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Essentials of Medical Genomics Second Edition Stuart M.
Brown(Auth.) Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Stuart M. Brown(auth.)
ISBN(s): 9780470336168, 0470336161
File Details: PDF, 15.18 MB
Year: 2008
Language: english
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

Essentials of
Medical Genomics
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

Essentials of
Medical Genomics
Second Edition

Stuart M. Brown
NYU School of Medicine
New York, NY

with Contributions by

John G. Hay and Harry Ostrer

A John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Publication

fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

Copyright

C 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wiley-Blackwell is an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley’s
global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Essentials of medical genomics / Stuart M. Brown ; with contributions
by John G. Hay and Harry Ostrer.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-14019-2 (cloth)
1. Medical genetics. 2. Genomics.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

Contents

Preface, xi

1 Introduction to Molecular Genetics, 1

The Principles of Inheritance, 3
Genes Are Made of DNA, 10
DNA Structure, 12
The Central Dogma, 18
References, 29

2 Molecular Biology Technology, 31

Cut, Copy, and Paste, 31
Restriction Enzymes, 31
DNA Cloning Is Copying, 33
PCR Is Cloning without the Bacteria, 37
DNA Sequencing, 40
References, 50

3 Genome Databases, 53
Genome Sequencing, 53
Entrez, 55
BLAST, 58
Genome Annotation, 59
Genome Browser, 62
Human Genetic Diseases, 66
A System for Naming Genes, 68
Model Organisms (Comparative Genomics), 69

v
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

vi Contents

Sequencing Other Genomes, 74

References, 77

4 Bioinformatics Tools, 79
Patterns and Tools, 79
Sequence Comparison, 82
Multiple Alignment, 86
Pattern Finding, 88
Phylogenetics, 94
Biotechnology Exercise, 97
References, 101
5 Human Genetic Variation, 103
Mutation, 103
Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms, 107
Linkage, 110
Multigene Diseases, 112
Genetic Testing, 112
SNP Chips, 114
The HapMap Project, 115
Research Uses of SNP Markers, 119
Ethnicity and Genome Diversity, 120
References, 124

6 Genetic Testing for the Practitioner, 127

Harry Ostrer
Clinical Applications of Genetic Testing, 128
Methods of Genetic Testing, 131
Adequacy of Genetic Testing, 136
Informed Consent, 137
Genetic Counseling, 137
Clinical Vignettes, 138
References, 140

7 Gene Therapy, 143

John G. Hay
Historical Perspective, 143
Strategies of Gene Therapy, 144
DNA Elements for Gene Expression, 145
Gene Delivery Systems, 146
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Contents vii

Targeting Gene Delivery, 160

Formative Years and Initial Clinical
Approaches, 167
The Problems, 175
The Future, 177
References, 177

8 Microarrays, 179
Spotting versus Synthesis on the Chip, 182
Other Types of Arrays, 187
Differential Gene Expression, 188
Error and Reliability, 195
Evolutionary Perspectives, 197
References, 198

9 Analysis of Microarray Data, 201

Experimental Design, 202
Data Analysis Workflow, 205
Functional Analysis, 215
Validation, 218
References, 220

10 Pharmacogenomics and Toxicogenomics, 223

Pharmacogenomics, 223
Environmental Chemicals, 229
Toxicogenomics for Drug Development, 231
References, 235

11 Clinical Research Informatics, 237

Clinical Databases, 237
Clinical Trials Management, 240
Data Standards and Ontologies, 242
Tissue Banks, 246
Application to Medical Practice, 248
References, 249

12 RNA Interference and MicroRNAs, 251

Antisense RNA, 252
RNA Interference, 253
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

viii Contents

Ribozymes, 268
References, 268

13 Alternative Splicing, 271

Exon Arrays, 280
Medical Applications of Alternative
Splicing, 282
References, 285

14 Genome Tiling Chips, 287

Genome Chips, 287
Resequencing Chips, 288
Whole-Genome Transcription Profiling, 289
ChIP-chip, 293
ArrayCGH, 295
References, 298

15 Cancer Genomics, 301

Understanding Cancer Genomics, 301
Copy Number Mutations, 304
Gene Expression Signatures, 309
Cancer Genome Atlas, 313
References, 316

16 Proteomics, 319
Protein Modifications, 320
Quantitative Approaches, 321
Biomarkers, 325
Protein Databases, 330
Protein–Protein Interactions, 331
DNA-Binding Proteins, 334
Structural Proteomics, 335
Drug Targets, 337
References, 337

17 Consumer Genomics and Genealogy, 339

Genealogy, 339
Nutrigenomics, 347
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Contents ix

Privacy Concerns, 352

References, 353

18 The Ethics of Medical Genomics, 355

Eugenics, 356
Human Genome Diversity Project and
Population Genetics, 360
Genetic Discrimination, 366
Impact on Physicians and Researchers, 369
Clinical Research, 374
References, 376

Appendix: Genetic Testing: Scientific

Background for Policymakers, 379
Amanda K. Sarata

Glossary, 397
Index, 419
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

Preface

Medical genomics might seem like a rather specialized topic, of

interest to just a few researchers and genetics experts, but I be-
lieve that it is a technology that is already having an impact on
the practice of most primary care physicians and biomedical re-
searchers. Genetic tests are now in use as a diagnostic aid for
various types of cancer and will soon be commonplace as an aid
to prescribing psychiatric drugs. Some drugs are currently under
development that will require a genetic test before they can be
prescribed. Consumer genomics is a new development that is
disrupting the usual flow of health care information. A patient
may arrive at his or her physician’s office armed with a detailed
report on their allelic status for thousands of genetic markers
that may or may not be relevant to each health care decision.
Therefore, I have tried to make this book as accessible and com-
prehensive as possible in order to provide a working knowledge
of medical genomics both for biomedical professionals and con-
sumers of health care.
However, writing a book about genomics is truly a Sisyphean
task, since the goal of reporting current technologies is constantly
receding. The book writing process takes about a year from the
initial outline to page proofs, and the past year has seen excep-
tionally rapid progress in genomics technologies. While I was
paying attention to genome tiling, copy number, and SNP chips,
the revolution in Next-Generation DNA sequencing has snuck
xi
fm JWBK238/Brown September 4, 2008 11:27 Char Count=

xii Preface

up on me. High-throughput DNA sequencing is the kind of dis-

ruptive technology that enables new kinds of scientific research.
The cost of sequencing a whole human genome has dropped
from several million to about $100,000, and it is likely to be cut
by tenfold again by 2009. New and unexpected applications for
sequencing technology are being developed almost daily.
I have included as an appendix to this book, a short re-
port written by Amanda K. Sarata of the Congressional Research
Service. It is valuable not just because this report provides a nice
summary of the science that underlies genetic testing and the
related public policy issues, but because it also demonstrates the
level of genetics information to which our Congressional Repre-
sentatives have been exposed.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was
finally passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Presi-
dent Bush in May of 2008. We all await the many social ramifica-
tions of this legislation.

STUART M. BROWN
New York
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

FIGURE 1-1. Human karyotype—SKY image: available at http://www.

accessexcellence.org/AB/GG/sky.gif; credit to Chroma Technology
Inc.

Anaphase

FIGURE 1-4. Anaphase chromosomes in a dividing lily cell.

cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

A a A a

b b
B B

FIGURE 1-6. Schematic diagram of a single crossover between a chromosome

with A–B alleles and a chromosome with a–b alleles to form A–b and a–B
recombinant chromosomes.

A a A a

B b B b

C c c C

FIGURE 1-7. Genes A and B are tightly linked so that they are not separated
by recombination, but gene C is farther away. After recombination occurs in
some meiotic cells, gametes are produced with allele combinations ABC, abc,
ABc, and abC.
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

7153

0
0 193

FIGURE 2-10. A fluorescent sequencing gel produced on an ABI automated

sequencer. Each lane contains all 4 bases (in different colors).
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

Each dideoxy chain-terminator All your dideoxy chain-terminator

reaction is loaded into a separate reactions are loaded into the
sample well. same sample well.

G A T C

G
T 67
T
G
C
C
T C 60
C
C
T
C
G
A
C
T
C A 50
A
C
T
A
A
C
T
A
A
A
G 40
C
A
C
G
A
A
C
T
C
A 30
A
A
C
A
C
T
C
C 20
T
CT
C
T
T
C
G
A
C
CT 10
T
T
G
A
C
A
C
T

(a) (b)

10 20 30 40 50 60

(c)

FIGURE 2-11. ABI fluorescent sequencers allow all 4 bases to be sequenced in

a single gel lane and feature automated data collection.
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

FIGURE 3-2. Links between databases in the Entrez system.

FIGURE 4-1. With computers, it’s easy to find patterns, even if they are not
really there. These letters can be found in butterfly wings. (Kjell B. Sandred,
Butterfly Alphabet, Inc.,Washington, DC.)
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

+ =

FIGURE 8-2. Two fluorescent images of a microarray with red and green false
colors combined to show relative gene expression in two samples.

FIGURE 8-7. An example of a spotted cDNA array hybridized with a mixture

of two probes with different fluorescent labels and visualized as a red-green
false-color image.
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

Control M1 2hr M1 12hr LTR6 2hr

Cell type M1 LTR6 M1 LTR6 M1 LTR6
Time (hr) 12 2 6 9 12 2 2 6 9 12 12 2 6 9 12

FIGURE 9-5. A two-way clustered heatmap ofmicroarray data as produced

by Cluster and TreeView software by Mike Eisen.

FIGURE 12-1. Petunia flower with variegated pattern caused by cosuppres-

sion of chalcone synthase (pigment) gene by RNA interference (photo by R.
Jorgensen, reprinted with permission).
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

CPSF RNA Pol II advances

CstF
TTATTT

Transcribed pre-mRNA

CPSF and CstF transfer to the

AAUAAA sequence as it is
transcribed.

A
AA
AA U

PAP, PAB and cleavage factors

CstF and cleavage factors

Original 3′ RNA cleaved off and
~10 A nucleotides (nts) added

AAUAAA 35 nts AAAAAAAAAA

Additional PAB

CPSF
Further A nts added untill there are
50-250 (depending on organism)

AAUAAA 35 nts AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

PAB acts as a ‘molecular ruler’ for

poly A tail length.

FIGURE 13-2. Addition of the polyA tail is initiated by recognition of

AAUAAA signal sequence by cleavage factors. Then polyadenylate polymerase
(PAP) adds adenosine residues to form a polyA tail 50–250 bases long.
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

FIGURE 13-8. Affymetrix expression probes (HG-U133 Plus 2) and Exon

probes (HuEx-1.0) for the human BRCA2 gene. The diagram also shows three
different predictions for the transcription start site and the RefSeq gene model.

FIGURE 14-3. A portion of the data display for a whole-genome tiling array.

FIGURE 14-5. A display of ArrayCGH data spanning the entire human

genome.
cp JWBK238/Brown September 2, 2008 21:8 Char Count=

FIGURE 15-1. Hybridization of fluorescent tagged genomic DNA from nor-

mal (green) and tumor (red) cells to a chromosome squash from a normal cell.
Green regions represent deletions and red regions, amplifications.

FIGURE 15-3. SKY spectral karyotyping allows for the identification of

translocations between different chromosomes.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 CHAPTER IV
UNEXPECTED VISITORS

“All right, dad; I’m up!”

That was Perk, who, aroused so suddenly by the racket doubtless
imagined himself at home in his own bed, with his father rapping on
the wall when the son indulged in his favorite habit of oversleeping
mornings.
Elmer, Amos and Wee Willie were already on deck, having jumped
to their feet in a hurry. The gruff voice seemed to be one invested
with some degree of authority; it struck them all “in a heap,” as the
tall chum afterwards described the sudden awakening.
Again came that loud thumping on the quivering door.
“Hurry up and open, do you hear?” rasped the voice, now with a
touch of anger in the tones. “Don’t think you can escape, because
we’ve got you cornered like a rat. Better be sensible, and go back
with us!”
“Oh! my stars! who is it, and what does he mean?” gasped Perk,
realizing at last that things were quite different from what he had at
first imagined.
Perk was really responsible for the fastened door. He had in his
timidity pictured the frowsy tramp creeping back when they were all
fast asleep, and perhaps almost cleaning out their limited supply of
provisions, thus bringing the glorious camping trip to an untimely
end; since four healthy boys could not be expected to stay up in the
woods without sufficient “grub” to keep the wolf from the door.
So he had managed to make a shift with a piece of clothes-line
(which was likely to be searched for in vain at home when next
washday came along), securing the door so that it could not be
opened from without unless by a display of extreme violence.
 Elmer was by now across the cabin. He touched the planks of
which the door was composed, to find them still quivering under the
impact of the unknown party’s knuckles.
“Wait a minute, and we’ll open up; the door is fastened, don’t you
understand? Hold your horses, Mister; I’m undoing it right now!” he
called out.
Immediately he caught the sound of voices again just beyond.
Evidently the men, whoever they might turn out to be, seemed
astonished at something, perhaps disappointed in the bargain. Once
more there also came to the ears of the boys the eager whining of a
dog. Elmer imagined that this animal might have been partly
responsible for the visit of these midnight prowlers.
Perk gave a low cry as the door suddenly swung back under
Elmer’s push. The moon was shining brightly, and standing there in
its mellow glow were two stalwart figures and a hound. The first
thing Perk noticed was the fact that both men were garbed in some
sort of uniform, with caps that bordered on the military.
Meanwhile the two men were bending forward and looking at the
youthful group that filled the doorway of the cabin. One of them
gave a grunt, and followed this with a scornful laugh that grated on
the nerves like a file.
“There you are, Collins, with all your being so sure we’d find the
tricky chap located here, just because his trail headed this way. Sold
again, Elihu, and off the scent once more! Now perhaps you’ll pay
some attention to my plan of campaign, since yours has petered out
so flat.”
The other man continued to stare at Elmer and his mates.
“Who are you chaps anyway, and what’re you doing here?” he
demanded.
“Oh! that’s easily explained,” said the Kitching boy cheerily. “We
all belong in Chester, you see, and make up the Camp Fire Boys’
Club. Just now we are on one of our regular trips to the woods for
sport, and to wind up the summer vacation. My name is Elmer
Kitching, this is Amos Codling; the tall chum is a son of Caleb
Winkleman who owns the classy motion picture theater in our town;
and the last boy is Perk—his dad is an engineer on the B. & S.
Railroad. Might I ask who you are, and what you expected to find
here in this shack at Old Cabin Bend of the Beaverkill?”
“That’s a civil question, youngster, and since you’ve been so
obliging, I don’t mind answering it. Me and my mate Andrews here
are guards over at the big State Asylum for the Insane. A few days
ago one of the inmates managed to escape, and we’ve been
searching the whole countryside for him ever since. Our hound here
found and lost his trail again and again in the queerest way ever.
The last time he ran it out the fugitive was heading this way.
Somehow I got a notion he must know about this old cabin here,
and was making for it. You see I originally came from Crawford
Notch, and knew all about the deserted cabin up here. So I
influenced my pal to drop around.”
“Yes,” broke in the man who had been called Andrews, “and when
we caught the glimmer of a dying fire through the trees, Collins here
was dead sure we’d treed our coon at last. But the game is all off
again, it seems; and we can start in looking where we left off;
warning the farmers as we go to keep their eyes peeled for a clever
chap who’ll hoodwink them with his blarney, if he gets half a
chance.”
“Thank you for telling us,” said Elmer; “and in return let me say
that when we struck this cabin some time after moonrise to-night,
there was an odor of stale tobacco smoke hanging around inside.
One of my chums here also declared he glimpsed some sort of figure
bending over like an animal, and getting out of sight in a hurry!”
At hearing this the men both uttered exclamations that told of
renewed interest. “That sounds interesting,” said Collins, warmly. “It
might be we can pick up a fresh trail around these diggings. About
where was it he was seen?”
“Perk, step up here,” said Elmer; “can you point out the spot for
the gentlemen?”
“Sure thing, Elmer. There, over to the left yonder, see the tree
that seems to bend over toward the southeast—it was right under
that same I sighted a moving figure; but it flashed out of sight
before I could rub my eyes twice to make sure.”
“That’s aplenty, Perk, and thank you,” said Collins, who seemed a
pretty decent sort of a chap after all, though he must have been
terribly disappointed when his theory turned to bitter fruit; his
comrade’s jeers too had not added to his enjoyment of the situation.
“Let’s try the dog around that place,” immediately suggested the
other man, plainly full of action. “If it’s our bird, Jock’ll soon give
tongue, and lead us off right smart.”
“Our only play, I reckon,” agreed Collins. “So good night, boys;
hope you have a bully time of it in camp; used to do that sort of
thing myself years back, and know what it means. We’ll soon be
clearing out of this region, hit or miss, so you won’t be pestered with
our hound barking for long.”
Elmer and the others saw them hurry away with mingled
emotions. Despite the fact that the night air seemed pretty chilly,
and their garments exceedingly thin, they continued to huddle in the
open doorway, listening and watching.
Even Perk refused to go back again to his snug blanket so long as
the other three remained there; and once Elmer heard him saying
softly, as though to himself:
“Poor thing, just to think of him out of his mind, and wandering at
large in these big woods, hungry, and without even a blanket to hug
nights. I almost wish he’d crept in, and cribbed that last loaf of
bread we fetched along.”
That was Perk all over, full of feeling for any one apt to be
suffering; and it was this spirit of wanting to be of service that
endeared him to the hearts of all his boy friends in Chester.
“There’s the hound picking up!” snapped Amos, suddenly.
“But you want to notice there isn’t a note of eagerness in his
baying,” added Elmer, quickly. “If he’s found any sort of scent at all,
it isn’t what he’s been searching for. You can even detect a sort of
disappointed sound about his mournful notes.”
“That’s what!” echoed Wee Willie. “Either the lunatic has been too
smart for the trackers, or else it wasn’t him after all, and the dog
knows it.”
Elmer shut the door again, though only with an effort, owing to its
really dilapidated condition. And Perk, as if in duty bound, proceeded
again to adjust his rope guard. It had served them one good turn
already, he figured; because had those two guards burst suddenly in
upon them, their consternation must have been many times
aggravated.
“A nice state of affairs, I must say!” Wee Willie was grumbling.
“We came all the way up here to camp in solitude and peace, and
now see what we’re up against! Gee whiz! can you beat it?”
“No, but mebbe we’d better beat it for home,” Perk faintly
suggested, as if even the thought gave him fresh pain.
“Here, none of that, Perk,” sternly rebuked Elmer. “We’re not the
kind to be frightened off by such a silly little thing as that. We’ll stick
it out, no matter what comes along!”
“Hear! hear!” came from Wee Willie; while Amos too added his
voice to the chorus, and even Perk hastened to say:
“Oh! I didn’t really mean it, I assure you, boys, and you can
believe me. I’ll hang on as long as the next one, no matter if the
whole asylum breaks loose.”
 CHAPTER V
ALL BUSY AS BEAVERS

It was some time before the boys could settle down again to
sleep. Perk often believed he could catch a distant yap from the
ranging hound, and it never failed to give him a thrill. The beast had
seemed both big, and inclined to be savage; and Perk could not help
shuddering to think of his getting loose from his leash and coming
on the cringing lunatic somewhere in the lonely timber.
But finally even the anxious Perk succumbed, and when he again
opened his eyes it was to find that daylight had come, with Elmer
outside starting up the fire, and some one else rattling the tin pans,
as if getting ready for a jolly breakfast.
As that was encroaching on his private preserves, Perk hastened
to bob up and assure the others he would soon be on deck,
prepared to make a mess of his savory “flapjacks,” as he had
solemnly promised to do the very first morning in camp.
Soon every one was busily engaged, for there was bound to be
“heaps” of work laid out for that wonderful day. Amos was
examining the dilapidated roof of the cabin and settling just how
they should go about rendering it waterproof; Wee Willie beat some
batter in a tin vessel, under the eye of the self-constituted master of
ceremonies (for Perk had actually donned a snow-white peakless
cap, fashioned after a regular chef’s headgear, doubtless meaning to
have no dispute regarding his recognized rights to the exalted title);
while Elmer had taken to looking around outside, especially over in
the quarter of the leaning birch tree.
He came over to the fire a little later, and Wee Willie at once
detected indications in his face that made him suspicious.
“You’ve discovered something new, Elmer, now don’t deny it!” he
immediately asserted.
“What is it?” hastily demanded Perk.
 “Well,” said Elmer, quietly, “it’s just this; whoever that man may
be, he came back again during the night!”
This information caused all of the others to show fresh interest.
Perk was just in the act of tossing aloft his first flapjack, and in his
nervousness he actually missed connections, so that the delectable
morsel ignominiously fell into the ashes, and was thus lost.
“It wasn’t up to the mark, anyhow,” the nervous cook hastened to
say in apology; “first off the pan shouldn’t be eaten, I always claim.
But you did give me a jolt, Elmer, when you said that.”
“How do you know?” questioned Wee Willie; “run across the sign,
did you?”
“He walked completely around the cabin twice,” stated the other.
“From the indications I’d say he must have been a heap surprised to
discover that it had occupants; for I take it, he could hear some of
us breathing pretty hard.”
“Huh! needn’t all look right at me,” Wee Willie hastened to snap,
as he colored up amidst his freckles. “I made out to lie on my side
the whole live-long night, I’d take my affidavy on that. I admit that
once in a while I do snore; but that’s when I roll over on my back,
and have been gorging at supper on such things as mince pie and
other heavy stuff. Go on, Elmer!”
“I know what you are thinking,” Elmer continued; “how could I
decide that the man didn’t make those marks before we came? I’ll
tell you what proof I have right now. In the first place there isn’t
much dew in the tracks, which I reckon would indicate that the
footprints were made shortly before dawn. Am I right there, Wee
Willie? You’re well up in woodcraft, and ought to be able to say.”
“Sounds good to me,” grunted the other, wagging his head
violently in the affirmative, while a pleased expression on his thin
face told how much he felt complimented by having Elmer defer in
this fashion to his judgment.
“Well, I had another good proof,” Elmer went on to say, with one
of his reassuring smiles. “Where the tracks crossed the marks left by
Collins and his pal they overlapped; that is, this footprint broke into
the ones made by the two guards from the asylum!”
 “Splendid work, Elmer!” cried Perk, this time succeeding brilliantly
in tossing up his second flapjack, which alighted successfully in the
pan, with the browned side up. “Guess he did come prowling around
then, and like as not tried the door more’n once. Say, I’m real glad I
fastened it as well as I did.”
“What do you suppose he wanted?” queried Amos, looking even
more serious than was his habit.
“Not being a mind reader,” Elmer told him, “I couldn’t say; but to
make a stab at it I’d guess he hoped we’d gone along, and he could
have his old cabin to himself again.”
“Well, it’ll always be a big mystery who and what this chap can
be,” Wee Willie concluded. “I only hope now he knows we’re
stopping here he’ll take the hint, and keep off the grass. It’ll go
rough with any hobo we catch bothering our traps, let me tell you.
Here, put that one on this warm plate I’ve got on this flat stone
alongside the fire, Perk. It makes a beginning, and we can soon be
starting in to feed.”
“Somebody open that bottle of maple syrup,” observed the
bustling cook a little later on, as another “cart-wheel” cake went
turning over in the air, to be caught dexterously again in the pan.
“And when I get a third one ready you’d better start in eating while
they’re fresh and hot. The coffee’s done; and of course I don’t mean
to commence until somebody can spell me here.”
In good time they were doing full justice to Perk’s famous
flapjacks; which each and every camper solemnly declared when
passing up his pie-tin for more were really unequaled by anything
served at the breakfast table at home.
Of course Wee Willie presently insisted on taking Perk’s place, so
that the chef might take the edge off his own appetite; until finally
all of them declared they could not swallow another bite, and with
three cakes left over.
“For munching on between meals, if any one wants a snack,” Perk
explained, as he put them aside. “Nothing to be wasted in this camp
—that is, except perhaps the first tryout in a batch.”
 Then they commenced to do things, each one having jotted down
certain tasks that should be attended to without delay.
Elmer and Wee Willie took upon their shoulders the mending of
the cabin roof; patching up sundry apertures between the logs of
the walls, where the dried mud had long since fallen away through
the action of time and weather combined; and also renewing the
broken hinge on the cumbersome door.
Perk insisted on cleaning up the breakfast things; somehow he
loved to serve in the capacity of cook, and his mates seemed
perfectly willing to have it so, strange to say.
As for Amos, already he had his precious camera out, and
announced his intention of searching the immediate neighborhood,
in hopes of securing some unusual picture.
“I’d like above all things to find a late partridge on her nest,” he
was explaining ere he sauntered forth. “I’ve always wanted to get a
picture of the bird on her eggs, or strutting around with her chicks;
but I’m afraid it’s a heap too late in the season for such a thing to
happen.”
“As a rule the early brood is pretty well grown by now,”
commented Elmer; “still, I remember finding a nest with eggs in it as
late as this, and you might be just lucky enough. Wish you success,
Amos; and if I can help you in any way let me know.”
“Perhaps you may when I get a chance to set a camera trap at
night, so some cunning ’coon, or frisky mink, will take his own
picture. That’s my ambition, you know, Elmer, though I’m not
building my hopes too high, not wanting to be disappointed.”
“I wouldn’t stray too far away, if I were you, Amos,” hinted Wee
Willie.
“Oh! I’m a pretty fair woodsman,” insisted the other, “and I reckon
now the chances of my getting lost are small. But I’ll just wander
around the Bend here, and sort of get my bearings, as well as keep
one eye out for anything that appeals to me.”
“And keep the other on the watch for signs of that tramp, or
lunatic, Amos,” Perk insisted on warning him solicitously.
 So Amos walked away, carrying his camera along with him. Elmer
looked after him with an expression akin to concern on his young
face, which shrewd Wee Willie was quick to notice.
“Something seems to be bothering him, don’t you think, Elmer?”
the latter asked in a low tone so that Perk might not hear what he
said.
“Y-es, I’ve thought so myself lately,” admitted Elmer, slowly;
“though you remember, Amos has always been a sobersides of a
chap ever since we came to know him. There’s a sort of family
trouble weighing down on him, I reckon; something that is no one
else’s business. I’d like to comfort him if only I knew how to go
about it; but I don’t want to kick in where outsiders have no right.
But let’s change the subject, Wee Willie; I dislike talking about any
of my chums.”
They worked industriously for an hour and more, and under their
clever tactics the roof began to show decided signs of improvement.
Indeed, already one-half of its surface had been rendered
impervious to water, after the boys had succeeded in thatching it
with bark stripped from certain trees, and overlapping like the
shingles on an ordinary house.
“By the time we get through we needn’t be afraid of the heaviest
kind of a rainfall,” said Elmer, confidently; “unless it’s accompanied
by a fierce wind, such as might strip all this off in a jiffy.”
“Where’s Perk gone?” asked Wee Willie; “I thought I heard him
saying something just then, but it sounded as if he was off
somewhere.”
“I saw him prowling around in the brush yonder ten minutes ago,”
Elmer informed him. “Like as not he’s just bent on seeing if there’s a
good spot for fishing at the Bend here; because, you know Perk
dearly loves to pull in the frisky black bass, or the striped perch, as
well as eat the same.”
“Listen! wasn’t that him speaking again?” hissed Wee Willie,
stopping his task of fastening a strip of pliable bark with small round
tins, through each of which a nail could be driven, such as are used
to secure tarred paper to the roofs of chicken coops and other small
outbuildings.
“No, you don’t, not this time, you nasty thing!” Perk was heard
saying half in disgust, and with a tinge of consternation in his tones.
“Curl up again, and shake your old locust rattle as much as you
please, who cares?”
“Perk!” shouted Elmer excitedly, recognizing a certain dreadful
sound that now floated to his ears, “back away! Don’t fool with a
rattlesnake, you silly! Back water, and in a hurry!”
 CHAPTER VI
THE EVENTS OF A DAY

Both boys leaped to the ground without waiting to agree on any

particular program. They had recognized the peculiar buzz of an
angry rattlesnake, so like the shrill sound made by a locust on a hot
August day, and once heard never afterwards forgotten.
The thought of their chum taking any chances with such a
dangerous viper thrilled them, and also gave them a chill. Elmer
snatched up the first stick he could see, in which he was speedily
imitated by the other. Then they started on the run, heading directly
for the spot whence that furious whirring sound sprang.
As they went thus they heard another sort of disturbance, as
though some object might be swishing through the bushes, or else
beating the ground. Then again came the voice of Perk, uttering low
warwhoops, as though furiously engaged, while the rattle gradually
became uncertain, and finally ceased to sound.
“Take that with my compliments, and here’s another of the same
sort! Huh! lunge at a fellow who didn’t mean to bother you at all,
will you? Guess I’ve done for your hash all right, thanks to this bully
pole. Hello! fellows, just come up in time to see me clip him the last
stunner. He’s settled, don’t you think?”
Elmer breathed easier when he saw that bulky Perk had snatched
up a convenient pole, and with this had proceeded to break the
back-bone of the angry snake. It was even then squirming on the
ground, and judging from its length must be an old campaigner,
being fully three feet, which could be considered fair proportions for
a Northern specimen.
“He didn’t get to you, I hope, Perk?” was the first question Elmer
asked, at which the other grinned, and shook his head vigorously in
the negative.
 “Glad to say he didn’t, Elmer; but shucks! if he could only have
flung himself his full length, instead of only half, I believe he’d have
struck me. But I did for him, let me tell you, that’s right. Six rattles,
and a prime button to wind up with, to show for my encounter!
Whew!”
“But didn’t you hear his warning rattle?” demanded Wee Willie; “I
never knew a case where one of his stripe didn’t shake his can like
thunder before you almost stepped on him. They’re the only
honorable snake there is.”
Perk colored up, and then candidly admitted his shortcoming.
“Why, er, you see, I just must have thought it was only a locust
buzzing away like all get-out,” he confessed, in some confusion.
“Then all at once he launched himself out at me, to fall short; but
like a flash he was coiled again, and starting in to make that queer
buzzing sound once more. Oh! yes, I did get a shock, and felt as
cold as ice for a few seconds; then my dander seemed to rise, and I
just looked around for a pole, which luckily enough happened to be
handy. It knocked him silly, you can see.”
“We’ll take no chances with such a slick neighbor,” said Wee Willie,
who happened to be carrying the camp hatchet in his left hand; with
which he now proceeded to decapitate the squirming snake. “There,
be careful not to step on his head, Perk; I’ve heard of a case where
a man died by doing that, the sharp fangs running into his foot
through his soft moccasin.”
Perk was contented to obtain possession of the rattle as a
memento of his late exciting encounter. He showed some concern
over the matter.
“I certainly hope there isn’t a nest of these chaps hanging around
Log Cabin Bend,” he remarked, solicitously. “What with watching for
snakes, and escaped lunatics, I can see where we’re bound to be on
the alert every minute of our stay up here.”
“So far as that goes, it always pays to keep your eyes open when
afoot in the Tall Timber,” Elmer warned him. “You never know what
you may run up against any minute; and preparedness is the right
bower of every woodsman worthy of the name. Already we’ve run
across three instances of this—first there was that crouching cat
Amos frightened off with his flashlight; then came the mysterious
party who slipped away from the cabin at our approach; and now
this venomous snake that was lying coiled in your path, and on
which you might have trod unawares only for his generous warning.”
“This ought to be a good lesson to me, Elmer,” humbly admitted
the contrite Perk. “I realize that I’m a whole lot short on woods lore,
and all those things some of my fine pards know so much about; but
I mean to soak in a wheen of the same while we’re up here in camp.
Yes, every time I shake this rattle it’ll remind me how wofully lacking
I am in scoutcraft, and everything connected with life in the woods.”
“Everything perhaps except the splendid art of cookery, Perk,”
remarked the cunning Wee Willie, adroitly feeding the ambition of
the other to shine as an artist along such lines; “there you’ve got the
bunch of us left at the post.”
“Yes,” remarked the other, with a puff of unconscious pride, while
his eyes fairly sparkled with pleasure at receiving such a compliment,
“I suppose a fellow can’t be up head in everything; where one
excels, another fails to hit the mark. And perhaps it’s just as well
that I have a knack for the noble culinary art.”
Perk went back to camp with the others, as though for the time
being his desire to look around had received a decided setback.
“I’ll come out and put the ugly thing underground later on,” he
said; “for such trash ought to be buried deep, so as to keep the air
around the camp sweet and pure. I burned some insect powder
inside the cabin, you may have noticed, just to get rid of that stale
odor we took to come from rank tobacco. It’s a disinfectant in the
bargain.”
“That’s right, Perk,” assented Wee Willie, promptly; “anyway, it
almost disinfected me when I poked my head indoors a while back,
to see if there might be any cavity we’d overlooked. Made the tears
come, too, so that Elmer he asked me, when I got back on the roof,
if I’d had any bad news from home. But then I left the door wide
open, so it’ll gradually pass away, let’s hope.”
 The two menders of leaky roofs were soon at their old job, while
Perk readily found something else to occupy his time and attention.
He had pounded nails galore in the wall near the cavity which was
used as a fireplace, and on these he hung such cooking utensils as
they had fetched along with them, consisting of a large sized
coffeepot; a generous frying pan; some kettles in which grits or rice
or oatmeal might be cooked; likewise a little teapot, for Perk was a
regular old maid when it came to the question of drinking a
decoction of the fragrant herb at lunch or supper, preferring it to
Java at any time.
Along about half-past-ten by Elmer’s little nickel watch who should
come in but Amos, with a look of eager expectation on his face.
“Guess you struck oil somewhere, didn’t you, brother?” asked
Wee Willie, as if able rightly to interpret this expression of
anticipated triumph.
“Would you believe it,” crowed Amos, “I had the great good luck
to scare a bird out of the thicket where the berries are growing that
partridges like to feed on early in the Fall; and on investigating there
was a nest, with some eggs in it, and warm at that? Of course it’s a
silly bird that hopes to fetch up a flock of nestlings hatched out so
near frost time, but it was pie to me!”
“What did you do?” demanded Perk, looking deeply interested.
“Well, I fixed my camera so it focussed on the nest, with the
proper effect of light,” explained Amos. “Then I crept away to some
little distance, keeping in tabs with it all, so I’d know when to pull
the string that would free the trigger of the camera, and expose the
plate in a jiffy.”
“And did it work; was the old bird so little alarmed that she’d
come back to her nest before the eggs got chilled?” continued Perk.
“Just what she did,” assented the eager photographer, “and as
soon as I saw everything was O. K. I did the business. Knew just
when the trigger sprang, too, for I noticed her give a little jump at
the click. Then she flew off again as I stepped up to recover my
camera that lay on the ground. I certainly do hope I’ve struck a
decent picture; but if not I’ll just keep on trying till I do.”
 “That’s the right spirit, Amos,” chuckled Elmer. “Just keep it up
and you’re bound to get there sooner or later.”
Then the newcomer had to be told about Perk’s thrilling
adventure, as well as shown the rattle of the dead snake by the
proud victor in the battle royal. The reader may rest assured that by
the time all three boys had given their separate version of the
encounter, Amos was fully posted regarding every detail possible.
“You came out of it in prime shape, Perk,” he said, heartily; “but
luck was on your side. If you’d happened to be a foot closer, there
might have been a far different story to tell; and a heap anxious lot
of fellows up here at Old Cabin Bend. I’ve known of chaps who were
struck by a rattler, and died in spite of being dosed with whisky, and
such things, under the idea that one poison can counteract another.
For myself I like to give snakes a wide berth. I’ll step out of the trail
every time to let one hold possession.”
“It’s really the safest plan,” assented Elmer.
“But that isn’t just all my news, boys,” continued the ardent
photographer. “Down under the river bank I found a heap of little
tracks, mink footprints for a certainty, showing that one old chap
roams around there, anyway. And to-night, Elmer, I’d like to have
you help me set my camera trap, hoping to coax Mr. Mink to sit for
his own picture.”
“You can count on me in anything you ask, Amos,” he was told
most heartily as the roofers again got busy with their pounding.
After they had partaken of a light lunch, meaning to have the big
meal of the day come at evening, when their tasks would all be
finished, they lay around resting and dozing, for it had become quite
warm.
Perk, however, showed signs of continued nervousness. Perhaps
he had received a greater shock during his encounter with the rattler
than he cared to admit; then again the suspicion that an escaped
lunatic was hovering around, and trying to spy upon them, was in
itself quite enough to make him uneasy.
He got up, and threw himself down again as many as half a dozen
times, considerably to the amusement of Wee Willie, who was slyly
watching him. Finally Perk found a seat on a convenient log, and sat
there, staring away toward a little uplift of land that might be called
a forest knoll, where the trees stood up far above the balance of the
timber.
Wee Willie, watching, saw the fat chum suddenly start, and
bending forward stare very hard at something. His features were
working, too, as though Perk might be laboring under a fresh spasm
of excitement.
“Well, I just expected it’d happen!” Wee Willie heard him mutter.
“What happened, Perk?” demanded the other, lifting his head.
“Why, there he is right now, perched in that beechnut tree up on
the knoll yonder. You can see the dark mass move if you look sharp!
Of course he’s spying on the camp; and I bet you he’s got it all fixed
to visit us this very night!”
 CHAPTER VII
THE CLIMBER OF THE BEECH TREE

“Ginger! there is something big and black up in that tree, as sure

as you live!” exclaimed Wee Willie, excitedly.
Both Elmer and Amos also stared. Apparently they found it
necessary to agree with what the tall chum had just said. It looked
as though humble Perk had scored again; somehow he seemed to
be connected with almost everything that had happened to them
thus far; when as a usual thing such events took delight in passing
him by.
“There, didn’t you see him move?” he added, with a tinge of
triumph in his voice. “Just think of his nerve, climbing that tree to
watch what we do. If he’d been a signal-sender in the old Boy Scout
days at Chester, before the troop busted up, he couldn’t have picked
out a better location. I bet you he’s watching us right now. What
ought we do about it, Elmer?”
Considerably to the astonishment of the speaker, Elmer was heard
to give an unmistakable chuckle, as though something amused him.
“Well,” he went on to say, “we might walk out there and tell that
party we objected to his company; but the chances are he’d sniff at
us, and amble away; for you see it’s only a bear!”
“A bear!” gasped Perk, turning again to fasten his eyes on the
mysterious object perched high in the big beech tree.
“Yes, a black bear, and I reckon a half-grown cub at that, else he
wouldn’t be so fresh as to climb a tree so near our camp,” the other
continued; while Wee Willie nodded his head in affirmation, and
hastened to corroborate the statement by saying:
“No doubt about it, Perk, your hobo is a four-legged tramp, all
right. I c’n make him out plainly, now he’s moved a bit; though at
first I began to think it might be a man sitting astride a limb.”
 “But what’s a bear doing up there, I’d like to know?” Perk
objected, hardly liking to give up his side of the case so easily.
“Why, from away back bears have been in the habit of climbing
trees whenever they felt like it,” the tall boy told him; “and there’s
nothing in the Constitution of the United States that’s going to make
’em change their habits either—that is, black bears. It’s a different
thing with grizzlies out in the Rocky Mountain country, I understand;
they keep to the ground.”
Perk sighed with real relief as he hurriedly remarked, and quite
cheerfully at that:
“Well, I’m glad to know I was mistaken. It gave me a bad feeling
to think that ugly tramp was spying on us. Yes, now the thing shifts
again, and sure enough I can make him out plainly. It’s a real live
bear—not a monster, but pretty hefty for all that.”
Amos darted into the cabin.
“Now what’s he after, I want to know?” Perk quickly asked.
“Just as like as not, that camera of his,” Elmer explained. “Amos is
crazy on the subject of photography, and his first thought always is,
‘Will it make a striking picture?’ I reckon he thinks he might be able
to creep up close enough to snap that chap off, up in the beechnut
tree.”
Sure enough out came Amos on the run, and gripping his ready
camera.
“I’d like to get him the worst kind, fellows!” he told them. “Some
of the boys at home will laugh at us when we tell them we actually
saw a black bear up in a tree. I’d make them feel like thirty cents if I
could hold up a photo of the happening, taken at closer quarters
than this.”
“We’ll all go along, Amos,” suggested Elmer.
Possibly he fancied that the others might find their presence
useful in some way or other. It might be wise, Elmer even suspected,
since the rash photographer, in his burning desire to get a close
view, might run foul of the claws of Bruin, and need material
assistance.
 “Glad to have you,” agreed Amos, a faint smile coming on his
usually wan face; “but let’s hurry, please, because the bear might
take a notion to come down, and then my chance would be gone.”
“Follow me,” Elmer told him. “We’ve just got to swing around a bit
so as to come up to leeward, for he’d be apt to scent us if we kept
straight on down the wind.”
“Good boy, Elmer, you’re right!” commended Wee Willie.
“And now no talking except in whispers, with as little of that as
possible. We don’t want to have our walk for nothing, I imagine.”
With these words Elmer led off, the others trooping after him,
Amos coming next, then the tall chum, and fat Perk bringing up the
rear, as was ordinarily his custom.
They soon found themselves deep in the woods, with all sight of
the big beechnut tree on the knoll lost to them. But trust Elmer for
having fixed the location indelibly in his mind. Every step they took
was fetching them just that much closer to their goal; and while Wee
Willie also kept tabs on their progress, not once did he find occasion
to enter the slightest protest concerning the leadership of Elmer.
After about ten minutes of this sort of thing, the one in the van
stopped, and held up his hand. They seemed to be at the foot of the
knoll, judging from the lay of the land. Elmer parted some bushes
that hemmed them in, and, looking up, the others saw the very
beech tree toward which they had started.
There could no longer be the least doubt concerning the nature of
that dark object, for it was a young black bear. Whatever had
tempted him to climb the tree they could only guess; for at the time
they discovered him afresh the clumsy little animal was thrusting out
his muzzle, and seemed to be sniffing the air suspiciously.
 His method of descending the tree was exceedingly clumsy.

“He’s got a whiff of human presence near by, somehow or other,”

whispered Elmer; “do you think you could snap him off from here,
Amos?”
 “To be sure I can,” came the ready response, as the camera
owner shifted his position; and a few seconds later a sharp click
announced that he had done the work.
“He heard even that little sound,” announced Wee Willie, in a low
tone, “because I saw him give a start. Hurry and duplicate, Amos,
for the rascal means to come down.”
Sure enough the bear seemed to have decided to change his
location, as if growing uneasy after getting that suspicious waft of a
scent his instinct told him was hostile to his species.
His method of descending the tree was exceedingly clumsy when
compared with the clever actions of a gray squirrel while skimming
the smooth trunk with ease. Indeed, the bear acted very much like a
boy would have done, coming down stern first, and being very
careful not to let go above until sure of his footing on a limb below.
Amos kept busy snapping him off in various postures. He
evidently meant to make sure of having some extra fine pictures to
show.
Perk meanwhile began to grow a little uneasy, and even plucked
at the sleeve of Elmer as he managed to say excitedly:
“What if he’d feel mad and start to tackle the bunch? We haven’t
got even a club or a hatchet along, come to think of it. Are black
bears inclined to be vicious, Elmer; will they bite and scratch like a
wildcat?”
“Don’t worry about that, Perk,” chuckled the other. “They are most
harmless animals as a rule, hardly more dangerous than so many
hogs in the pasture. Besides, this is only a youngster; chances are
he’ll run for all that’s out as soon as he hits solid ground.”
“I’ll give a whoop, and help scare him off then,” suggested Perk,
picking up his courage again.
“Just as you please; and Amos here can snap him off while on the
gallop!” Elmer concluded.
The bear was now almost at the foot of the tree. Amos stepped
out so as to command a better position for covering the spot. He
had just one more exposure left, when the half dozen would be
complete; and he wanted to make sure this last would not be
wasted.
Perk was waiting, getting redder than ever in the face with
suspended breath and no sooner did he discover that the young
bear had reached the ground than he let out a yell that might easily
have shamed a Comanche Indian. Of course, this started the timid
beast off at a wild pace, while Amos clicked his camera to prove that
he had taken advantage of the opportunity.
The last they heard of Bruin was the clatter amidst the brushes
and thickets as he scrambled madly through every obstacle to his
progress, only wild to get away from that point of danger.
Elmer and Wee Willie exchanged looks, and laughed good and
hard.
“Never will stop short of three miles, believe me!” asserted the
latter. “I didn’t believe you had it in you to let out such a fiendish
whoop, Perk. But it paid us for coming over here, for now we can
say with truth we had an adventure with a wild bear, and that Amos
here had to ‘shoot’ six times before the fight was finished.”
Amos looked decidedly pleased.
“I’ll have to call this my bear roll of film,” he suggested, patting
his camera affectionately, after the manner of those who are seized
with the photographic craze. “And out of the lot there must be
several half-way decent pictures. I never believed I’d get such a
great chance as this.”
“Say, things are happening like hot cakes, seems to me,” Perk
remarked, as once more they turned their faces in the direction of
the camp. “Why, we hardly get through with one event before
another comes crowding along right at its heels. We’ve done
considerable camping this summer, ever since we started the Camp
Fire Boys’ Club, but nothing like this ever came along the pike.”
“Suits me all right!” Wee Willie declared, grinning. “I like
excitement, and just sitting around, loafing, never was my style of
enjoying myself. Why, I’m even hoping we’ll see something of this
chap who was hanging out in the cabin when we came along and
squatted here.”
 “Oh, wouldn’t it be a tough joke on us now if, when we got back,
we found he’d been there in our absence, and helped himself to lots
of our stuff?”
Perk, as he spoke, looked as though this might not be a
groundless fear after all, but Elmer only laughed at him.
“I’m going back another way, you notice, Perk. Every now and
then we can get glimpses of the cabin, with our fire burning in front,
and so far I’ve seen no sign of any intruder. Don’t worry about it. In
three minutes we’ll be home again.”
His prophecy came true, and Perk was relieved to discover that
nothing had mysteriously vanished during their brief absence from
camp.
 CHAPTER VIII
AMOS’S STRANGE ACTIONS

The incident of the climbing black bear was closed around four
that first afternoon in camp. Altogether it had been productive of
considerable excitement, and amusement as well. The day, however,
was fated to see still further singular happenings before closing.
Elmer was inside the cabin “fussing around,” as he called it. He
had cleaned out the shabby old fireplace, making a few badly
needed repairs, so that the chimney might draw properly when they
came to start a blaze there evenings, wishing to gather around, and
chat or sing as the humor seized them.
Amos had wandered off again. He said it seemed to be a banner
day with him so that he felt inclined to roam about and possibly
make a few more discoveries that would be of value; which, of
course, pertained to the camera stunt only—he had thoughts for
nothing else apparently.
Perk and Wee Willie were discussing the menu for supper when
Elmer came out of the cabin door, and approached them. He seemed
to be holding something in his hand, though neither of the other
boys could quite make it out.
“Well,” Elmer commenced saying, as he came up, “I think I’ve
discovered just why our tramp wanted to get back into the cabin
again last night, going all around twice, looking for an opening which
he didn’t find.”
“That sounds interesting,” observed Perk.
“Tell us about it, Elmer,” the tall chum added; “and what under the
sun are you holding there in your hand?”
Elmer laughed softly.
“That’s the answer,” he hastened to say, and then held something
up before their eyes.
 “Gee! what a funny knife!” exclaimed Perk.
“Where’d you run across it, Elmer?” demanded Wee Willie.
“The blade is open, you see, just as I found it,” explained the
other. “And it was sticking in a log close by the yawning fireplace.
From the odor that hangs about the blade, I reckon Mr. Tramp must
have used it to slice some plug tobacco, that black, tough kind, you
know, for his old pipe, and then thinking to use it again a little later
on, just stuck it into a log of the wall near his head.”
“Huh! our coming along sent him on the run into the bushes, and
he clean forgot all about his precious old knife—is that what you
mean, Elmer?”
“Just so, Wee Willie; and missing his knife later he started to
come back to recover it. To such men a knife becomes as precious
as—well, Amos’s camera is to him; or your postage-stamp album
might be to you, Perk. Besides, you can see what an odd sort of a
knife this one is.”
“I never saw one like it before,” Perk spoke up. “Why, besides the
one big strong blade it’s got a fork, and a spoon attachment, too.
Fact is, it could be used for a whole meal. Yes, and here’s even a
corkscrew along the back. What a queer knife it is, to be sure! I
don’t wonder the poor old hobo valued it.”
“Perhaps he’s carried it for years and years,” mused Wee Willie,
“and it’s his most treasured possession. I wish he had it in his greasy
pocket again.”
“But see here, boys,” Perk suggested, “how do we know but that
it might have been there for ever so long—mebbe since the cabin
was in use before that tragedy happened here, that I’ve heard the
folks down Chester way mention?”
Elmer and the tall chum exchanged meaning glances. They had
supposed that Perk knew nothing about that tragic event, and had
agreed to “keep mum” about it while in camp at Log Cabin Bend,
lest he feel uneasy.
“Oh! that’s an easy thing to decide, Perk,” the former assured him.
“If you examine the blade you’ll find it’s clear of rust, though far
from bright. Now that couldn’t be the case if it had been exposed
here for years to the damp air, such as would blow into the cabin
with the door swung half-way open most of the time it’s stood
empty.”
“I get you, Elmer; please excuse my dense ignorance,” said Perk
hurriedly. “Now I wonder whether he’s going to keep on hanging out
around here until he gets back his old knife?”
“We’ll have to put out a sign, and invite the chap to step up to the
captain’s office and prove property,” Wee Willie argued whimsically
after his fashion. “No questions asked, and no reward expected for
finding the lost trusty blade; only we’d like him to clear out, and
leave us alone. I’ve seen a bunch of tramps, and a mussy lot they
are, taken as a whole. I always try to get to windward of ’em when
watching how they manage to cook a meal in tomato-cans and
such.”
“But we saw no sign of his having had a fire in the cabin,” Perk
went on to remark, reflectively; “and there wasn’t the first evidence
of his having made a bed out of brush. How do you account for that,
Elmer?”
“Oh! he may have arrived only an hour before we did, and was so
tired he just lay down to smoke and rest,” came the ready answer;
for Elmer always seemed to have a faculty for meeting objections.
“What will you do with it?” continued Perk.
“I haven’t decided,” Elmer told him. “I may hit on a way to get it
back into the possession of the owner without hunting him up.
Leave that to me.”
“There’s Amos coming along,” Wee Willie added; “somehow he
seems to be looking a whole lot happier than this morning. It must
have been his success at snapping off the bear in the beechnut
tree.”
“Yes, that was what did it,” Elmer agreed; though his brow
clouded, for this unexplained mystery that seemed to be always
hanging over his comrade, making him so unhappy, was beginning
to worry him considerably; he wanted to be of service to Amos, yet
could not muster up courage to break in upon the other’s reserve,
since it would seem so much like thrusting himself into business that
did not at all concern him.
Amos was actually smiling as he approached, and few of the
Chester boys could truly say they had ever seen such a genuine look
of delight on his sad face.
“What do you think?” he burst out, excitedly, “I managed to get a
glimpse of Mr. Mink, the very first of his kind I ever had the luck to
see alive! Oh! but he’s a slick article, let me tell you, with his beady
little eyes, and soft furry hide. And I planned it all out just where we
ought to set the camera-trap to-night, Elmer, so’s to coax him to pull
the cord, and set the flashlight going.”
Elmer looked at him with affection. Somehow he had come to
care a great deal for Amos, which in one way was rather strange; for
to most of the fellows the newcomer in Chester had not appealed at
all, owing to his being such a moody fellow. But as is usually the
case with such serious persons, when his face did light up in a smile
it was wonderfully “fetching.”
“I reckon we’ll manage to get a picture of his Highness, King
Mink,” Elmer assured him; “when we’ve laid ourselves out to the
limit. I know a few tricks along those lines, which are quite at your
service, Amos. But see here, what a queer find I made in the old
cabin.”
He held up the quaint pocket-knife as he said this, and the eyes of
the other became instantly focussed on it. To the astonishment,
almost consternation, of Elmer, he seemed to be immediately
strongly affected by the sight of the late property of the roving
tramp.
Perk and Wee Willie also stared to notice how the face of Amos,
actually showing a dash of color when he first joined them, now
suddenly became as pale as that of a ghost. His breath came and
went in gasps, though apparently he was making desperate efforts
to hold himself within bounds, doubtless realizing how his startled
companions must be observing him.
“Where did you say you found it, Elmer?” he finally managed to
say, in what might be termed half gasps, while he could be seen
swallowing something that seemed to rise in his throat, and threaten
to choke him, poor fellow.
“Why, in the cabin there,” explained the other, hesitatingly. “It was
sticking in one of the logs forming the wall, between the little
opening used as a window and the big fireplace. I think the hobo
must have used it to cut up some hard plug tobacco, for it smells
rank of the stuff; and then carelessly thrust the point into the log,
before our coming frightened him away.”
“And, what do you think,” Perk now managed to add, “Elmer
believes it was to recover this old knife that the old tramp came back
and walked around the cabin twice last night, looking for a chance to
get inside. Too bad, isn’t it, Amos?”
Amos, however, seemed to pay scant attention to what Perk was
saying. His distended eyes were fastened on the article which still lay
exposed in Elmer’s open palm.
“But—couldn’t it have been there a long time, don’t you think?” he
now asked, as though clinging to a straw; “say as much as—six or
seven years?”
“I’m dead sure it hasn’t,” he was told positively. “In the first place,
other persons besides us have visited the old cabin here from time
to time, and some one would surely have found it. Then again, look
how smooth the steel of the discolored blade is; it must have rusted
if it had been exposed to the weather for even a few months. Oh!
no, Amos, whoever the tramp is, he surely put it where I found it,
and this very night.”
“I—guess you’re right, Elmer,” fell in trembling tones from the lips
of the other, still looking peaked and white. “W—would you mind my
looking at it?”
“Certainly not,” said Elmer, at the same time thrusting the queer
knife into the other’s hand, eagerly stretched out to receive it.
All of them could not help but notice how his hand trembled
violently from some sort of emotion as the fingers closed about the
haft of the knife. Evidently there was some element about the find of
Elmer that affected Amos Codling. He turned the knife over, and
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