CHAPTER VII.THREE HUNGRY MEN.
After the departure of Jimmie and Carl, Ben sat in the shelter-tent by the side of the injured man until he was half asleep. Mr. Havens had fallen into a light slumber, and there was no one to talk to. He finally arose and walked out to the fire, looking about for some sign of the flying machine as he did so.
TheLouisewas not in sight, being at that time beyond the ridge to the east, but the boy saw something which contributed wonderfully to his wakefulness. A great mountain rat was creeping out of the long grass toward the spot where the refuse of the meals which had been served offered a tempting repast.
As much to keep awake as anything else, he watched the nimble-footed, sharp-eyed rodent advancing inch by inch toward its supper. Whenever he moved a hand or foot the rat darted back and was lost to view. While he watched, Mr. Havens called softly from the tent.
“Shoot all the rats you see, Ben,” the aviator said. “If he gets a bellyful here every rat in the Rocky mountains will know it before daybreak. We may stay here several days, and can’t afford to fight rats every hour of the day and night!”
Ben drew his revolver and when the rat appeared again, fired. He missed at the first shot and fired again and again, until the rodent lay dead halfway between his hiding-place and the tempting bait.
“That looks wicked to me,” Ben declared as he reloaded his automatic.
“Self-preservation, you know,” Mr. Havens explained. “The rats would eat us alive in less than a week if we let one get away well-fed.”
Ben went back to the tent and sat down, but, at the suggestion of the aviator, left almost immediately to bury the body of the rat and the garbage which had drawn him to the camp. While engaged in this occupation, he heard a call from the grass to the south.
“Don’t shoot!” the voice said, in what seemed to be a tremor of alarm.
Ben sprang back to the tent and lifted his automatic from the blanket where he had laid it. Mr. Havens motioned toward another weapon and Ben placed it in his hand. Then the two stood waiting.
“Don’t shoot!” the voice from the darkness repeated. “We mean you no harm! We are lost in the mountains!”
“Who are you?” asked Ben, as footsteps advanced and three figures became distinguishable under the light of the fire.
“Campers who have lost our way,” was the answer.
The three men came on until their faces as well as their figures were under the glow of the blaze. They held their hands out to show that they were not carrying weapons.
“The shots you heard were directed at a mountain rat,” Ben explained, as the men came up to where he stood.
The men revealed by the light of the camp-fire appeared at first sight to be entirely unfamiliar with the usages of the mountains. They were dressed in tailor-made clothes of good material, but their faces were blackened by smoke and bore scraggly beards of a week’s growth.
“Beg pardon,” one of the men said briskly as he stepped closer to the fire. “Our intrusion is entirely unpremeditated.”
“We left our camp early this morning,” another member of the little group cut in, “and lost our way. We have been chased by grizzlies and have fallen into gulches and canyons until we are about used up.”
“You are hungry?” asked Ben.
“Hungry?” repeated one of the visitors. “I never was so hungry in my life. To tell the truth, we never expected to see a camp-fire or a square meal again. Of all the blasted countries on the face of the earth, this mountain district of British Columbia takes the lead!”
“Where’s your camp?” asked Ben.
“I wish I knew,” answered one of the others. “We came in here a week ago for a month’s shooting and we’ve been trying to keep track of our camp ever since. It seems to me that it shifts about from point to point whenever we leave it!”
“Now, look here, Dick,” one of the other men interrupted, “Steve and I know what kind of a liar you are, but this stranger doesn’t. First thing you know, you’ll give him the impression that we’re all candidates for the foolish house. If you want to draw on your imagination, jest tell him how hungry you are.”
“I’m so hungry,” Dick answered, “that I could eat grass like the old king who was turned out to pasture a good many hundred years ago. I’ve been thinking for several hours of slicing down a couple of these peaks and making a grass sandwich. I should have done it, too, only I was afraid of finding a nest of rattlers in the grass.”
“Well,” Ben said with a chuckle at the fellow’s exaggeration, “if you want a fine bear steak, you can get one at the foot of the slope. A grizzly dropped down from the upper regions late this afternoon and we’ve been feeding off him ever since.”
“Is the meat good yet?” asked Dick.
“I think so,” replied Ben. “You can tell by bringing in a few slices and putting them over the coals to broil.”
“As a rule,” Dick went on, “I don’t eat meat of any kind, but to-night I think I could handle a couple of steaks cut off a horse.”
Without waiting for any more explanations the two men who had been called Steve and Joe hastened out to the carcass of the grizzly and soon returned with large slices of bear steak. Ben brought the broiler out of one of the tents and the men set to work cooking their suppers. They seemed rather handy at the task for city men.
While the steak was cooking, Ben made an extra large and extra strong supply of coffee and brought out tin dishes from the box where they kept their table furniture. The visitors eyed preparations for supper eagerly. Now and then one of them turned his eyes in the direction of the aeroplanes but made no comment.
“My, but that steak smells good!” exclaimed Dick. “I don’t believe I can wait for it to cook through, Joe,” he added, “so you just smoke up a piece, giving an imitation of a restaurant steak, and I’ll eat it raw.”
“It won’t be long now,” Joe answered with a laugh.
“Long?” repeated the other. “A quarter of a second seems longer to me now than all the time that has elapsed since Noah marched his menagerie out of the ark!”
“How long have you been in the valley?” asked Ben.
“All night, I think,” Dick replied. “We saw the slope on the east and mistook it for the one at the foot of which our camp is situated. The farther we walked the farther the cliff looked to be. Honest,” the man went on, with a whimsical smile, “I believe the cliff can travel faster than we can. Most remarkable country, this!”
Long before the steaks were thoroughly cooked the men fell to, eating like persons who had been deprived of food for many days.
“You’re the second party of hungry men we met to-night,” Ben said.
The three looked up instantly with something more than interest showing in their faces. Then, as if by common consent they turned toward the aeroplanes.
“Who are the others?” asked Dick.
“I don’t know,” replied Ben. “They were husky-looking fellows who claimed to be mounted policemen. One of them killed the bear.”
“Those are the fellows!” Dick exclaimed.
“You’ve seen them, have you?”
“Not to-day,” Dick replied. “Yesterday, two men answering the description came to our camp and asked all sorts of questions about the object of our visit. They asked where we came from, and how long we were going to stay, and if we had seen other strangers in the mountains.”
“Did they claim to belong to the mounted police?”
“They did not, but they appeared so everlastingly curious to know all about us that somehow I got the idea that they did belong to the Canadian force. They were hungry when they came to our camp, too.”
“Did they say anything about aeroplanes?” asked Ben.
“Not a word!” was the reply.
“And, look here,” Dick observed, cutting an extra large piece of steak from the slice which lay on his plate, “I think I saw the camp-fire of our visitors to-night. It’s up on the slope to the north.”
“You don’t suppose they’re train robbers, do you?” asked Steve, rather excitedly. “I have heard,” he continued, “that train robbers and other criminals come here to hide away from officers of the law.”
“I’ve been guessing about them ever since they were here,” Ben replied.
“If I thought they were train robbers,” Dick put in, “I’d take a jump for the nearest railroad without waiting for daylight! If you want to scare me stiff, just mention train robbers or grizzly bears! After those fellows left our tent yesterday, I was so frightened that I couldn’t eat more than half a supper. Honest,” he continued, “if I had seen this bear come tumbling down the slope, I would have let out a yell that would have alarmed the people at Spokane!”
“You’re a great coward, if we leave it to you,” laughed Joe.
Dick grunted and applied himself with greater energy to the bear steak.
After the men had eaten their fill Dick moved over to the machines. He stood for some moments by theAnnwithout touching her and then walked back to the fire. His companions looked at him inquiringly.
“That’s a pretty good machine you have there,” he said. “Did you bring it over the mountains?”
“Yes,” answered Ben, “we brought in three aeroplanes. Two of our boys are out now with the third one.”
“That’s a fact,” Dick exclaimed as the clamor of motors came through the still air. “And they’re doing a pretty good job, flying in the night, at that! Looks as if they understood the game!”
TheLouiselifted above the spot where the colored lights had been displayed and whirled straight across the valley.
“What’s she going off in that direction for?” asked Dick. “Did you notice that she came from the camp I mentioned a short time ago?”
“I did notice that,” answered Ben, “and I’m wondering why.”
TheLouiseswept along at amazing speed and was soon lost to sight behind the summit to the west. Ben arose and entered the tent where Mr. Havens lay.
“You saw theLouise?” the boy asked.
“Are you sure that was theLouise?”
“There’s no doubt of it,” Ben replied. “The ordinary aeroplane doesn’t carry a light like that. It’s theLouise, all right, and I was wondering what the boys are going toward the coast for.”
“I wish I knew that the boys are in charge of her,” Mr. Havens said, after a moment’s thought. “I’m always afraid something will happen when those boys get off together. If I hadn’t walked all over those porcupines last night, I’d mount theAnnand make an investigation.”
“If you think it’s safe for you to remain here with these visitors,” Ben suggested, “I’ll go up in one of the machines and see what they’re doing. I’m rather nervous over the matter myself.”
“I heard the talk going on by the fire,” the aviator explained, “and my impression is that these men are all right. Still, it’s rather a risky thing to do, to leave the camp and one machine in the custody of a man incapable of defending them.”
“Perhaps we’d better wait a short time and see if theLouisedoesn’t return. I don’t like to take chances,” added Ben.
Presently the three visitors were invited into the tent where Mr. Havens lay and the four talked together for some minutes, then the aviator beckoned to Ben and whispered in his ear.
“I think it’s all right for you to take theAnnout. These men seem to be honest fellows. They’re from Chicago, and know as little about mountain work as a cat that has lived all its life in Gamblers’ alley.”
This was exactly according to Ben’s inclinations, and the boy lost no time in getting theAnnready for the air. The three visitors came out to assist, and when Ben took his seat Dick suggested significantly that he had never had the pleasure of riding in a flying machine.
“Jump in then,” Ben said with a smile. “I’ll show you how it seems to fly over mountains in the night.”
At that moment theLouiselifted over the valley once more.