Elmer and Lil Artha exchanged satisfied glances. They both felt that for a tenderfoot, Alec had proven a credit to the troop, and this was encouraging. After all, this outing seemed bound to be the making of a couple of embryo scouts; it would bring out whatever good qualities they possessed, and show what sort of foundation there might be for their immediate future.
"Come back to camp with me right away, Alec," Elmer told the other, who was still curiously examining the dead cat, especially interested in its savage looking claws and the cruel teeth that were exposed in the snarl that death had set upon its face. "I want to take a look at those same little scratches you mention. They may appear harmless enough, but many a fine hunter has died from such simple things."
Of course Alec was astounded. He stared hard at his hands, and shook his head in a skeptical way.
"I ha'e nae doot but that ye knaw best, Elmer," he finally said, "but would ye tell me the noo how such a wee bit o' scratches could mean so much?"
"Blood poisoning is apt to set in," explained the other, readily enough, as he locked arms with the Scotch lad and hurried him off toward the camp. "You see, carnivorous animals that live upon the flesh of their prey are apt to have their claws contaminated. Even a slight abrasion caused by those claws is impregnated with just so much danger. Nothing might come of it; but scouts believe in taking as little chances as possible. I've got a phial of permanganate of potash along for just such purposes, and we'll daub some of it on. You'll resemble a wild Indian with the splotches, for it stains a deep purple, but safety first before looks."
Indeed, Alec did look rather odd after his several slight injuries had been duly attended to, for Elmer did not spare the "painting."
"I wish me mither could see me the noo," chuckled the Scotch boy, after he had surveyed his mottled appearance in a tiny hand mirror one of them had been thoughtful enough to fetch along. "Ye ken, she's often tauld me aboot the Highland chiefs in their war-paint in the gude auld days of lang syne. I warran ye she'd think her son and heir had copied after the McGregor, Rob Roy, ye remimber, our outlaw ancestor."
Lil Artha was to fetch along the defunct wildcat, for it was designed to save the skin, and present it, when properly tanned, to Alec, who could use it in his den at home for a small mat. Every time he looked down at it he must be forcibly reminded of his stirring adventure, and it would serve to encourage him in his endeavor to become a first-class scout.
It was perhaps half an hour afterwards that Elmer heard voices, and looking toward the spot where Lil Artha had been working with the pelt of the bobcat, he was both surprised and thrilled to discover that the long-legged scout was talking with a small party in whom Elmer immediately recognized Conrad Shock!