OFF TO THE WOODS
For days the town hummed with the excitement that followed the daring
robbery of the truck belonging to Mr. Fennington, but as time passed and
there seemed little prospect of bringing the robbers to justice,
interest died down. But the radio boys never abated their resolve to do
all in their power to recover the stolen merchandise, although at that
time they were kept so busy in high school, preparing for a stiff
examination, that they had little time for anything else.
"It's getting so bad lately that I don't even get time to enjoy my
meals," grumbled Jimmy, one sunny spring afternoon. "Swinging an oar a
la Ben Hur would be just a little restful exercise after the way we've
been drilling the last week."
"Get out!" exclaimed Joe. "Why, you wouldn't last two hours in one of
those galleys, Doughnuts. They'd heave you over the side as excess
baggage once they got wise to you."
"After two hours of rowing in one of those old galleys, he'd be glad to
get heaved overboard, I'll bet," put in Herb, grinning. "I think Jimmy
would rather drown any day than work that hard."
"Huh! I don't see where you fellows get off to criticize," retorted the
harassed youth. "I never saw any of you win gold medals for hard and
earnest work."
"Lots of people deserve medals who never get them," Bob pointed out.
"Yes. But, likewise, lots of people don't deserve 'em who don't get
'em," retorted Jimmy, and for once appeared to have won an argument.
"I guess you're right at that," conceded Bob. "But, anyway, I'm going to
pass those examinations no matter how hard I have to work. It will
pretty near break my heart, but it can't be helped."
The others were equally determined, and they dug into the mysteries of
Horace and Euclid to such good effect that they all passed the
examinations with flying colors. After that came a breathing space, and
just at that time a golden opportunity presented itself.
Mr. Fennington, Herbert's father, had become interested, together with
several other business men of Clintonia, in a timber deal comprising
many acres of almost virgin forest in the northern part of the state. He
was going to look over the ground personally, and when Herb learned of
this, he urged his father to take him and the other radio boys along for
a brief outing over the Easter holiday. When his father seemed extremely
dubious over this plan, Herb reminded him that Mr. Layton had taken them
all to Mountain Pass the previous autumn, and that it would be only fair
to reciprocate.
"But the Lookers are up in that part of the country, too," said Mr.
Fennington. "Aren't you fellows scared to go where Buck Looker is?" he
added, with a smile lurking about his mouth.
"Oh, yes, we're terribly afraid of that!" answered Herb sarcastically.
"We'll take our chances, though, if you'll only let us go with you."
"Well, well, I'll see," said his father, and Herb knew that this was
practically equivalent to surrender. Accordingly he hunted up his chums
and broached the project to them.
"Herb, your words are as welcome as the flowers in May," Bob told him,
with a hearty slap on the back. "If this trip actually works out, we'll
forgive you all last winter's jokes, won't we, fellows?"
"It's an awful lot to ask of a fellow, but I suppose we can manage it,"
said Joe, and Jimmy, after pretending to think the matter over very
seriously, finally said the same.
They were all overjoyed at the prospect of such a trip, and had little
difficulty in getting the consent of their parents. Mr. Fennington
eventually consented to take the radio boys with him, and there ensued
several days of bustle and excited packing. At length all was ready, and
they found themselves, one bright spring morning, installed in a big
seven-passenger touring car _en route_ for Braxton Woods, as the strip
of timberland was called.
"This is the life!" chortled Jimmy, as the miles rolled away behind.
"Fresh air, bright sun, the song of birds, and--doughnuts!" and he
produced a bulging paper bag full of his favorite dainty.
"How do you get that way?" asked Joe severely, although he eyed the bag
hungrily. "The 'song of doughnuts!' You're the only Doughnut that I ever
heard of that could sing, and you're no great shakes at it."
"Oh, you know what I meant!" exclaimed Jimmy. "At least, you're thicker
than usual if you don't."
"Do you hear that, Joe?" laughed Bob. "The boy's telling you that you're
thick. Are you going to stand for that?"
"He knows it's true. And, anyway, he doesn't dare talk back for fear I
won't give him one of these delicious little morsels," said Jimmy
placidly. "How about it, Joe?"
"That's taking mean advantage of a poor fellow who's practically dying
of starvation," said Joe. "Give me a doughnut, and I won't talk
back--until after I've eaten it, anyway."
"That's all right then," said his plump friend. "After you've eaten one,
you'll feel so grateful to me that you'll regret all the low-down things
you've ever said about me."
"Oh, you're the finest pal any fellow ever had," declared Joe. "How many
doughnuts have you left, Jimmy?"
"Something tells me that you don't mean all you say," said Jimmy
suspiciously. "Just the same, I'll take a chance and give you another
one. They won't last long at the rate they're going; I can tell that
without half trying."
"Well, a short life but a merry one," said Bob. "Come across with
another, Jimmy, will you?"
"You know I love you too much to refuse you anything, Bob," said Jimmy.
"Just the same, I'm going to hold out another for myself, and then you
big panhandlers can finish them up. I've just had four, but I suppose
those will have to last me for the present."
"Say, that's tough--only four!" exclaimed Herb, in mock sympathy. "What
will you ever do until lunch time, I wonder?"
"I'm wondering the same thing myself; but I'm used to suffering whenever
I'm with you fellows, so I suppose I'll have to grin and bear it
somehow."
"I don't see why you didn't bring some more, while you were about it,"
complained Bob. "You might have known that wouldn't be half enough."
"It will be a long time before I buy any more for you Indians, you can
bet your last dollar on that," said Jimmy, in an aggrieved voice.
"You've been going to school a number of years, now, but you still don't
know what 'gratitude' means."
"The only one that should be grateful is yourself, Doughnuts," Joe
assured him. "You know if you had eaten that whole bag full of doughnuts
that you'd have been heading a funeral to-morrow or next day. It's lucky
you have us around to save you from yourself."
While Jimmy was still framing an indignant reply to this there was a
loud report, and the driver quickly brought the big car to a halt.
"Blowout," he remarked laconically, walking around to view a shoe that
was flat beyond the possibility of doubt. It was not an unmixed evil to
the boys, however, for they welcomed the chance to get out and stretch
their cramped muscles. They helped the driver jack up the wheel and
change shoes, and in a short time they were ready to proceed.
Back they climbed into their places, and with a rasp of changing gears
they were on their way once more.
Braxton Woods lay something over a hundred miles from Clintonia, but the
roads were good most of the way, and they had planned to reach their
destination that evening. When they had covered sixty miles of the
distance, Mr. Fennington consented to stop for the lunch for which the
boys had been clamoring for some time. They took their time over the
meal, building a fire and cooking steak and frying potatoes.
"Gee, this was a feast fit for a king!" exclaimed Jimmy, when it was
over.
The boys lay down on the newly sprouted grass, but had hardly got
settled when the driver, who appeared restless, summoned them to
proceed.
"We've got a long way to go yet," he said, "and the last fifteen miles
are worse than all the rest of the trip put together. The road is mostly
clay and rocks, and at this time of year it's apt to be pretty wet. I
don't want to have to drive it after dark."
Mr. Fennington was also anxious to get on, so their rest was a brief
one, and they were soon on their way again.
The radio boys laughed and sang, cracked jokes, and waved to passing
cars, while the mileage record on the speedometer mounted steadily up.
The sun was still quite a way above the western horizon when they
reached the place where the forest road branched off from the main
highway. The driver tackled this road cautiously, and they soon found
that his description of it had not been overdrawn. It was a narrow
trail, in most places not wide enough for two cars to pass, and they
wondered what would happen should they meet another car going in the
opposite direction. But in the whole fifteen miles they met only one
other motor, and fortunately that was at a wide place in the road.
The scent of spring and growing things was strong in the air, and
compensated somewhat for the atrocious road. The boys were often tossed
high in the air as the car bumped over logs and stones, or came up with
a lurch out of some deep hole. But they hung on to each other, or
whatever else was most convenient, and little minded the rough going.
After one particularly vicious lunge, however, the heavy car came down
with a slam, and there was a sharp noise of snapping steel. With a
muttered exclamation the driver brought his car to a halt and climbed
out.
"Just as I thought!" he exclaimed. "A spring busted, and the nearest
garage twenty miles away. Now we're up against it for fair!"
"Do you mean that we can't go on?" asked Mr. Fennington anxiously. "It
will be dark in another hour."
"I know it will," replied the chauffeur. "But what can we do about it?"
"Can't we make a temporary repair?" suggested Bob. "We can't have much
further to go now."
"Well, I'm open to suggestions, young fellow," growled the driver. "If
you can tell me how to fix this boiler up, go to it. It's more than I
can do."
Bob and the others made a thorough examination of the damage, and they
were not long in concocting a plan. Bob had brought with him a small but
very keen-edged ax, and it was the work of only a few minutes to cut a
stout limb about six inches in diameter from a tree.
With this, and a coil of heavy rope that was carried in the car for
emergencies, they proceeded to make the temporary repair.