several times, which Tad had not answered after the first time. "Look here, young man, where have you been?" demanded Lilly. "I have been tramping. I went over to a round lake a good distance from here." "A lake?" "Yes, sir." "That way?" "Yes, sir." "Do you know how far that is from here?" questioned the guide. "I can't say that I do," answered Tad with a smile. "More than three miles in a straight line." "I thought so." "How is it you didn't get lost?" "Why should I? I blazed a trail out and just followed it back, that's all." Billy threw up his hands. "I don't know why you boys have me along. Any fellow who can dive into this swamp for three miles, then walk back just the same as if he were following the sidewalk at home, doesn't need a guide. See anything?" "Oh, yes," answered the boy laughing. "I saw pretty much everything but deer and bear. But I saw a deer trail." "You did?" "Yes, sir." "Where?" "About half the way out. He crossed my trail and went into the canebrake to the north." "Probably an old trail," nodded Lilly. "No, sir, it was a fresh trail made since the rain. I could see that plainly. It was a buck, too, and I think I should like to get a shot at him. Do they have regular runways down here?" "Yes, unless they are chased. Have all the rest of you boys got scents like deerhounds, eh?" "I have," answered Stacy promptly. "Why, I can put my nose to a trail and follow it until the deer drops dead from fatigue. I probably am the best all-around deer-chaser in the country. You set me on a trail and see what happens." "I can tell you what would happen," answered Rector. "You'd get lost in less than ten minutes." "If I did I should find myself," retorted Stacy indignantly. "Yes, you would!" "I should like to follow that deer trail, Mr. Lilly," said Tad. "How about it?" "The ground is too soft. The horses couldn't make much headway in the present condition of the muck." "By the way, are there any other hunters in this vicinity now?" questioned Tad. "I hadn't heard of any besides ourselves. Why?" "Nothing much. I discovered some man tracks this morning." Billy regarded the Pony Rider Boy steadily. "Young man, is there anything you don't see?" he demanded. "Oh, yes, I couldn't hope to see everything. But some things I can't help seeing. I found this man's tracks while I was examining the buck's trail in the muck. You know feet, man or beast, sink down a good way into the ooze in places." "I reckon I do. Which way was he going?" "The buck?" "No, the man." "Heading west." "That's away from the camp," reflected the guide. "I wonder who it could have been? Was there more than one of them?" Tad shook his head. "I looked for others. The man was alone and he had a gun." "Say, are you gifted with second sight?" "No, sir." "Then how do you know he had a gun, unless you guessed it?" "I saw the impression of the butt where he stood the gun against the tree. He was looking at the deer trail, so he must have been along a short time before I passed there." "I reckon I'll be looking into that," decided Lilly, rising and thrusting his hands in his pockets, striding slowly back and forth. The subject was not again referred to, but later in the afternoon Lilly announced that he was going out to look over the trails, and left the camp. He returned just before supper. "Well, did you find it?" asked Tad quizzically. Billy grinned. "I reckon I did. I reckon you-all knew what you were talking about." "Who was it?" demanded Ned. "Oh, I don't know about that. I guess it was some fellow heading for Stillman's plantation on the other side of the brake." "How far is that?" "Nigh onto twenty miles." "Is there no other way to reach the place?" questioned Tad. "Oh, yes, but it's a long way further. We will be on the trail ourselves tomorrow, I reckon. The ground is drying out fast. I didn't see any bear signs today, but they will be moving right smart, now that the storm is over." That night the campfire blazed and crackled merrily. The boys got a good night's rest, the tents being dry and comfortable and the air more endurable than had been the case for the last three days. Twice during the night Billy got up, took a look at the weather, and heaped more wood on the fire. Tad heard him, but did not open his eyes, knowing what was doing, as well as if he had observed it with wide-open eyes. It was shortly after daylight that the boy awakened suddenly and lay listening. He caught the sound of water being splashed about. A thought occurring to him, Tad slipped on his boots and taking his rifle up crept out under the rear wall of his tent. A sight met his eyes that thrilled him through and through. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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