TOLLY TIP AND THE FOREST CABIN
"Oh! that's too bad!" exclaimed Spider Sexton, "I've been telling
everybody we'd taste venison of our own killing while off on this
trip, and there the first deer we've glimpsed gives us the merry
ha-ha!"
"Rotten luck!" grumbled Jud Elderkin. "And me with a rifle gripped in
my fist all the time. But I only had a glimpse of a brown object
disappearing in the brush, and I never want to just _wound_ a deer so
it will suffer. That's why I didn't fire when I threw my gun up."
"With me," explained Jack Stormways, "it happened that Bluff here was
just in my way when I had the chance to aim."
"Well," laughed Bobolink, "you might have shot straight through his
head, because it's a vacuum. I once heard a teacher tell him so when
he failed in his lessons every day for a week."
"Oh! there's bound to be plenty of deer where you can see one so
easily," Paul told them, "so cheer up. Unless I miss my guess we'll
have all sorts of game to eat while up here in the snow woods. Abe
said it was a big season for fur and feather this year."
They kept plodding along and put more miles behind them. The moon now
had to be relied on to afford them light, because the last of the
sunset glow had departed from the western heavens.
Phil was beginning to feel very tired, and feared he would have to
give up unless inside of another mile or two they arrived at their
intended destination. Being a proud boy he detested showing any signs
of weakness, and clinched his teeth more tightly together as he
pressed on, keeping a little behind the rest, so that no one should
hear his occasional groan.
All at once a glad cry broke out ahead, coming from Sandy Griggs, who
at the moment chanced to be in the van.
"I reckon that's a jolly big fire yonder, fellows, unless I miss my
guess!" he told them.
"It is a fire, sure thing," agreed Bobolink.
"Tolly Tip has been looking for us, it seems, and has built a roaring
blaze out of doors to serve as a guide to our faltering steps!"
announced Jud, pompously, although he could hardly have been referring
to himself, for his pace seemed to be just as swift and bold as when
he first set out.
"It's less than half a mile away I should say, even with this crooked
stream to navigate," announced Bobolink, more to comfort Phil than
anything else.
"Keep going right along, and don't bother about me, I'm all right,"
called the latter, cheerfully, from the rear.
In a short time the scouts drew near what proved to be a roaring fire
built on the bank of the creek. They could see a man moving about, and
he must have already heard their voices in the near distance for he
was shading his eyes with his hand, and looking earnestly their way.
"Hello, Tolly Tip!" cried out the boisterous Bobolink. "Here we come,
right-side up with care! How's Mrs. Tip, and all the little Tips?"
This was only a boyish joke, for they had already been told by Mr.
Garrity that the keeper of the hunting lodge was a jolly old bachelor.
But Bobolink must have his say regardless of everything. They heard
the trapper laugh as though he immediately fell in with the spirit of
fun that these boys carried with them.
"He's all right!" exclaimed Bobolink, on catching that boisterous
laugh. "Who's all right? Tolly Tip, the keeper of Deer Head Lodge,
situated in Garrity Camp! For he's a jolly good fellow, which none can
deny!"
Amidst all this laughter and chatter the ten scouts arrived at the
spot where the welcoming blaze awaited them, to receive a warm welcome
from the queer, old fellow who took care of Mr. Garrity whenever the
latter chose to hide away from his business vexations up here in the
woods.
The boys could see immediately that Tolly Tip was about as queer as
his name would indicate. At the same time they believed they would
like him. His blue eyes twinkled with good humor, and he had a droll
Irish brogue that was bound to add to the flavor of the stories they
felt sure he had on the end of his tongue.
"Sure, it's delighted I am to say the lot av yees this night," he said
as they came crowding around, each wanting to shake his hand fiercely.
"Mr. Garrity towld me in the letther he was after sindin' up with the
tame that ye war a foine bunch av lads, that would be afther kapin' me
awake all right. And sure I do belave 'twill be so."
"I hope we won't bother you too much while we're here," said Paul,
understanding what an energetic crowd he was piloting on this
excursion.
"Ye couldn't do the same if ye tried," Tolly Tip declared, heartily.
"I have to be alone most all the long winther, an' it do be a great
trate to hav' some lively lads visit me for a s'ason. Fetch the packs
along wid ye into the cabin. I want to make ye sorry for carrying all
this stuff wid ye up here."
His words mystified them until, having entered the capacious cabin
built of hewn logs, with the chinks well filled with hard mortar, they
were shown a wagonload of groceries which Mr. Garrity had actually
taken secret pleasure in purchasing without letting the boys know
anything about it.
A team had found its way across the miles of intervening woods, and
delivered this magnificent present at the forest lodge. It was
intended to be a surprise to the boys, and Mr. Garrity certainly
overwhelmed them with his generosity.
Bobolink alone was seen to stand and gaze regretfully at the small
edition of a grocery store, meanwhile shaking his head sorrowfully.
"What ails you, Bobolink?" demanded one of his chums.
"It can't be done, no matter how many meals a day we try to make way
with," the other solemnly announced. "I've been calculating, and
there's enough stuff there to feed us a month. Then, besides, think of
what we toted along. Shucks! why didn't Nature make boys with India
rubber stomachs."
"Some fellows I happen to know have already been favored in that
line," hinted Tom Betts, maliciously; "but as for the rest of us, we
have to get along with just the old-fashioned kind."
"Cheer up, Bobolink," laughed Paul; "what we can't devour we'll be
only too glad to leave to our good friend Tolly Tip here. The chances
are he'll know what to do with everything so none of it will be
wasted."
"When a man who all his life has been as tightfisted as Mr. Garrity
does wake up," said Phil Towns, "he goes to the other extreme, and
shames a lot of people who've been calling themselves charitable."
"Oh! that's because he has so much to make up, I guess," explained
Jud.
While some of the boys started in to get a good supper ready the
others went around taking a look at the cabin in the snowy woods that
was to be their home for the next twelve days.
It had been strongly built to resist the cold, though as a rule the
owner did not come up here after the leaves were off the forest trees.
A stove in one room could be used to keep it as warm as toast when
foot-long lengths of wood were fed to its capacious maw. The fire in
the big open hearth served to heat the other room, and over this the
cooking was also done.
Several bunks gave promise of snug sleeping quarters. As these would
accommodate only four it was evident that lots must be cast to see
who the lucky quartette would prove to be.
"To-morrow," said Paul, when speaking of this lack of accommodations,
"one of the very first things we do will be to fix other bunks,
because every scout should have a decent place for his bed. There's
plenty of room in here to make a regular scout dormitory of it."
"Fine!" commented Tom Betts; "and those of us who draw the short
straws can manage somehow with our blankets on the floor for one
night, I guess."
"We've all slept soundly on harder beds than that, let me tell you,"
asserted Bobolink, "and for one I decline to draw a straw. Me for the
soft side of a plank to-night, you hear."
The other boys knew that Bobolink, in his generosity, really had in
mind Phil and one or two more of the boys, not quite so accustomed to
roughing it as others of the campers.
That supper, eaten under such novel surroundings, would long be
remembered; for while these boys were old hands at camping, up to now
they had never spent any time in the open while Jack Frost had his
stamp on all nature, and the earth was covered with snow.
It was, all things considered, one of the greatest evenings in their
lives.