The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat Part 20

It was Nuthin, who had chanced to be restless, and was awake at the time Bobolink came in to arouse the scout master. He had heard all that pa.s.sed between them, and of course felt a thrill at the idea of some ferocious wild beast prowling around the tents.

Hardly had the other pair withdrawn before Nuthin started after them. He might be a rather timid boy by nature; but when there was anything going on Nuthin could not rest content unless he placed himself in a position where he could see or hear--perhaps both.

Bobolink led the way back to the post he had been occupying at the time he made his discovery. He hoped those luminous eyes would still be there, because it might not look just right should he be able to show no proof of his story; and boys will take occasion to make all sorts of jeering remarks about a fellow falling asleep on his post, and dreaming wonderful things.

So it was with considerable anxiety that the sentry crept along to the very spot which he remembered he had been occupying at the time.

Considerably to his dismay he could see nothing. There was the patch of brush in which he had discovered those gleaming orbs, and from which had arisen a low, threatening growl when he first moved off; but look as he might Bobolink was unable to detect the first sign of a hostile presence.

He felt disgusted with himself. Luck seemed to be playing him all manner of tricks of late, and nothing went right. There was that affair of the queer boxes which had been bothering him so long; then the mystery of the unknown men who had ordered the scouts to leave the island in such a peremptory fas.h.i.+on, without giving the least reason for their churlishness. And now, here, even this little matter could not work straight.

"It's gone, Paul!" he felt compelled to mutter, after striving several times to detect some sign, however faint, of those terrible yellow eyes.

"Just where did you see it, Bobolink?" asked the scout master, knowing from his chum's manner how disappointed the sentry must feel that he was thus unable to prove his a.s.sertion.

"Right in that brush yonder; you c'n see it looks darker than anything else," replied Bobolink, eagerly; as if hoping that after all Paul's eyes might prove better than his own, and pick up the lost glow.

"Well, it seems to have gone away, then," said the scout master.

"I'm afraid so," grumbled Bobolink, for all the world as though his whole reputation for veracity depended on his showing the other that he had not been imagining things when he gave his alarm.

"What did you see?" continued Paul.

"Two yellow eyes, and say, weren't they just awful, though? But seems like the varmint has side-stepped, and vamoosed. Just my luck, hang it! I wanted you to see 'em the worst kind, Paul."

"A pair of s.h.i.+ning eyes, eh? When you moved, did you hear anything, Bobolink?"

"Sure I did. It growled just like our dog does at home, when he's got a bone, and anybody gets too near him," the sentry hastened to explain.

"Made you think of a dog, did it, and not a cat?" asked Paul, quickly.

"Why, yes, I reckon it did," replied Bobolink; "leastways, that's what came into my mind. But then a big cat, a regular bobcat, I take it, could growl that way, if it felt a notion to."

"You came straight in to wake me up, of course?" continued Paul, wis.h.i.+ng to figure on the time that might have elapsed since Bobolink left his post.

"Crawled right in, and we got back here in a jiffy; but you see it was no use when that jinx is on my trail, meanin' to loco everything I do. Now, I reckon if it'd been any other feller in the bunch, the critter'd just stood its ground, and I'd be vindicated. But me--I'm hoodooed of late, and can't do a thing straight."

"Listen!" said Paul, a little sharply, as though he had no sympathy with such talk.

They strained their hearing for possibly a full minute. Then Bobolink, who liked to talk, could no longer hold in.

"What'd you think you heard, Paul?" he whispered.

"A little rustling sound just alongside the brush you pointed out," the scout master replied.

"But you didn't get it again; did you?" urged the other.

"No. But that needn't be proof that something isn't there, and watching us, even if we don't glimpse his eyes," replied Paul.

"Oh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Bobolink, with a sudden sense of relief in his voice.

"You heard the rustling then; didn't you?" Paul demanded.

"I sure did, and right over back of the brush it seemed to be. P'raps he's givin' the camp the shake, Paul; mebbe he's made up his mind it ain't as healthy a place as he thought, after all."

"It couldn't be one of the other sentries moving around, I suppose?"

ventured Paul, at which his companion gave a low chuckle.

"With those glaring yellow eyes? Well, hardly, Paul. My stars! but if you'd only seen 'em, you'd never say that. And besides, the boys were ordered not to leave their posts, only to wake up the fellow that came after 'em. Oh! put it down for me that isn't any of our bunch stirring around."

"Then I must find out what it is!" said Paul, with a ring of determination in his voice.

"Wow! d'ye mean to rush the beast, Paul, and try to knock him over with a charge of Number Sevens?" demanded Bobolink.

"I've got something better than that to scare him off," replied Paul.

"You know we don't want to shoot a gun, if we can help it; because the report would tell the men that we'd come back, and might bring trouble.

I've got my little electric hand torch with me, and if I flash that into the face of any wild animal the chances are it'll give him a scare that'll send him off about his business."

"Oh! I forgot all about that," said Bobolink. "It's just the thing, too.

How lucky you brought it along, Paul."

Bobolink looked on a good many things as "luck," one way or the other, when of a truth they were really planned ahead. The scout master had realized that such a useful little contrivance would be apt to come in handy on many occasions, when camping out, and had made it a particular point to put the torch in his pack before leaving home.

He had it beside him as he slept, but did not consider it wise to press the b.u.t.ton when awakened, lest the flash arouse the others who were sleeping in the same tent.

Bobolink could feel him moving away, and not meaning to be left behind, he started after. Bobolink possessed courage, even if he lacked discretion. The possibility of an encounter with this doubtless savage animal did not deter him from following his leader.

Again they heard that suspicious rustling in the bushes ahead, this time louder than before. And quickly on the heels of this sound came a low, threatening growl that, strangely enough, made Bobolink chuckle softly, he was so pleased over having his announcement proven true to the Commodore of the motorboat fleet.

"Look out, Paul," he whispered; "he's laying for you in those bushes.

Better keep your gun handy, and be ready to give him Hail Columbia!"

Paul did not answer. He had his gun held in such a way that it could be fired with a second's warning. At the same time his left hand was gripping the little electric torch, with his thumb pressed against the trigger that would connect the battery, and send an intense ray of light wherever he pointed.

When he heard another rustle, and a growl even more vicious than before, he judged about the position of the sounds, and pointing the end of the torch straight ahead, pressed the b.u.t.ton.

As the vivid flash followed Paul saw something that looked like a crouching panther staring at the dazzling glow of his torch--a hairy beast that had rather a square head, and a tail that was las.h.i.+ng to and fro, just as he had seen that of a domestic cat move with jerks, when a hostile dog approached too close to suit her ideas of safety.

CHAPTER XIX

LAYING PLANS

"Whee!"

That, of course, was Bobolink giving expression to his feelings when he too saw the crouching figure of the ugly beast in the pile of brush.