That urged the scouts to greater endeavor, and finally Julie broke into a tiny clearing of about three feet across, and saw a little grey rabbit, which had been caught in an old mesh-wire trap set by some one long before and forgotten.
"Oh, you poor little creature!" cried Julie, falling upon her knees to rescue the soft little thing.
"Is it alive, Jule?" asked a chorus of anxious voices.
"Yes, but it is awfully afraid of me. I can't do anything for it."
"Maybe it will bite you do be careful, Jule!" called Amy, deliciously thrilled at this fearful risk her friend was taking.
"Bite!" scorned Julie. "It's starved, and too weak to even nibble."
"Wait, Julie! Let me throw my hat over it so it won't see what we are doing. Then it won't feel so frightened. Remember the 'Boulder' we all saw, and when it moved we had a panic? Well, our sense of sight was all that caused that fear. It is the same now what the rabbit doesn't see it won't fear," explained Mrs. Vernon.
While it was hidden under the broad-brimmed scout hat, the rabbit was not aware of the willing rescuers, and soon Julie had the snare open, and Mrs. Vernon held the little creature in her hat.
"Shall we let it go now?" asked some of the girls.
"It may have an injured leg where the trap caught it. I think we will carry it home and feed it well, and then if it is all right, it can run away. It is sure to be caught by some larger animal if it is unable to jump or run," said the Captain.
"This will make a dandy story to write down in our record book, Verny, won't it?" asked Ruth, eagerly.
"Yes, but it will also show how inexperienced we are
in wildwood sounds, to mistake the rabbit's cry for a child's wail."
"But it did sound exactly like a baby, there's no denying that!" exclaimed Julie, frowning as she realized how they all were caught napping.
"This reminds me of a story Alec told us yesterday when we were waiting at the campfire for you lost scouts," said Hester. "He and his Troop went on a three days' hike in the country last year, and at night they found an old abandoned barn where they decided to sleep. The floor was in good condition, with a bit of hay piled up in one corner. But the loft overhead was in such bad condition that in many places the flooring was broken down completely. As there was no ladder or stairway to reach it, the boys concluded there was no use in examining it no one would be up there!
"So they stretched out on the hay and were soon sound asleep. But some time after that no one knew how long they had been asleep Ned nudged Alec and whispered: 'Some one's in the loft!'
"Alec sat up and listened. Sure enough, he could hear a man snoring as distinctly as he could hear Dick breathe.
"So he roused the other scouts, and they very quietly crept over to the side where they could get a grip on the joists to help themselves up. Each scout had armed himself in some way. One had an old pitchfork with but one prong. Another had a rake handle, one found the curved handle of a feed-grinder, and so on.
"When they got to the shaky, decayed floor above, the snoring had stopped, so they knew the tramp was aware of their approach. They had to be awfully careful, too, so as not to fall through any of the broken places in the floor. But they each had their lanterns, and used them before they took a step. Alec went first, and threw the light back and forth to avoid a sudden surprise from the tramp.
"'There's something moving over on that pile of old burlap sacks!' whispered Alec, the instant he saw a creeping movement there.
"Several of the boys then jumped and began beating up the sacks violently. But as suddenly, a pair of wings flapped up in their faces with a whirring sound, and a barn-owl began to screech madly as she rose and flew through a hole in the roof."
Hester laughed as she reached this part of the story, and all the scouts joined in. Julie, who had not heard it before, said:
"Thank goodness, we girls are not the only ones to be taken in, then!"
"Alec said there are lots of wild creatures that make sounds exactly like human beings. And that owl snored just like a man."
By this time they had regained the trail, and Mrs. Vernon tenderly adjusted the trembling rabbit. The hat so covered it that it could curl inside and not see a thing to cause it any fear, and thus it was carried along, to be cared for later on and then regain its freedom.
The scouts found many interesting subjects for discussion along the trail, until they reached a wide shallow stream that came down the steep mountainside and emptied into the river.
"It's not on the map, and it sure cuts off further progress," said the Captain.
"It's shallow we can wade it," suggested Julie.
"Let us go upstream and find a narrow ford, or some rocks that we can cross on," added Mrs. Vernon.
They went up on the near side of the stream, but the banks became so rocky and impassable that they found it was useless to try to climb them. The scenery was wild and wonderful, so several good pictures were taken of the tumbling waters and rocks, and then they all retraced their steps.