Suddenly a dull crash was heard, and Brick's voice rose instantly to a shrill pitch. The boys shouted in return, and Jerry quickly lighted his torch.

The racket brought the catamount out from the storehouse like a streak.

The ugly beast glared at the boys and the torch. He was hungry for the former, but afraid of the latter. He realized that he was outmatched, and, turning his tail, he bounced into the pa.s.sage that led to the lake, wailing like a spoiled child.

It all happened so quickly that Jerry lost the opportunity he wanted. He dashed to the angle, and pitched the torch far ahead. It flared up brightly, showing the beast in a crouching att.i.tude on the edge of the gloom. Jerry took a quick aim, and fired.

The report rang out with stunning violence. Its echoes were followed by a dismal wail and a shower of snow clods from the roof of the tunnel, some of which extinguished the torch. When the smoke lifted, the catamount had disappeared, though it was doubtless not far away.

With a glad cry of welcome, Brick crawled out from the storehouse, coat in hand. His sleeveless arm was stained with blood, and the wound proved to consist of several severe scratches.

"You just came in time, fellows," he said. "The beast had knocked my barricade down, and in a few seconds more he would have had me. Do you think you hit him?"

"I don't believe it," growled Jerry. "Seems to me I can't shoot worth a cent any more. Still, I didn't have a fair shot. But we had better be getting back to the cabin instead of fooling away time here."

"You bet we had," a.s.sented Hamp. "It's the only safe place. That catamount will be after us again, or he ain't the kind of an Indian devil I take him for."

Brick was nervously anxious to start, and at once took the lead of his companions. They hurried around angle after angle, and when they were half-way through the final pa.s.sage, they heard the creature's pattering strides behind them.

Brick and Hamp bolted into the cabin. Jerry paused on the threshold, and wheeled around. He was frightened to see the catamount within six feet of him. But he kept a cool head, and lifted his rifle, which he had meanwhile reloaded. There was no time to hesitate. He aimed, and pulled the trigger.

With the stunning report that followed, he rolled backward into the cabin and sprang to his feet. A frightful scream of blended rage and agony echoed through the tunnel, and the startled boys hastily pushed the sled against the door. Then they backed off, and waited. Jerry disengaged the still burning lantern from his belt, and placed it on the floor.

Another horrid scream, pitched in a strain of mortal agony. Then a bang and a crash. Away went the sled, and plump into the cabin tumbled the wounded and infuriated catamount.

It was well for the lads that Hamp retained his presence of mind. Like a flash the double barreled shotgun went to his shoulder. Twice he pulled the trigger.

Bang, bang! a rasping screech mingled with the stunning reports. Then all was still. When the curtain of powder smoke slowly lifted, the quaking boys saw their ferocious enemy quivering in his death throes on the blood-stained pine boughs.

CHAPTER XIV.

A HERD OF DEER.

Such a cheering arose as might have been heard far off in the forest.

The praises and congratulations of his companions brought a ruddy flush to Hamp's cheeks.

"It wasn't anything to do," he protested, modestly. "When the creature bounced in, I just up and fired. Jerry gets the most credit."

"No, I don't, either," declared Jerry. "My rifleball took him in the shoulder, and your charges of buckshot went through the head. You saved our lives, Hamp, for the brute was crazy with pain, and would have torn us to pieces."

"That's so," a.s.sented Brick. "I thought it was all up with us when Hamp fired. Well, we're rid of a mighty ugly enemy. You fellows may be glad you weren't in my shoes when the beast had me penned up in the crevice back of the storehouse."

When the excitement of their recent adventures had pa.s.sed off, the boys discovered that they were very sleepy. The night was well advanced, so they turned in without delay, permitting the lantern to burn dimly. They were not inclined to lie down in darkness with the dead catamount.

Morning seemed to come quickly. The boys were astir early, and had breakfast over by eight o'clock. Then they crept out to the mouth of the tunnel, and were disappointed to find that the weather was unfavorable for departure. A fine rain was falling from a sodden, gray sky, and the air was quite warm and moist.

"It feels as though a change was coming," said Jerry. "I believe it will clear off by evening and get cold. Then a crust will form on the snow over night, and we can start early to-morrow morning."

"I hate to spend another day in this cooped-up place," replied Brick, mournfully.

"It can't be helped," declared Hamp. "We don't want to travel in the rain. Keep your spirits up, old fellow. The time won't seem long."

"You're right it won't," a.s.sented Jerry. "We've got a lot to do. First of all, the catamount must be taken away from the cabin and skinned.

Then we ought to make a search back in the woods for those men. I'm worried about them."

The others shared Jerry's anxiety, but it was agreed to postpone the expedition until afternoon.

The boys went back to the cabin, and tied a rope about the catamount's neck. After a great deal of trouble, they succeeded in dragging the body to the mouth of the tunnel.

Then they set to work with sharp knives and removed the skin in good condition. The carca.s.s was hauled out on the ice, where it would ultimately be devoured by wolves.

After a cold dinner, the boys donned snowshoes and oilskin coats and sallied forth again. They traveled down the lake as far as the point where they had seen the men make a crossing. Then they entered the forest, and tramped backward and forward for several hours.

But not a trace could be found of the two prospectors, Raikes and Bogle, or their camp. The boys searched long and carefully, and varied their shouts by firing guns at frequent intervals. No reply came back. The stillness of death reigned in the forest.

"It's no use," declared Jerry. "We may as well give up and return. I don't suppose the men had more than a campfire, and the traces of that are buried under the snow."

"But what became of them?" asked Hamp.

"I don't know," replied Jerry. "I'm sure they're not dead, anyhow."

"I'll bet they packed up and left for a safer neighborhood as soon as they knew the storm was coming," said Brick. "They didn't leave since, for we would see their tracks on the snow."

"That's about it," a.s.sented Jerry. "No doubt they struck back toward the mountains. They didn't worry about us, for Raikes knew how snugly we were fixed."

This solution to the mystery was accepted, and the boys returned to their camp.

On the way back Jerry shot a brace of spruce partridges, and these made a savory supper, varied with two fresh pickerel which Hamp snared through a hole in the ice.

A blazing fire was made at the mouth of the tunnel, and here the meal was cooked and eaten.

Jerry's prediction as to the weather had come true. No rain was falling, and the air was much crisper and colder. By nine o'clock the stars were shining from a steel-blue sky.

The boys went to bed early, so as to be fresh for the morrow's journey.

They rose at daybreak, hurried down a cold breakfast, and packed the sleds. This was a task that required some skill, for the ordinary luggage was augmented by the catamount's skin and the antlers of the buck.

Then, with feelings of mingled regret and pleasure, the boys looked their last on the snug little cabin where they had witnessed such stirring scenes, and crawled through the tortuous pa.s.sages of the tunnel, dragging the sleds behind them. They strapped on their snowshoes, and started directly across the lake.

The walking was mostly over smooth ice, though here and there was a formidable snowdrift piled up by an eddying wind.

The distant line of forest gradually became more distinct, and an hour before noon the young travelers reached the eastern sh.o.r.e of Moosehead Lake. They were not more than two miles from the upper end, and after a brief consultation, they decided to push straight on for Chesumcook Lake, which was about twenty miles away.

"You will like the neighborhood," Jerry a.s.sured Brick. "Game is plenty, and there are lots of good camping-places. Chesumcook is an awful long lake, only it's narrow. The Pen.o.bscot River flows out of it."

Brick was willing to do anything that his companions proposed, so they plunged into the fragrant spruce woods, and pushed rapidly over the crusted snow.