Chapter XXVI: Poaching on Strange Preserves

“Oh! good-bye!”

As Dick gasped these two words he flung himself squarely around, and ran wildly. At the same time he listened, with his heart almost in his mouth, to ascertain whether the terrible animal were chasing after him. Yes, he could catch that odd thumping sound so like the roll of a distant bass drum.

The boy ran in the direction that would take him close to where his companions were busily engaged in picking berries. He did not mean to lead the beast so as to include Eddie and the rest in his own danger; but he wished to warn them so that they, too, might flee from that perilous section.

When they heard him shout they quickly understood. Even before that it had dawned upon their comprehension that something was amiss, for they had caught the noise made by Dick’s frantic passage through the bushes. Besides, the booming sound from beyond had also been carried to their ears.

Now all six were tearing off like mad, and for a brief time it seemed as though the berry picking must be abandoned for that day at least. Dick soon found that they were not being pursued. Then the ridiculous character of the wild flight broke in upon him, and he laughed aloud.

This caused the others to feel safer. Surely the situation could not be so very desperate if Dick, wise Dick, could give way to merriment.

Eddie Grant joined in the laughter, and Ban and Cub, not to show the white feather, followed suit, until all of them threw themselves down on the ground and tried to catch their breath again.

There was considerable badgering, for each chose to believe that all save himself were panic-stricken. Of course, _he_ had galloped along just because it was the fashion, and he did not wish to be left to face the ugly beast alone.

When Dick candidly admitted that he had been badly scared the others realized that confession was good for the soul; and in the end everybody owned up.

“Do we give up the job then for to-day?” asked Fred Bonnicastle.

“Oh! I know lots of other places where the berries are just about as thick as off there,” asserted Eddie Grant, who, having undertaken a task, however unpleasant, never wished to relinquish it.

“Who’s afraid?” demanded Cub Mannis.

Of course, after all this manifestation of valor no one dared hint at stopping work just because there chanced to be an escaped gorilla loose on Bass Island.

“We can arrange to keep closer together after this,” suggested Eddie, “and have a signal to close up in a bunch if the old critter bobs up again. But like as not we happened on his private preserves when we tackled that batch of berries, and he ain’t goin’ to bother us if we keep away.”

It was natural that the boys remained in a nervous frame of mind during the remainder of that morning. If a bird flew up suddenly, or a branch scraped against the trunk of a tree, emitting a harsh sound, some of them were sure to take in a long breath and stare around uneasily.

The pails were slow in filling up, too, on account of this vigilance and of the fact that the pickers stuck close together. In fact, the time dragged until it was well on toward noon before Eddie announced that his pail was running over.

“Can’t seem to hold another handful, fellows,” he observed. “And as you’re all in the same fix I move we start back to camp.”

“That suits me all right!” declared Fred; and not a murmur of dissent was heard, for every one was only too glad that the long strain had come to an end.

When the berry pickers told of their experience that noon, as they munched the lunch that had been prepared, dinner being reserved for the evening when Mr. Capes would in all probability be with them, the others listened with a sort of awe.

Although, boy like, some of them ventured to make fun of the berry pickers on account of their panic, secretly they were ready to confess that under similar conditions they would have done the same thing--would have run wildly.

“Well, my pit is four-fifths dug,” announced Dan, proudly. “And if I can get a new shift of workers this afternoon I’ll have it done easily, so the trap could be set this very night.”

Several volunteers were immediately forthcoming, among others Asa Gardner, who, while not as strong physically as most of the others, wished to do his share.

“You see,” he explained to Dan when making the offer, “I don’t want to be left out of the running.”

“Well,” observed Fred Bonnicastle, drily, “you wouldn’t have if you’d gone off with our bunch this morning, I can tell you that. Eh, fellows?”

Dick, true to his promise, after certain camp duties had been performed, went out in one of the boats with Eddie, Ban and Cub to try for the bass.

“We’d like to give Mr. Capes a treat and the finest dinner possible while he’s up here over night with us,” he told his companions, while rowing toward his favorite fishing grounds. “So everybody must do his level best to land some big fellows, if only we can tempt them to take hold.”

The conditions seemed especially favorable. The sun was hidden much of the time behind friendly clouds, and a gentle wind blew from the southwest, causing a ripple on the water such as fishermen delight to see.

The sport turned out to be excellent, and some extra fine fish were taken during the several hours the quartette spent at their pleasant task.

“Let me tell you this beats picking berries all hollow,” remarked Eddie, as he played a sturdy bronze-backed warrior, and watched the captive leap wildly from the water time after time, always attempting to throw his weight upon the line so as to break the hook loose from his jaw.

“I never seem to get enough of it,” added Cub, all aglow as he, too, felt a savage jerk, and succeeded in fastening a mate to Eddie’s fellow, so that there were lively times at both ends of the anchored boat.

Indeed, the pleasures of that single afternoon were enough to repay the mill boys for all their labors. One and all they confessed, when later on heading for the camp, that they had never had such glorious fishing in all their lives.

Dan was found in camp fairly palpitating with satisfaction. Dick knew before a single word had been said that the pit was completed.

“Come out and see it, Dick,” urged the proud architect. And as there was still an hour and more before sundown, Dick gladly complied.

He found that the pit had been neatly covered with a matting of slender poles, upon which both earth and leaves had been deftly strewn. In fact, Dick might himself have stepped upon this disguising covering only that Dan caught his arm and held him back.

“You see where I’ve hung the bait,” he observed, pointing upward as he spoke. “The gorilla can’t reach it without stepping squarely out on the weak platform, and he’ll go plump down so fast there’ll be no chance for him to throw out those long arms of his and grab a branch above. I guess his goose will be cooked all right if only he browses around this way to-night, as I hope will happen.”

Dick shook hands with the originator of the pit trap.

“Here’s hoping he comes--and stays, Dan!” he said.

“You like the way we fixed it, then, do you, Dick?” demanded the other. For according to his way of thinking commendation from Dick was always to be accepted as a certificate of real merit.

“It couldn’t be better, Dan, and you have cause to be proud of your work.”

They had just returned to the camp when one of the boys was heard shouting:

“There’s a big car arrived across the bay from us, where Leslie and Phil are waiting with the boat.”

“Seems to be something of a crowd along,” remarked Dan; “I can see the chauffeur all right, and Mr. Capes; but there’s another, too. Wonder now who he brought up here with him to-day?”

“They’re fixing some sort of canvas over the car, so as to leave it there for the night,” ventured Asa, straining his eyes in the effort to make things out.

“Now they’re beginning to get into the boat, after the boys have taken aboard some bundles that may be containers for the berries,” said Dick. “I can give a pretty good guess who that third person is, boys.”

“Mr. Nocker, Dick, don’t you think?” asked Peg. “Seems to me he looks kind of familiar, with his tall figure, and queer way of walking.”

“Just who it is,” replied Dick, without hesitation. “Mr. Nocker has taken the trouble to come all the way up here to spend a night with us boys, and see how we carry on when in camp.”

“Just to think of him, doing such a thing,” ventured Dan, “when only a short time ago he detested every type of boy, because they reminded him of his own son who gave him so much trouble, and finally ran away from home and died.”

“Yes,” interrupted Dick, softly. “But that was before Mr. Nocker met his little grandson, Billy, and felt a new sensation in his withered old heart. Nowadays he loves boys, and can’t do too much for them. Forget all about the past, fellows, and only remember that Mr. Nocker is now one of our best friends.”