AT CAMP MYSTERY
"Sammy, do you really think we can do it?"
"How did you happen to think of it?"
Thus Frank and Bob questioned Sammy as they walked away from Jed and the
larger boys, after getting the promise of the use of the ice-boat any
time they wanted it.
"Of course I think we can do it," answered Sammy. "And I don't just know
how I happened to think of it, except that I knew if we did go camping
on Pine Island we'd have to take some extra clothes with us, and maybe
something to eat, and we couldn't very well do that and skate. So I
thought of the ice-boat. It'll hold a lot."
"It's a fine idea!" exclaimed Frank. "Now the next thing is to see if
our folks will let us go."
The boys were a little worried about that part of the program. True,
they had been in a number of adventures of late, and their parents had
not objected to their going off on several trips during the Summer;
trips, too, that kept them away over night.
But now it was Winter, and sleeping away from their warm beds might mean
severe colds, if nothing worse. So all three of the boys were a bit
doubtful about being allowed to go.
"I'll tell you what let's do," proposed Sammy.
"What?" asked Frank.
"Let's go see Mrs. Blake," he went on. "We'll tell her we want to go up
and call on her brother. She said he'd be glad to have us, and we'll get
her to ask our folks if we can't go. They'll be sure to let us then."
"Good idea, Sammy!" cried Frank.
"I believe that will work!" declared Bob, slyly sticking out his foot to
trip up Sammy. But the latter was too quick for him, and it was Bob
himself who went down in a snowbank.
"I--I'll wash your face for that!" he cried, as he scrambled to his feet
and made a rush for Sammy. But at that instant old Mr. Dolby, popularly
called a miser, came unexpectedly along, and Bob ran full tilt into him,
knocking him down.
"Whew!" whistled Frank. "Now you have gone and done it!"
The miserly old man struggled to his feet. All the boys were afraid to
go near to help him, for fear he would use his cane on them.
"Ah, ha!" he spluttered as he got up, brushing the snow from his
clothes. "Ah, ha! Up to your old tricks again; are you? Knocking folks
down! I'll fix you for this! I'll have you all arrested, that's what I
will!"
He shook his cane at the frightened boys.
"I--I didn't mean to!" faltered Bob, as he picked up the angry man's hat
and gave it to him.
"Didn't mean to! Humph! That's what ye allers say! But I'll have the law
on ye jest the same! I'll have ye all arrested! Look at my hat--all
snow!"
"It'll brush off," said Sammy.
"Hold your tongue! Don't speak to me!" snapped the angry man, as he
stalked off down the street. "I'll attend to your cases."
For a moment the three chums remained looking after him. Then, as he
noted the direction taken by the miser, Frank said anxiously:
"He's going toward the police station. Maybe he will have us arrested."
"He can't have you two taken in," said Bob. "I'm the only one that
knocked him down."
"Huh! S'pose we'd let you stand it all?" demanded Sammy. "We'll all
stick together. But come on. There's no use waiting for trouble. If he
does make a complaint let the officer find us. I'm going home and ask my
mother if I can go to Pine Island."
He turned aside, but stopped a moment later to pick up a paper from the
snow. He unfolded it and exclaimed:
"Why! it's a check--a check for ten dollars, and it's for Mr. Dolby! He
must have dropped it."
"Say! This is just the thing!" cried Frank, with ready wit. "Let's run
and give it to him. Maybe he won't be mad then."
There was no need to race after the old miser, for a moment later he
turned the corner, coming toward the boys. He seemed very much in a
hurry, and quite excited.
"Have you found it? Did I drop it here? If you boys have found it and
don't give it up--" he spluttered.
"Is this it?" asked Sammy quickly, holding out the check.
The miser fairly snatched it from the boy's grasp.
"That's it! Where'd you get it? You must have took it from my pocket
when you knocked me down!" the peevish man exclaimed.
"We did not!" cried Sammy, in righteous anger. "We found it in the snow
where it fell. And knocking you down was an accident."
Perhaps the miser realized this, or perhaps the joy at finding the ten
dollar check he thought he had lost made him more humane. At any rate he
growled out:
"Well, maybe you couldn't help it. But you boys shouldn't be so rough. I
won't have you arrested this time, but I will next. I'm an old man, and
I can't stand bein' knocked around rough-like. Here--here's a penny for
you for findin' my check," and he fumbled in an old wallet.
"No, thank you!" exclaimed Sammy, turning aside. "We don't want any
reward."
"Oh, all right," said the miser, and with a sigh of relief he put the
cent back in his purse. "Boys have too much money now-a-days as it is."
He shuffled off, followed by the indignant glances of the lads.
"Isn't he the limit!" murmured Frank.
"He sure is," agreed Bob.
"You want to stop your fooling, Bob," advised Sammy. "You nearly got us
into trouble."
"All right--I'll be good," promised the fun-loving Bob. But his chums
knew that it would be only for a short time at best. However, they were
used to it now.
The three soon forgot the little happening with the miser, in their
hurry to get home and find out if they could go camping on Pine Island.
School would close for Christmas in a day or so, and there was much to
do to get ready.
It was no easy matter for the boys to get their parents' consent to the
trip. They had to "tease" very hard. But their plan of getting Mrs.
Blake to put in a good word for them was not in vain.
"Of course you ought to let the boys go," she said, when she called in
turn on Mrs. Bouncer, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Haven. "My brother will be
delighted to see them, and he'll take the best of care of them. It will
do them good. They're only boys once, and they have studied well this
term."
So it came about that permission was given. The boys were to take along
plenty of warm clothing. As for food, Mrs. Blake said her brother had
plenty in his cabin. She had written that the boys were coming, and he
had laid in a good stock of provisions.
"Hurray!" cried Sammy, when the matter was settled, "we can go!"
Arrangements were made, and Jed and his larger chums promised to take
the three boys to the island on the ice-boat. The lake was frozen over
thickly now, and there was no danger.
School closed, Christmas came, with all its joys, and two days after the
holiday the little party of three, in charge of the older boys, set off
on the ice-boat.
It was a fine sunny day, though cold, and there was a good wind, so they
were only a comparatively short time in getting to the upper end of Pine
Island. As they neared the dock in front of the cabin where Mr. Jessup
had his camp, Sammy and his chums kept a bright lookout. None of them
admitted as much, but they were all thinking they might see the
mysterious hermit.
"There's your friend, I guess," said Jed, as the ice-boat came up into
the wind, and headed for the dock. "That's Mr. Jessup waving to you. I
know him."
A tall man, with a gun under his arm, was standing on the edge of the
little pier that extended out into the frozen lake.
"Yes, that's him," said Sammy, who knew the hunter from the way in which
Mrs. Blake had described her brother.
"I wish we were you chaps," spoke Jim Eaton. "You'll have no end of good
times here."
"That's what they will," added Hank.
But neither they, nor Sammy and his chums, dreamed of the queer, as well
as good, times in store.
The ice-boat came to a stop, the three small boys got off, and the craft
veered away again.
"Well, boys, glad to see you!" called Mr. Jessup, cordially as he met
them. "Welcome to Camp Mystery!"