THE SUGAR CAMP
An untimely snow storm that was wholly unlooked for by the boys dismayed
them by putting a stop to their practice for the time being. But the
snow, though heavy, did not last long, and began to melt rapidly under
the rays of the sun.
"See how the water is running down those trees," remarked Shiner,
looking out of the window one Friday morning.
"That isn't water, boy," said Sparrow. "That's sap. The trees are
bursting with it just now."
"By the way, fellows," put in Skeets, "have you ever been to a maple
sugar camp when the sap was running?"
Most of them had not and Skeets went on to explain.
"It's the best fun ever," he said; "and now's just the time to see it
running full blast when the snow is melting and the air is warm. On a
day like this the sap comes down in bucketfuls. And you can see just how
they collect it, and how they boil it down until it's a thick syrup, and
the way that hot maple sugar does taste--yum yum!" and here he closed
his eyes in blissful recollection.
"Sounds mighty good to me," said Pee Wee, with whom the memory of Meena
and her breakfast of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup still lingered.
"You can take out the hot sugar in big spoons and let it cool on a pan
of snow," continued Skeets, drawing out the details as he saw that his
friends' mouths were watering in anticipation, "and when you get the
first taste of it you never want to stop eating."
"I wonder if there's a sugar camp anywhere around here," said Pee Wee
with great animation.
"I know of one that's about three miles away," said Sparrow. "What do
you say to our making up a party and going out there to-morrow if Doc
Raymond will let us go out of bounds?"
There was a general chorus of gleeful assent.
"What we ought to do," said Skeets, "is to have a couple of fellows go
out there to-day and make arrangements. We want to take up a collection
and fix it up with the farmer's wife to have hot biscuits and other
things ready for us. I tell you what, fellows, hot biscuits and fresh
butter and hot thick maple sugar just out of the boiler--"
"Don't say another word," cried Pee Wee frantically, "or I'll never,
never be able to wait till to-morrow."
They took stock of their resources and collected several dollars between
them, enough they thought to cover the expense. Bobby and Fred were
appointed as a committee of two to go out to the camp that afternoon so
that everything would be in readiness on the morrow.
Dr. Raymond's permission was readily obtained, and the chums set out on
their three mile walk. They had no trouble in finding the camp and the
farmer's wife, a bright, cheery person, was very ready to entertain the
party and promised to have an abundant lunch provided for them.
The boys would have dearly liked to inspect the camp, but they had
promised their chums that they would not do so until all could see it
together, and they kept loyally to their word.
No finer day could have been selected for that particular outing than
the one that dawned the next morning. The air was mild and the sun
shining brightly. The only drawback was the walking, as the roads were
full of mud in some places and melting slush in others, but as they were
all warmly shod that made little difference.
Pee Wee groaned occasionally as he lagged along in the rear, but they
had no fear of his dropping out. It would have taken a good deal more
than a three-mile walk to keep Pee Wee away from that sugar camp after
Skeets's description.
"There it is," cried Fred at last, pointing to a big grove of trees in
the rear of a farmhouse.
Pee Wee sniffed the air.
"Seems to me I can smell the sugar cooking from here," he said joyously.
They left the road now, took a short cut across the fields and soon
entered the grove of maples.
It was an extensive grove, containing several hundred of the stately
trees. Into each one of these that had reached their full growth a hole
had been made, a spigot driven in, and a bright tin pail suspended from
each spigot. Into these pails the sap was falling with a musical drip so
that a tinkling murmur ran through the grove as though some one were
gently touching the strings of a zither.
An old horse attached to a low sled was shambling slowly along through
the woodland paths, stopping at each tree. The driver would empty the
pail into one of several large cans that the sled contained, replace the
pail and go on to the next.
"Seems almost a shame to tap those splendid trees," murmured Mouser.
"It's almost like bleeding them to death."
"Doesn't do them a bit of harm," explained Skeets cheerfully. "The
farmers take good care not to drain out more sap than the tree can
spare."
When the sled had made its round, the boys followed it to the shed where
the sap was boiled down into sugar. Here they saw an enormous caldron
with a roaring fire underneath. Into this caldron the sap was poured,
and here its transformation began. A delicious odor arose that made the
nostrils of the boys dilate hungrily.
Every little while, the man who was supervising the boiling drew out a
huge ladleful to see how thick it was getting. At a certain stage he
turned to the boys with a grin.
"Each one of you take one of those pans," he directed, pointing to a
bright row of dairy tins which the housewife had made ready. "Fill them
up with snow and pack the snow down hard."
In a twinkling the boys were ready. Then, as each held up his pan, the
man poured a big ladle of the hot syrup on the snow. The rich golden
brown against the whiteness of the snow would have delighted the soul of
an artist. But these lads were not artists, only hungry boys, and their
only concern was to get the sugar cool enough to eat.
Pee Wee in fact burned his lips and tongue by starting too soon, but he
soon forgot a trifle like that, and in a moment more he and the others
were eating as if they had never tasted anything so good in all their
lives.
"Hot biscuits coming, boys," smiled the farmer. "Better leave some
room."
"Let them come," mumbled Mouser with his mouth full of sugar. "None of
them will go away again."
And they made good this prophecy when a little later they were called
into the farmhouse, where a table was spread, heaped high with fluffy
biscuits just from the oven. On these the boys spread butter and then
piled them up with the delicious syrup. There were other things on the
table too, pickles and pies and cakes, but to these the boys paid slight
attention. They could have those any day, but to-day maple sugar was
king.
When at length they were through, they all acknowledged to having eaten
more than was good for them.
"We'll have to use a derrick to get Pee Wee on his feet," laughed Bobby.
"And borrow the horse and sled to take him back to school," said
Sparrow.
But it was not quite so bad as that, though after they started back the
other boys had to moderate their gait in order not to leave Pee Wee too
far behind.
"Hurry up, Pee Wee," admonished Skeets. "You're slow as molasses."
"Slow as maple syrup when it's cooling," amended Sparrow.
"Well, fellows, this has sure been a bully trip," remarked Shiner,
summing up the sentiments of all.
"This is the end of a perfect day," Fred chanted gayly, lifting up his
voice in song.