“Deer!” exclaimed Eugene.
“Who knows but it’s a panther?” said Perk.
“We’ll find out what it is before we go to bed again,” said Walter. “The dogs are close at his heels, are they not?” he added, as the slow, measured baying of the hounds changed to a sharp impatient yelp. “Hurry up, fellows, or we shall miss all the fun.”
These midnight alarms were not new chapters in the experience of the Club. Wild animals were abundant, and it was by no means an uncommon occurrence for the dogs to discover a bear or wildcat prowling about the plantation during the night. Indeed, the boys had seen bears pass through the cornfield in the day-time; and a few weeks previous to the commencement of our story, Walter and Eugene stood on the back porch of the house, and fired their guns at a deer that was feeding at one of the fodder stacks.
The boys hurried on their clothes without loss of time, and catching up their guns and throwing their powder-flasks and shot-pouches over their shoulders, ran down the stairs and out of the house. On the porch they met Mr. Gaylord, who turned and gave them an approving nod.
“What is it?” asked all the boys in a breath.
“O, a bear, I suppose,” replied the gentleman. “The dogs have treed him, and if you want a little sport, we’ll go down and take a look at him.”
There are not many boys in the world who would be willing to go to bed when they knew that a bear had been treed within a quarter of a mile of them. Our heroes were not, by any means. If they could remain up all night for the purpose of capturing a coon, as they had done many a time, they could certainly afford to lose an hour’s sleep when they had a prospect of trying their skill on larger and more valuable game. Mr. Gaylord went into the house after his rifle; Eugene ran to the kitchen to bring a fire-brand; Walter hurried off in search of a couple of axes; and the rest of the club busied themselves in gathering a supply of dry chips with which to kindle a fire. In a few minutes Mr. Gaylord came out again, but he moved much too slowly and deliberately to suit the impatient boys, who set out for the woods at a rapid run, leaving him to follow at his leisure. They found the dogs—probably a score of them in all—gathered about a tall oak that grew just outside the cotton-field. Some of the experienced ones, like Rex, sat at a little distance and looked steadily up into the branches; while the younger ones made desperate attempts to run up the tree, and failing in that, fell to fighting among themselves. A few harshly spoken words, and a flourish or two with the switch Eugene carried in his hand, brought order out of the confusion, and put a stop to the barking and quarrelling.
The first business was to kindle a fire: and by the time this had been done Mr. Gaylord came up. The fire cracked away merrily, the flames arose higher and higher, and presently threw out so bright a light that the hunters could discern the outlines of some dark object crouching in the top of the tree. The boys yelled like young savages at the discovery, and Perk, who carried a long, heavy deer-gun of wonderful range and accuracy, requested his companions to stand back and see how nicely he could lift him out of the tree at the first shot.
“Don’t be in a hurry, boys!” said Mr. Gaylord. “Let me have a good view of him before you shoot. There’s something about him that looks suspicious.”