The X Bar X boys on Whirlpool RiverFerris, James Cody
General
The X Bar X boys on Whirlpool River
Ferris, James Cody
Cattle stealing -- Juvenile fiction; Cowboys -- Juvenile fiction; Ranch life -- Juvenile fiction; Western stories
Suddenly an idea struck him. He took one of the handkerchiefs, the
one he had wet in the river, and cut the hem off with his knife.
This he tested by pulling it.
“Feels strong,” he declared to himself. “We’ll take a shot at it,
anyhow. Can’t any more than fail.”
He looked about him until he found a stick and a small dry log.
“Now, Mr. Scout, do your stuff,” he chuckled, and arranged his
implements. The strip of handkerchief he wound about the stick in
such a manner that, when made the string of a bow and sawed back and
forth, the stick spun rapidly around. Then he whittled one end of
the stick to a point, found a flat grooved rock to hold the other
end with, and bent to his task.
“Handkerchief, stay with me!” he breathed, and he started the stick
whirling in a small hole cut in his log. He had piled some fine, dry
bark shavings close to this hole, and now he watched them anxiously.
Faster and faster he twirled the stick. If the strip of cloth held,
he might-- Ah! There it was! The shavings were smoking! A little
more now!
He blew gently on his fuel and was rewarded by seeing a thready
spiral of smoke ascend. Then he cast the stick aside and fed the
tiny flame with dry leaves. Within five minutes he had a respectable
blaze going, actually a fire started! Did a wood fire ever before
send out such welcome incense? Not for Roy Manley--nor for many
another boy, perhaps, situated as he was just then.
“The boy firemaker!” he laughed, and strutted about until he came
down too hard on his sore leg. But the warmth of the flame was
grateful, for the day was cool and his wet clothes anything but
comfortable. Presently Roy removed his outer garments and spread
them around the fire. Standing near the blaze, he dried his
underthings and, after a time, dressed again with considerable
ceremony. Dry clothes are real clothes, he decided, while wet
clothes are worse than fetters. He felt better; much better.
“The next thing to do is to eat,” he told himself. Building a wall
of dirt around the fire so it could not spread, he went in search of
food, holding his knife in readiness in case an opportunity to use
it should present itself. He saw several rabbits and some squirrels,
but none of them was near enough to bring down. But at last he
espied a porcupine slowly crossing a log in front of him. Discarding
the knife in favor of a heavy stick he picked up, Roy rushed upon
the quilled animal. With one sharp blow on the head he killed it.
“That was luck!” he chuckled, looking over the queer thing that lay
there.
“We saw your brother about a month ago,” he mused, while he carried
his game back to the fire and soon prepared the beast for cooking.
“But there was no need of killing him. Teddy wanted to cart him back
and show him to Pop,” Roy ruminated. At the thought of Teddy, a
frown of anxiety crossed Roy’s face, but he quickly dismissed it.
Worrying was worse than useless. Besides, Teddy must be some place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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