Martin and Will were chirping farewells, and lamenting that they would have no more chances of studying water-snakes in sedgy pools with Dol. Amid cheers and waving of hats the campers separated.
“Forward, Company Three!” cried Cyrus encouragingly, stepping briskly ahead, his comrades following. “Now for a sight of the ‘Jabberwock’ of the forest, the mighty moose. Hurrah for the wild woods and all woodsmen!”
Chapter XIV.
A Lucky Hunter
Amid cracking of jokes, and noise which would have disgraced a squad of Indians, “Company Three,” as Cyrus dubbed his reduced band, reached the crowning-point of their journey, the log camp on the shore of Millinokett Lake.
During the first half-dozen miles of the way, though each one manfully did his best to be lively, a sense of loss made their fun flat and pointless. Royal’s tear-away tongue, his brothers’ racket, Joe’s racy talk, Uncle Eb’s kind, dark face, and more than all, Doc’s companionship, which was as tonic to the hearts of those who travelled with him, were missed.
But spirits must be elastic in forest air. When they halted at noon to eat their “snack” on the side of a breezy knoll, with a tiny brook purling through a pine grove beneath them, with Katahdin’s rugged sides and cloud-veiled peaks looming in majesty to the north, the thought of what lay behind was inevitably lost in what lay before. Enthusiasm replaced depression.
“It’s no use grizzling because we can’t have those fellows with us all the time,” remarked Neal philosophically. “’Twas a big piece of luck our running against them at all. And I’ve a sort of feeling that this won’t be the end of it; we’ll come across them again some day or other.”
“And at all events we’ll probably get a sight of Doc at Greenville as we go back,” said Dol, to whom this was no small comfort.
“Well, needless to say, I’d have been glad of their company for the rest of the trip. But still, if they had taken a notion to come on with us, it would have reduced to nothing our chances of seeing a moose. We’re a big party already for moose-calling or stalking—three of us, with Herb;” this from Cyrus.