The Healer (23 page)

"Why didn't Henry shoot him?" demanded Yoder.

"He says he was afraid to try it. I think he believes that biggest coydog is supernatural."

"Afraid to shoot even from his window?"

"That's what he says."

"This is a good lead for us if not for Henry," remarked Zook. "We are better going there quicklike."

They set out in three cars, the warden using his jeep. The mist was lifting now and there was fair visibility. As they turned into the Haas farm and the headlights picked up the silent forms of the maple trees along the lane, there was a chorus of wild gobbling. They stopped by the farmhouse and Lapp turned his powerful flashlight upward. On top of the barn and in the trees were the heavy bodies of turkeys, survivors of the last night's massacre. Usually domestic turkeys could not fly so high but under the blind terror of the attacker, these few birds had outdone themselves. They were mostly hens, and their long necks were outstretched as they tried to see what the new disturbance might be.

Yoder shouted and beat on the door. After a long time, a window opened and a man looked out.

"We've come after that dog that was killing your stock," called the warden. "Can you come down and show us where he killed the turkeys?"

"I ain't comin' down 'til it's broad light. You go over to the turkey pens. You won't have no trouble seein' where he was."

The farmer was right. Lapp's flashlight picked up the bodies of a score of turkeys scattered about. None seemed to have been eaten. The coydog had run mad with the excitement of killing.

"Try Blue first?" suggested Yoder.

"Let's try 'em all," said Lapp. "Look, we got six dogs. Ike, why don't you take Blue, Rock, and Buck and cut around to the right. Abe and I'll take Wasser, Spot, and Squealer and go around to the left. Between us, we ought to hit something."

Yoder would clearly rather have circled the area with his reliable old hound first to make sure of putting the pack on the line, but he said nothing. The two groups separated and started off, Billy going with Zook and Lapp. The grass was so heavy with dew it was almost like wading, and soon the boy was soaked to his knees; while the hounds seemed more interested in the dead turkeys than in picking up a trail, so that, at last, the men had to take them on a wider sweep.

"Where's Wasser?" asked Billy suddenly. The hounds were running around, often hidden by the mist, but Billy was conscious that he had not seen Wasser for a long time.

The men stopped and called. After a time, Squealer and Spot appeared, wringing wet, with wagging tails. Of Wasser, there was no sign.

"On leashes we should have kept them," muttered Abe Zook. "Already this hunt is no good. The dogs can smell nothing. Better we wait for daylight and track ourselves."

"Maybe Wasser is on the track now," suggested Billy.

"He is not speaking. No, lost he is maybe. I will look for him."

Lapp asked, "Want me to go ahead or wait for you?"

"It makes nothing either way."

Zook and Billy backtracked and spread out, calling. Billy nearly fell into a drainage ditch, and while he was recovering himself, thought he saw something moving in the ditch a few yards away. He called but the creature had vanished in the mist. Billy could not believe that Wasser would ignore him like that but he followed the ditch and found the old hound sniffing around. He shouted and both Zook and Lapp answered him. In a few minutes, they had joined him with the other two hounds.

"Think he's found something?" asked Lapp, watching Wasser nose around.

"That is a hard telling. His tail is not wagging. He thinks, but is not sure."

When the other two hounds jumped into the ditch and began casting around, almost at once Squealer opened with his shrill cry, and both Wasser and Spot hurried to him.

"Squealer's got it!" yelled Lapp.

"He has something, but maybe 'coon or rabbit. Use your light and let us check for tracks."

Before Lapp could obey, they heard the deep, positive voice of Blue lifted, almost instantly joined by the excited yelps of Rock and Buck. The three hounds in the ditch raised their heads to listen. Then Spot and Squealer jumped out and disappeared in the mist. Wasser hesitated. Then came Ike Yoder's voice giving the halloo that ordered the hounds forward.

"You sure they're on the right line?" shouted Lapp into the mist.

"A dead turkey is here. It is half-eaten. Bring up your dogs."

"Wasser! Drop it! Here, boy!" called Abe Zook, but the old hound refused to leave the traces of scent in the ditch, and Billy had to help him out. As he was putting Wasser down, they heard Squealer's shrill yelp, followed by Spot's deeper tones. Instantly Wasser struggled out of Billy's hands and disappeared into the mist.

The men started running, with Billy after them. All the hounds were speaking now—Blue with a long wailing note, Rock with a quick, choppy bark, Buck eager and excited. Then came Wasser's distinctively individual bay, each note chopped off at the end. Judging by his voice, Spot was still not quite sure of the line, but Squealer's unmusical and penetrating cry rose above the others confidently.

The mist was denser here, but Ike Yoder was still urging the hounds on and they found him easily. "They should let Blue work it out," he said irritably. "They will be overrunning it yet. Ah, there now! They have it."

The cry of the hounds blended together and they were off and running. There was no chance of keeping up with them and the men could only listen.

"Go back for the cars?" asked Lapp.

No one answered. They were still listening to the sound of the pack, growing fainter every second.

"I am thinking the coydog will not run far," said Zook. "He is gorged and will turn at bay. I doubt if he has fear of dogs."

"That's my idea," said Stoltzfoos, shouldering his rifle. "I'm going to follow them. Anyone want to come with me?"

No one seemed eager to accept the suggestion. Finally Billy said, "I'll come."

"No, that is not good," said Abe Zook flatly. "It is better you stay with me. We will go along the road."

"I think we'd all better stick together," added Yoder. "There is no telling what that animal will do. He is plenty big."

"What about Wasser and the other dogs?" cried Billy.

"I'll follow them up and see they're all right," promised the warden. "That's my job, it isn't yours."

He started off into the mist and no one moved to join him. "Let's go 'round by the road," suggested Lapp. "We'll make better time that way."

They started off. Billy was puzzled. He had always hated the warden, but now Jim Stoltzfoos seemed to be braver than the other men. Even Abe Zook did not behave as though he were really worried about Wasser. Billy was confused.

They reached the dirt road and headed toward the ridge. The mist was burning off now. It was shredding off in tatters and, looking up, Billy could see the sun. In places the road was almost clear. Then they would come to a spot where the mist was thick as ever.

"Stop once!" said Yoder, holding up his hand. They halted and by straining their ears could hear hounds very faintly in the distance.

"One of 'em is Squealer," said Lapp after a moment.

"And Blue," added Yoder. Billy tried hard to distinguish Wasser's chopped bay but could not.

They went on through another patch of mist and came out into bright sunlight flooding the whole valley. Ahead were two hounds casting along a fenceline.

Yoder called, "Rock!" and Lapp, "Spot!" The hounds raised their heads and came trotting to their masters with wagging tails.

Either the wind shifted or the remnants of the pack had come back across the spine of the ridge, for the baying suddenly sounded clear. Both Rock and Spot spun around to listen and then clawed their way over a honeysuckle tangle and vanished toward the sound.

"That's Squealer and Buck tonguing now," said Lapp, listening. "Where's Blue and Wasser?"

They all listened but could hear no deep notes. Spot and Rock were opening up now. While the men listened, a deer burst from the woods ahead of them, cleared the fifteen-foot road at a single bound, and was gone.

"They're on that deer," said Lapp and swore.

Everyone started running. They reached the place where the deer had broken cover and waited until the hounds appeared, mad with excitement and running with a full head of scent. Cursing, the men slapped and kicked them off the line and then fastened leads or pieces of rope to their collars.

"What time is it making?" asked Yoder.

Lapp pulled out a watch. "Five of nine."

"The scent is not holding much longer."

"We'd better get the cars," said Lapp.

It was a long way back to the farm. No one seemed enthusiastic about making the trip. Finally Lapp said, "I'll go get my car. The rest of you wait here."

He walked back down the road. The others sat down to wait. It seemed to Billy like an eternity before Lapp's old pickup appeared and stopped beside them. The men started to load the hounds into the back. As the last one went in, there was an explosion of sound in the sumac tangle, not twenty feet from where they were standing. Billy instantly recognized the shrill scream of Wasser—not the tracking bay, but the high-pitched yelp the old hound gave when he was face to face with his antagonist. Almost at the same moment came the warning bark of Blue that the quarry was at bay.

Before the men could move, the great coydog exploded out of the sumac and ran across the road in front of the car. Buck hurled himself out of the back of the pickup, rolled over as he hit the road, and tore after the coydog, with lead trailing. The rest of the pack were going mad but were held by their leads. Lap bounded into the pickup with Yoder after him. For a few seconds the men struggled with the leads, but the frantic hounds would not give them enough slack to loosen the snaps. Then Lapp pulled out a knife and cut the leads. The hounds cascaded over the side of the truck, their legs going before they struck the ground, and were off.

Wasser and Blue hurried out of the sumac and stood looking around for a moment before they joined the hunt. Wasser was limping badly.

"There he goes!" shouted Lapp. They saw the coydog streaking across the meadow. Buck and Spot were on his tail, nearly tearing themselves to pieces in their efforts to shorten the gap.

Yoder was already in the driver's seat, and the pickup lurched forward. The rest climbed aboard as best they could, Zook reaching down to grab Billy by his shoulder and drag him over the side. The car raced along the road but the pack went faster than the car. When Yoder finally slowed down, there was no sign of the hunt. He shut off the engine but there was no sound.

Then up on the ridge to their right came Wasser's deep bay. He was tracking. The bay sounded again and again. Now Squealer took up the cry and a moment later the whole pack joined in.

"Let me out!" snapped Zook, crawling out of the car. Billy followed him. The old man began running in a purposeful fashion up the ridge, but almost in the opposite direction from the sound of the hounds. Billy ran after him. He saw that Zook was headed toward the stream where the garnets were found. Panting along, Billy decided that the old braucher had guessed, by the sound of the baying, that the hounds were in the gorge cut by the stream, and that the coydog would come out at the bottom.

Zook stopped by the water, cocked his rifle, and waited. The cry of the hounds had stopped. Billy heard Lapp and Yoder come panting up behind them. None of the men spoke.

A form was moving down the cut toward them. All three men raised their rifles, but the animal was Rock. He ran about, nose down, trying to pick up the trail, and then vanished again.

They waited, but there was no more sound. "Let's go up there," suggested Billy. No one answered him, so he repeated it.

"No," said Zook. "Here we are seeing if the coydog comes. In the woods, we see nothing."

"The warden's up there, isn't he?" asked Billy.

"I am not knowing where he is," answered Zook impatiently.

The boy realized that even with their rifles, the three men were afraid of the big, wolflike animal. He had looked monstrous when he crossed the road. If he came at them fast, from underbrush, he might be able to maul a man seriously before the others could shoot. But what about the poor hounds? And what about the game warden? Billy hated to find anything in the warden to admire, and yet…

They heard nothing, and at last Lapp said, "Let's go back to the car and drive around."

They returned to the car and drove slowly along the road until they came to the long gash of the powerline running up the hill. From where they were to the top of the ridge was a long distance, and the grade was very steep; Billy had often thought it would be a fine place to sled during the winter. Far up at the top of the ridge they could see a truck with men in it that bore the green and yellow markings of the power company.

"Let me go up there and I'll ask those men if they've seen anything," Billy begged.

The others hesitated. Finally Abe Zook said reluctantly, "Stay in the middle of the strip. If they are knowing something, wave to us and we will bring the dogs."

Billy started up confidently. It was a long way, even longer than it looked from the bottom. He had to stop to rest once and when he did reach the truck, he was too tired to speak.

The powerline men looked at him curiously. One of them said, "Say, kid, you oughtn't to be runnin' around here by yourself. There's a wolf or somethin' loose around here."

"Did you see him?"

"We saw him all right. He went by here and we didn't lose no time gettin' in this truck. The game warden's lookin' for him with a gun."

"Where did he go?"

"Went in there. He can have the job. I wouldn't go in after that thing, gun or no gun."

Billy turned and waved. After a moment, he saw Abe Zook wave in answer. Far below him, the men began getting out of the pickup to unload the hounds. Billy shouted, but knew instantly that his voice could not reach. Still, he was heard. From a tangle of thorn bushes and crab apple near the cut, he heard a whimpering call. Turning, he shouted again. The call came a second time. It was Wasser.