A QUESTION OF MONEY
With the inter-troop baseball series a thing of the past, Sanson and
Trexler promptly turned their attention to swimming. They had already
been out to the lake several times, but with baseball practise almost
every day, it had not been possible to spend very much time there. Now,
however, they both took advantage of every free afternoon, and before
a great while Paul emerged from that first hopeless, helpless state
when it seemed as if he were never going to be able even to support
himself in the water. He was still far from being a good swimmer, but
at least he could behold the miraculous ease and skill of the other
fellows without a feeling of despondent envy.
Frank Sanson naturally made much quicker progress. Knowing the rudiments,
he did not, like Paul, have to start at the very beginning. His
strength and endurance, too, were greater than his friend's, and he
had practically none of Trexler's nervous timidity to combat. All he
needed was practise, and he was not long graduating from the novice class.
The latter was uncommonly large this year. It was the first time the
boys had had the freedom of Crystal Lake, and practically every scout who
did not know how to swim seemed bent on learning before the summer camp
started. Many of the enthusiasts went out there every afternoon, while
Saturdays always saw a big crowd, most of whom brought their lunch and
made a day of it.
As a matter of course, since swimming could not very well be indulged
in all the time, there developed a great variety of scout sports and
activities. Often a scoutmaster or two showed up, and by dint of a
little suggestion would introduce among the purely entertaining games one
designed to test the boys' ability at signaling or first aid, or his
knowledge of tracking and trailing and woodcraft generally.
The system was entirely successful. Fellows who lacked the ambition
or push to acquire these important details of scouting--and there are
always such in every troop--found themselves, to their surprise,
absorbing the knowledge through the medium of a game or competition. More
often than not they discovered that it wasn't so hard or uninteresting as
they supposed, and in many cases real enthusiasm developed. Moreover,
members of the different troops came to know and understand each other
in a way which would have been impossible without this close and
constant companionship. Hitherto they had kept pretty much to themselves,
each boy traveling mainly with his own crowd and generally meeting
the others as opponents on gridiron or diamond.
Now unexpected friendships developed. Paul Trexler, who had revived
much of his interest in bird study, was amazed to find a kindred spirit
in Jim Crancher of Troop One. This big, rather rough-and-ready, chap
of whom Paul had always stood somewhat in awe, proved to be quite as
keen as himself about birds and nature generally, and the two had many a
pleasant and profitable tramp through the woods together. There were
many other similar cases, and before long it was no uncommon thing to
see boys who had hitherto been rivals eating their lunch together and
chatting intimately about what they would do at camp.
The latter subject became more and more a topic of interest and
discussion. For the first time the various troops were planning to join
forces in a common camp, and for months a committee of scoutmasters had
been at work on the details. Funds for equipment had been secured by the
local council, but the question of a proper location threatened to
prove a serious difficulty. Dozens of sites had been investigated and
found lacking in some important particular, either in quantity or
quality of water, in woods not extensive enough for hiking, and the
like. Most of the really attractive lakes in that part of the State
were lined with summer cottages and bungalows, while the wilder,
mountainous sections were too inaccessible to be wisely considered in a
camp of this nature.
The boys were beginning to grow seriously worried when suddenly the
rumor swept through town that a novel and totally unexpected solution of
the difficulty had presented itself. It was said that the committee had
been offered the use of a large tract of land in the southern part of
the State bordering on the ocean. Such a situation had never been even
remotely considered, and the excitement of the boys, many of whom had
never seen the ocean, rose to fever-heat at the enthralling possibility.
At the earliest possible moment Troop Five in a body hurried around to
obtain further details from Mr. Curtis, only to discover that he had
gone with other members of the committee to look the ground over. He
was away for three days, returning the afternoon of the troop meeting,
from which, it is perhaps needless to say, not a scout was absent.
"You've heard about it, I see," the scoutmaster remarked as he surveyed
the line of eager, bright-eyed boys before him. "Well, I don't know
that we can employ our time better to-night than in going over the camp
proposition thoroughly and finding out what you fellows think of the
situation."
"Is it going to be at--at that place on the ocean, sir?" put in one of
the boys.
"Yes; we've practically decided to accept Mr. Thornton's offer. The
distance was the only drawback; it's almost a hundred miles from here,
but I think we can get around that. Everything else is ideal. The land
is a wooded point of six or seven hundred acres. One side faces the
ocean, the other a wide, sheltered bay that runs inland several miles,
joining finally with a small river. The whole point is rather high
ground, with stretches of sand-dunes on the ocean side, and wooded with
scrub-oak and stunted pines. Back of that, the land is mostly covered
with second-growth timber, and rises gradually to an elevation called
Lost Mine Hill--"
"What's that, sir?" interrupted Court Parker, eagerly.
The scoutmaster smiled. "At the time of the Revolution there was said to
be a copper-mine located thereabouts, the entrance to which has since
been lost track of. At least, that's what one of the old residents told
us."
More than one boy's eyes sparkled. There was a fascination in the mere
name.
"Whether it's true or not, I have no idea," continued Mr. Curtis. "To
return to the camp. This would be located on the bay side of the point,
facing the village, which is over a mile distant and practically the
only settlement around. The beach shelves gradually here, making an
ideal place for swimming, and there are three or four small islands
about a quarter of a mile from shore. The fishing in the bay is fine,
and there are lots of crabs and eels in the coves and inlets farther
up. We should have to do a lot of clearing out, of course, for the
undergrowth is pretty thick, but that would be more fun than otherwise."
A long, concerted sigh went up from the listening scouts. Ocean and
islands and a lost copper-mine seemed too entrancing a combination to
be possible. Several boys began to ask questions at once, but stopped at
a gesture from Mr. Curtis.
"One at a time, fellows," he reminded them. "The only practicable way
of getting there, Bob, is to hire an auto-truck and motor down to
Clam Cove, crossing over in a motor-boat. We haven't enough tents or
equipment to accommodate all the fellows at once, so we've decided to
divide in two or three relays of say thirty-five boys to a group,
each crowd to stay two weeks. The truck could make the trip in seven
or eight hours, and by starting early could take one bunch down and
bring another back the same day, thus considerably lessening the expense."
"How much do you think that will be, sir?" asked Dale Tompkins, quickly,
an anxious wrinkle in his forehead.
"About five dollars a week for board and a dollar extra for
transportation."
The troubled expression deepened in Dale's face, and he scarcely heard
the various other questions and answers that followed. Six dollars a
week--twelve in all! There would be other necessities, too, in the
way of clothes fit for camp. He had no shorts, for instance, or decent
sneakers. Fifteen dollars would barely cover the outlay; and though he
had worked hard for two months at least, he had little more than half
of the amount saved. Where was the rest to come from?
When Mr. Curtis, with pencil and paper in hand, started at the head of
the line to note down what boys were going, Tompkins roused himself and
listened with a touch of envy to the ready answers: "Yes, _sir_!" "You
can count me in every time, sir!" "Can't a fellow stay longer than two
weeks?" or, from Larry Wilks, "No, sir; I'm going up to Maine as soon
as school is over." Not one of them seemed troubled by the problem which
worried him.
"How about you, Dale?" asked the scoutmaster, after jotting down Vedder's
prompt acquiescence.
"I--don't know, sir."
"What's the trouble? Want to talk it over at home?" said the scoutmaster,
dropping his voice.
"N-o, sir. They'll let me go all right," answered Dale, adding, in a
still lower tone, "only I--I'm not sure about the--money."
Mr. Curtis nodded understandingly. "I see. Well, there will be at least
two weeks before even the first crowd goes. We'll have to get together
and think up ways and means."
He passed on, leaving Dale not very greatly encouraged. It would be
like Mr. Curtis to invent some work about his place whereby the scout
might earn the required amount, but Dale was determined to stay at home
rather than take advantage of the scoutmaster in that way.
"He's done enough for me already," the boy said to himself with a
stubborn squaring of the jaws. "If I can't raise the funds some other
way, I'll just have to go without camp."
That night he lay long awake, trying to think of some possible method,
but his efforts were not very successful. He still had his paper-route,
but the money from that went mostly into the family treasury. He might,
and probably would, get some odd jobs during the next two weeks, but
there was only grass cutting, now, or weeding gardens, and neither of
these chores was particularly well paid in Hillsgrove.
On the whole the outlook was distinctly discouraging, and for the next
few days Dale had a struggle to maintain his usual cheerfulness. For
months he had looked forward to camp as the supreme culmination of a
more than usually happy year.
"It doesn't seem as if I _could_ give it up!" he muttered rebelliously at
the end of a day which had brought him just twenty cents for a laborious
weeding job. "Oh, gee! If I'd only started to save for it sooner, I--"
He broke off and bit his lips. Presently a crooked smile struggled
defiantly through the gloom. "Oh, thunder!" he exclaimed whimsically.
"Quit your grouching, Dale Tompkins. If you're going to let a little
matter like earning ten dollars stand between you and a corking good
time, you're no kind of a scout at all."