READY FOR THE START
On the following day, which was Saturday, there was considerable
visiting among the scouts who so proudly wore their new khaki suits.
Conferences were of hourly occurrence, blankets brought out for
inspection and comment, packs made up and taken to pieces again, and
all manner of advice asked concerning the best way to carry the same.
Each boy had a written list of what he was expected to provide. This
was a part of the wonderful system Tom Chesney had inaugurated. He had
told them it was copied from the methods in vogue in the German army,
so that in case of a hurried mobilization every man capable of bearing
arms in the whole empire would know exactly what his particular duty
was.
This scout was to carry a generous frying-pan, made of sheet-steel to
reduce the weight; another had to look out for the coffee-pot, which
was also to hold enough for at least six thirsty campers. So it went
on through the whole list of necessities.
There were to be two messes of five or six each, and the second had a
duplicate list of cooking utensils, as well as food to look after.
Nothing had been omitted that Tom, assisted by several others who had
had more or less camping experience, could think of.
It was about eleven this Saturday morning when Tom, doing a little work
among his vegetables in the kitchen garden, heard his name called.
Glancing up he discovered Carl standing there by the fence that
separated the garden from the highway.
Immediately Tom realized that something new must have happened to make
his chum appear so downcast. His first fear was that Mr. Culpepper had
been asked by Carl's mother for the securities, and had flatly denied
ever having had them.
"Hello! what's gone wrong now, Carl?" he asked, as he hurried over to
join the boy who was leaning both elbows on the picket fence, and
holding his head in his hands.
"It seems as though everything is going wrong with us nowadays, Tom,"
sighed poor Carl.
"Anything more about that stolen paper?" asked Tom.
"No, it's something else this time," Carl replied. "Just as if we
didn't have enough to worry about already."
"No one sick over at your house, is there?" demanded the other,
anxiously.
"I'm glad to say that isn't the case," Carl told him. "Fact is, some
bad news came in a letter mother had this morning from a lawyer in the
city who manages her small affairs."
"Was it about that tenement house she owns, and the rents from which
comes part of her income?" continued Tom, quick to make a guess, for he
knew something about the affairs of Carl's folks.
The other nodded his head as he went on to explain:
"It burned down, and through some mistake of a clerk part of the
insurance was allowed to lapse, so that we will not be able to collect
on more than half. Isn't that hard luck though, Tom?"
"I should say it is," declared the other, with a look of sympathy on
his face. "But if it was the fault of the lawyer's clerk why shouldn't
he be held responsible for the loss? I'd think that was only fair in
the eye of the law."
"Oh!" said Carl, quickly, "but my mother says he's really a poor man,
and hasn't anything. Besides, he's been conducting her little business
since father died without charging a cent for his labor, so you see
there's no hope of our collecting more than half of the insurance."
"Too bad, and I'm mighty sorry," Tom told him.
"Coming on top of our losing that paper you can imagine how my mother
feels," continued the other; "though she tries to be cheerful, and
keeps on telling me she knows everything is sure to come out right in
the end. Still I can see that while she puts on a brave face it's only
to keep me from feeling so blue. When she's all alone I'm sure she
cries, for I can see her eyes are red when I happen to come in on her
unexpectedly."
"Nothing can be done, I suppose, Carl?"
"Not a thing," the other boy replied. "That is what makes me furious.
If you can only see what's hitting you, and strike back, it does a
whole lot of good. Unless something crops up to make things look
brighter between now and fall there's one thing certain."
"What's that?" asked Tom, though he believed he could give a pretty
good guess, knowing the independent spirit of his chum so well.
"I shall have to quit school, and go to work at something or other. My
mother will never be able to meet expenses, even in the quiet way we
live, now that part of her little income is cut off. A few hundred
dollars a year means a lot to us, you see."
"Oh, I hope it won't come to that," said Tom. "A whole lot may happen
between now and the beginning of the fall term. For all we know that
missing paper may be recovered, which would put your folks on Easy
street."
"That's about the last hope, then," admitted Carl. "It's all I'm
counting on; and even then the chances seem to be against us."
"But you won't think of backing down about going on this grand hike
over Big Bear Mountain, I hope?" remarked the patrol leader.
"I believe I'd lack the heart to do it, Tom, leaving mother feeling so
bad; only for one thing."
"Meaning the fact that Dock Phillips is somewhere up there on the
mountain; that's what you've got in your mind, isn't it, Carl?"
"Yes, and what you said last night keeps haunting me all the time, Tom.
What if I did run across the chance to make Dock own up, and got him to
give me that precious paper? It would make everything look bright
again--for with the boom on in the oil region that stock must be worth
thousands of dollars to-day, if only we can get hold of the certificate
again."
"Well, you're going to; things often work in a queer way, and that's
what is happening now. And I feel as sure as anything that Mr.
Culpepper's stinginess in holding out against Dock's demands is going
to be his undoing."
Such confident talk as this could not help having its effect on Carl.
He had in fact come over to Tom's house knowing that he was sure to get
comfort there.
"You make me feel better already, Tom," he asserted, as he took the
hand the other boy thrust over the top of the garden fence; "and I'm
going to try and look at it as a true scout should, believing that the
sun is still shining back of the clouds."
"I'm about through with my work here in the garden," Tom told him, "so
suppose you come around to the gate, or hop over the fence here. We'll
go up to my room and take a look over the stuff that I expect to pack
out of Lenox Monday A. M. I want to ask your opinion about several
things, and was thinking of calling you up on the 'phone when I heard
you speak just now."
Of course the main object Tom had in view was not so much getting
Carl's opinion as to arouse his interest in the projected trip, so that
for the time being he might forget his troubles.
The two boys spent an hour chatting, and consulting a map Tom produced
that was supposed to cover most of the Big Bear Mountain territory. It
had been made by an old surveyor some years back, simply to amuse
himself, and while not quite up to date might be said to be fairly
accurate.
Mr. Witherspoon had secured this chart and loaned it to Tom, for there
was always a possibility of his receiving a sudden call on business
that would take him away from town, when the duty of engineering the
trip must fall to the leader of the Black Bear Patrol as the second in
command.
That was going to be an unusually long and tedious Sunday for a good
many boys in Lenox. Doubtless they would have their thoughts drawn from
the sermon, as they sat with their folks in the family pews. And, too,
looking out of the window at the waving trees they would probably
picture themselves far away on the wooded slope of Big Bear Mountain,
perhaps making their first camp, and starting the glorious fire around
which, as the night drew on, they would gather to tell stories and sing
school songs.
And it could be set down as certain that few of those who expected to
join the adventurous spirits starting forth on the long mountain hike
slept very soundly on the last night.
When the hour agreed on, seven o'clock, came around, there was a scene
of bustle under the tower of the church, where the scouts had gathered,
together with many friends both young and old who meant to give them a
noisy send-off on their hike over Big Bear Mountain.