The Boy Scouts First Camp Fire | Page 4

me alive!" came in a muffled voice from
some unknown place near by.
Thrilled by the words, and half expecting to see some savage monster
struggling with their fellow scout, the six boys stared about them in
dismay. Not the first sign could they see of either Bumpus or the
attacking beast.
"Where under the sun can he be?" exclaimed Giraffe.

"Perhaps it was a big eagle, or a hawk; and it's carried him up into a
tree!" suggested Step-hen; and strange to say, no one even laughed at
the silly idea.
"Allan has guessed it!" cried Smithy, who had chanced to see a little
smile chase across the face of the boy from Maine.
"Where is he, then?" asked Thad, wheeling on his second in command.
"I think if you move over to that big old tree-trunk yonder, you'll find
Bumpus, sir," replied Allan, making the scout salute; for he believed in
carrying out the rules of the organization when on duty, as at present.
"But we can see the whole thing from top to bottom, and never a sign
of Bumpus anywhere?" remarked Step-hen, doubtfully.
"And he ain't such a little chap that he could hide under the bark of a
dead tree either," remarked Davy, scornfully.
Thad was already advancing upon the stump in question. Perhaps he
had caught the hidden meaning to Allan's words; and could give a
pretty good guess as to why the other smiled.
"Surround the stump, scouts!" he ordered; and the boys immediately
started to obey, holding their stout staves in readiness to resist an attack,
if so be some unseen wild beast made a sudden leap.
"Say, it's all a mistake; there ain't a blessed thing here!" grumbled
Step-hen, when, after reaching a point on the other side of the immense
stump, he could see the entire surface of its trunk, some three feet
through, possibly more.
"Yes there is; and I want to get out the worst kind! Ouch! they're biting
me like hot cakes! I'm getting poisoned, I know I am! Oh! dear!" came
the muffled voice that they knew belonged to Bumpus.
"Whoop! he's in the old stump!" shouted Davy Jones, starting to grin
broadly.

"That's right," replied the unseen Bumpus; "but please don't stand there,
and guy a poor feller, boys. Do something for me before I'm a goner.
Oh! how they are going for me though! I'm beginning to swell up like
anything! Be quick, Thad, Allan, and the rest of you!"
"But what's biting him, do you think?" said Step-hen, looking serious
again. "Can it be rattlesnakes, Thad, or bumble-bees?"
"Hardly," replied the other, readily; "I'd expect rather that it was ants.
What do you say, Allan?"
"No doubt of it," came from the boy who had practical experience in
the ways of the woods. "They like to make their nests in old dead trees.
But ask Bumpus."
Evidently the boy who was imprisoned inside the stump of the forest
monarch must have heard every word spoken by his mates, without, for
he instantly called aloud:
"Yes, that's what it is, ants, and they are fierce, I tell you. I'm covered
all over right now with lumps as big as hickory nuts. Be quick, boys,
and get me out!"
"How under the sun d'ye think he ever got inside that stump; for the life
of me I can't see any hole down here?" Davy asked, wonderingly.
"He must have fallen in through the top," replied Allan, casting a quick
glance up toward the place in question. "The old thing's hollow, and it
gave way under Bumpus."
"Sure, that's the way!" called out the unseen sufferer, eagerly. "Get a
move on you, fellers. I want to breathe some fresh air, and take some
stuff for all these poisonous bites."
"But what were you doing up that stump?" demanded Step-hen; while
Thad and Allan were examining the remains of the once proud tree, as
if to decide what ought to be done, in order to rescue the unlucky scout.

"I know what ails Bumpus," cried Davy; "his old curiosity bump was
working overtime, and coaxed him to climb up there."
"Well, how'd I know the old thing'd give in with me like that?"
protested the other, faintly. "I saw a bee going in a hole up there; and
you know I'm just crazy to find a wild bees' nest in a hollow tree,
because I dote on honey. But I was mistaken about that; it's ants biting
me; because I caught one on my cheek after he'd taken a nibble. Oh!
ain't they making me a sight, though? Where's Thad? I hope you don't
just go on, and leave me here to die, boys. Please get busy!"
"Just hold up a little, Bumpus," called Thad, cheerily. "We haven't any
rope