him lay
something down over here. Let me look and find out. Whoop! here she
is, boys! That's what I call great luck. Seth, suppose you see if you can
drop the loop over his head."
"Pe sure as you don't shoke me, poys!" called out the dangling object
below, in a manner to prove that he heard all they said.
"Get it over his feet, Seth; then we can yank him up. He won't mind it
for a short time. Some of his brains will have a chance to run back into
his head that way," suggested Eben.
"Make quick, blease!" wailed the unhappy scout, who was growing
dizzy with all this dangling and turning around. "I hears me der cloth
gifing away; or else dot dree, it pe going to preak py der roots. Hurry
oop! Get a moof on you, somepody. Subbose I want to make some
squash pie down on der rocks?"
But Seth was already hard at work trying to coax that noose at the end
of the dangling rope to fall over the uptilted legs of the unfortunate
scout.
"Keep still, you!" he shouted, when for the third time his angling
operations were upset by some unexpected movement on the part of the
struggling boy. "Think I c'n lasso a bucking broncho? Hold your feet up,
and together, if you want me to get you! There, that's the way.
Whoop-la!"
His last shout announced sudden success.
Indeed, the loop of the handy rope had dropped over the feet of
Noodles, and was speedily drawn tight by a quick movement on the
part of the operator.
The balance of the boys laid hold on the rope and every one felt that the
tension was relieved--that is, every one but Noodles, and when he
found himself being drawn upward, with his head down, he probably
thought things had tightened considerably.
As the obliging branch saw fit to let go its tenacious grip about that
time, of course Noodles was soon drawn in triumph over the edge of
the shale, protesting more or less because he was scratched in several
places by sharp edges of the rock.
"Hurrah for Scout tactics; they count every time!" exclaimed Eben.
Fritz was unusually solicitous, and asked Noodles several times
whether he had received any serious hurt as a result of his strange
experience. The German boy felt himself all over, grunting several
times while so doing. But in the end he announced that he believed he
was all there, and beyond a few minor bruises none the worse for his
adventure.
"Put you pet me I haf a narrow escape," he added, seriously. "How far
must I haf dropped if dot pully oldt khaki cloth gives vay?"
"All of twenty feet, Noodles," declared Andy.
"Dwenty feets! Ach, petter say dree dimes dot," asserted Noodles. "I
gives you my word, poys, dot it seemed I was on der top of a mountain,
mit a fine chance my pones to preak on der rocks pelow. Pelieve me, I
am glad to pe here."
"I hope you don't think I did that on purpose, Noodles?" asked Fritz,
contritely.
The other turned a quizzical look upon him.
"Tid for tad, Fritz," he remarked, "iff I had nodt peen drying to choke
mit you meepy I might nodt haf met with sooch a shock. Petter luck
nexdt time, hey?"
"I don't know just what you mean, Noodles, blest if I do," remarked
Fritz, with a puzzled look on his face, "but I agree with all you say.
This practical joke business sometimes turns out different from what
you expect. I'm sure done with it."
But then, all boys say that, especially after they have had a little fright;
only to go back to their old way of doing things when the shock has
worn off. And the chances were that Fritz was far from being cured of
his habits.
"How lucky we had the rope along," ventured Jotham, who was coiling
up the article in question at the time he spoke.
"I always said it would come in handy," remarked Eben, quickly and
proudly, "and if you stop to think of the many uses we've put that same
rope to, from yanking a fellow out of a quicksand, to tying up a bad
man who had escaped from the penitentiary, you'll all agree with me
that it's been one of the best investments we ever made."
"That's right," echoed Seth, always willing to give credit where such
was due.
"Ketch me ever going into the woods without my rope," declared Eben.
"Well, do we make that start for home and mother and supper right now;
or are we going to stay here till she gets plumb dark?" asked Fritz,
impatiently, moving his feet out of the way every
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the
Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.