Reb's Trap

“You know, I think this might work,” Wash said. He and Reb were outside in the semidarkness. Night was about ready to fall. The two of them had been out for about an hour looking for a place to try Reb’s scheme.

“Sure, it’ll work.” Reb nodded confidently. He was looking at a slender sapling that rose high in the air. It stood alone in a clearing, having been left there for some reason or another when other trees were chopped down for firewood and to make huts.

Reb looked up at the tall, swaying tree. “Now you climb up the tree and go all the way to the top.”

Wash looked up. “I don’t know. That’s pretty tall. I could fall and break my pretty neck.”

Reb grinned and said, “If you do, I’ll go get Dave to do it. Go on, now. You can climb a little old tree.”

Wash looked dubious. However, he began to climb, almost in slow motion.

“Hurry up, Wash,” Reb called impatiently, looking up at the boy. “We haven’t got all night. Get with it!”

Wash glared at his friend but began to climb faster. As he ascended the tree, it began to sway back and forth. The swaying made him a little giddy, but he managed to hold on.

“All the way to the top,” Reb called. “Make it bend over.”

“I’m going as fast as I can—but this thing’s making me seasick!”

“You mean treesick, don’t you?” Reb laughed at his own joke, but Wash wasn’t amused. He was almost to the top when suddenly his weight caused the tree to droop over.

“Hang on,” Reb said. “I’ll get you!”

The treetop bowed down with the small boy clinging to it. Wash suddenly felt a rope settle around his legs and draw tight. He knew that Reb had lassoed him. Then he felt Reb pulling on the rope, and he yelled, “Be careful! Don’t pull me off this thing!”

“I’ve got you now,” Reb said. He pulled Wash and the treetop down. Wash freed his legs, and Reb snubbed the tree with his rope. “Now help me hold it.”

The two boys gripped the rope that held the tree down. With one hand Reb pounded a stake into the ground. Quickly he wrapped the rope around the stake, saying, “Now, we’re going to set the noose right over here.”

He dug a shallow trench and began putting the rest of the rope in it. “Cover it up with dirt,” he said.

When they got to the end of the rope, he made a slip knot and carefully arranged the loop in a circular ditch about two feet in diameter. Then he covered that with dirt, stepped back, and said, “Now, we make the trigger.” He rigged a trigger that was both efficient and clever.

“How do you know how to do this?” Wash asked curiously.

“Why, shoot! I’ve caught about a million rabbits like this in my time. The rabbit steps in that loop, hits the trigger and—bang!—the tree pops up and jerks the noose tight. Usually catches the rabbit right around the neck. But I reckon this one we’ll catch around the leg.”

“Is that all there is to it?”

“All except one thing. It come to me that fellow might be looking for food, so we’re going to leave a little bait out here.”

“What kind of bait?”

“I’ll show you.” The taller boy led the way to the knapsack where he kept his equipment, pulled out a jug, and held it up. “Here’s the bait.”

“Whatcha got in there?”

“Nothing but some goat milk. But if that fellow’s hungry and looking for something to eat, he’ll try anything. So my thinking is, he’ll see this jug and come over and investigate. When he does, he’ll step in this noose, touch the trigger, and—zing—there he is! Dangling up in the tree like an apple.”

Wash looked around. “I hope it works, but we’d better get out of here. He won’t come while we’re standing over the bait.”

The two boys checked the trap, then went into the house.

“We’re going to have to take turns sitting up,” Reb said. “I want to find out who that fellow is. He’ll probably holler when the trap snatches him up, but if it catches him by the neck, we might hang him by mistake.”

“I’ll take the first watch,” Wash said quickly. “You guys go to bed, and I’ll wake somebody up.”

Josh was staring moodily at the pair and shook his head. “You’re just playing games. Nobody’s going to be out there—or you might get an innocent person.” He lay down on his bed, saying grumpily, “Leave me out of it.”

Wash stayed up for two hours, growing very sleepy. Then he awakened Reb, who got up and took his place.

Wash went to sleep at once, but it seemed he had barely closed his eyes when Reb woke him by calling out, “Yippee! We got our rabbit!”

All of the boys were awakened by Reb’s loud yelp, and they lurched to their feet, bleary-eyed with sleep.

Reb started for the door. “Come on. Let’s see what we got.”

Josh stumbled outside, noticing that the night was very bright. The moon was high in the sky, like a huge silver coin. Then he looked across the yard and saw something moving in the top of the tall sapling.

“We got him!” Wash yelled. “We got him!”

“We sure did.” Reb grinned. He shook out a lariat, made a couple of easy turns around his head, then threw the rope upward. He was almost infallible with a rope. Whatever he threw it at, he caught.

In the moonlight Josh saw a figure struggling, caught by one foot and waving his arms around. The rope fell over his upper body, and Reb pulled it tight. “Quiet down, up there!” he said. “We’ll take care of you.”

The four boys easily pulled the sapling over again. When their captive was on the ground, Reb released the ropes and let the tree fly back upward.

Josh was holding onto the intruder, a tall, rather thin young man with large eyes. He was so dirty and ragged that it was hard to tell much else about him. “Who are you and what do you want, sneaking around here?” Josh demanded.