"Look--look," he said, releasing his hand and affrightedly pointing to a little trickle of blood on his arm. "I'm--I'm shot--look--"

CHAPTER XVI

CONNOVER BREAKS LOOSE

Advancing stealthily, our young hero raised his rifle and leveled it at the chief of the howling Zulus, who cl.u.s.tered threateningly on the farther sh.o.r.e. The young girl whom they had kidnapped lay bound hand and foot, and Dan Dreadnought clenched his teeth with anger as he heard her cries for help. The poisoned spears of the infuriated Zulus were flying all about him, but they did not cower the brave lad. He was resolved at any cost to rescue that girl.

"I am a Boy Scout," he called, "and I can handle a hundred savages if need be." Then, uttering the cry of the Eureka Patrol, he dashed into the dugout which lay drawn up on the sh.o.r.e, and using the b.u.t.t end of his rifle for a paddle, he guided his unsteady boat across the raging torrent amid a fusillade of spears and arrows with which the frantic Zulus vainly sought to stay his approach.

"I am Lieutenant of the Eureka Patrol!" called Dan. "Untie those fetters, or every one of you shall die!"

His trusty companion, Ralph Redgore, tried to hold him back, but all in vain.

Connover Bennett laid down the copy of _The Eureka Patrol in South Africa_, by Captain Dauntless, U. S. A., and dragging himself from the hammock, entered the house. He was breathing hard as if he had been running.

The bungalow was deserted save for the maid in the kitchen, and Connover was monarch of all he surveyed.

Quietly, he crept upstairs and into the "den." In the corner among his father's fishing-rods and golf sticks stood a rifle. It was forbidden to Connover, but unfortunately _The Eureka Patrol in South Africa_ dealt not with scout honor and made no mention of the Seventh Law, which stipulates that a "scout shall be obedient." Nor had Captain Dauntless thought it worth while to mention Law One, which says that a "scout's honor is to be trusted."

Connover glanced up and down the road from the bay-window to see if by any chance his mother might have forgotten something and was coming back. Rea.s.sured in this particular, he took up the rifle and, standing before the large pier-gla.s.s, he adopted a heroic att.i.tude of aiming.

Then he looked from the window down into the woods through which he could see little glints of the river.

It was not glints of Salmon River that he saw, but the "Deadly Mora.s.s River" of South Africa; the woods were not quiet, fragrant pine woods where the First Bridgeboro Troop of real scouts was encamped, but the deadly mora.s.s itself; and he was not Connover Bennett, but _Dan Dreadnought_, and this was the trusty rifle with which he would--

He looked again from the bay-window to make sure that his mother was not in sight. Then the creaking of a door startled him and he laid the rifle down. It was queer how every little sound startled him. He unfastened his negligee shirt at the neck and, standing before the pier-gla.s.s, arranged it as much like the frontispiece pictures of _Dan Dreadnought_ as possible. There was a curious fluttering feeling in his chest all the while which annoyed him. It did not seem to jibe at all with the heroic program.

Yes, this was the rifle with which he would...

He tiptoed to the stairs and listened, "Molly, is that you?" he called.

"Yes, Master Connover."

"All right, I just wanted to know."

He went back into the room and opening the drawer of the desk, took out a box of cartridges, extracted several and put them in his pocket. When he replaced the box he forgot which end of the drawer he had taken it from and was in a quandary where to place it. He took up the rifle again, then laid it down and the thud of its b.u.t.t on the floor startled him. What a lot of noise it seemed to make!

It was oily and his hands were oily from it and left an oily stain on the felt covering of the desk. He placed the inkstand over it, and all the while he felt very strange and nervous; trembling almost as he planned his exploit.

Then he took the rifle and got behind the revolving-chair, and rested the weapon on it. It was not a very realistic jungle, but...

He saw the Zulus just as plain as day; and he saw himself, or rather, _Dan Dreadnought_, in that big pier-gla.s.s.

He knew the gun was not loaded and he pulled the trigger, which clicked.

The click seemed louder than he thought it would and he listened in suspense. No sound.

Yes, this was the rifle with which he would... Casting one more cautious look from the window, he shouldered the weapon and hurried quietly down the stairs.

"What time did my mother say she'd be back?" he called.

"Not till dinnertime, Master Connover." He crossed the road, and headed through the woods toward the river. Once in the woods, the spirit of freedom took possession of him and he indulged in the luxury of shooting the gun at nothing at all.

"'I am a scout,'" he said, "'and can handle a hundred savages!'"

Whereas, in plain fact, he couldn't have been much farther from being a scout.

Arrested by a flutter in one of the trees, he leveled his gun again and by the luck of a random shot, brought down a robin. The sight of its quivering body and loose-hanging neck as it lay at his feet almost frightened him for he had never killed a red-blooded creature before, and he felt now a sense of heavy guilt. He was afraid to pick the robin up and when he finally did so and saw how wilted and drooping the thing was and how aimlessly the head swung he was seized with a little panic of fear and dropped it suddenly.

But it was absolutely necessary that he should carry out his program of encountering the Zulu's. As long as he was not really going to kill anyone it was all right. He was at least going to have the thrill of that experience. Now that he had killed the robin, he found that in actual practice he preferred a sort of modified Dan Dreadnought to the real one; and he could piece out with his imagination the more harrowing features of Captain Dauntless's book.

So he pictured a dugout drawn up on the sh.o.r.e of the river which he was approaching; and he pictured a group of howling Zulus on the farther sh.o.r.e. He heard ikes and the splashing of water, and it fitted well with his heroic scheme to imagine these sounds were made by the howling Zulus, though in reality he knew, or thought he knew, that they came from farther up the river near the scouts' camp.

He was within a few yards of the river now and pushing through the thick growth which bordered it.

His imagination was working like machinery, and had all the features and details of his daring act, pat.

"'I am a boy scout,'" he repeated, "'and can handle----'"

He raised his rifle and, aiming with dramatic gesture at nothing in particular, pulled the trigger, then dashed forward in a perfect frenzy of adventurous delight to the sh.o.r.e.

On the other side of the river the O'Connor boy was leaning back in the arms of one of a group of people, the boys in the boat were mending their efforts to get to sh.o.r.e; someone said, "There he is!" and then all eyes were upon him and Connover Bennett dropped the gun, reeled against a tree and stood staring as he realized that he was nearer to being the real _Dan Dreadnought_ than he had dreamed.

A cold sweat broke out upon his brow, his first impulse was to run with all his might and main; but he could not stir.

CHAPTER XVII

THE REAL THING

It happened that same afternoon that Tom and Roy went up to Salmon River Village to purchase some provisions for camp. The two boys were on their way back from the village and were discussing an interesting discovery which they had made while there. This was a wireless apparatus which the storekeeper had shown them with great pride for he was one of that numerous cla.s.s of wireless amateurs whose a?rials may be seen stretching from tree-tops to house-tops these days, and since it was his pleasure to sit into the wee hours of the morning with his head receivers on, eavesdropping on the whole world, the two scouts had agreed to exchange messages with him.

"Every man you meet seems to take some interest in the scouts," said Tom, in allusion to the cordial storekeeper.

"Sure, even Mr. Temple's got a light case of it."

"_Not much_!" said Tom.

"Oh, yes he has; he's got what Doc Carson calls a pa.s.sive case. Doesn't it beat all how Doc gets onto this medical talk? Did you hear that one he sprang the other night about a 'superficial abrasion'? Cracky, it nearly knocked me over!"