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ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY-BONE HIKE
[Illustration: “OUT I WENT AGAIN WITH ALL OF THEM AFTER ME.”]
ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY-BONE HIKE
by
PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH
Author of
Tom Slade, Boy Scout,
Tom Slade at Temple Camp,
Roy Blakeley, etc.
Illustrated by H. S. Barbour
Published with the approval of
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
Grosset & Dunlap
Publishers New York
Made in the United States of America
Copyright, 1923
Grosset & Dunlap
CONTENTS
I We Go
II We Start Back
III We Go South
IV We Go North
V We Keep on Going North
VI We Move Heaven and Earth
VII We Reach the Fickle Guide Post
VIII We Do a Good Turn
IX We Follow Our Leader
X We Retrace Our Steps
XI We Wait for the Boat
XII We Collect Toll
XIII We Are Marooned on a Desert Island
XIV We See a Sail
XV We Form a Resolve
XVI We Are Saved
XVII We Cook the Duck
XVIII We Meet a Friend
XIX We Eat
XX We Make a Promise
XXI We Keep Still
XXII We Hear a Voice
XXIII We Go to the Rescue
XXIV We Drop Dead—Almost
XXV We Prove It
XXVI We See a House
XXVII We Lose Our Bearings
XXVIII We Are Dead to the World
XXIX We Wake Up
XXX We Figure It Out
XXXI We Make a Bargain
XXXII We Become Bandits
XXXIII We Win
XXXIV We Start the Parade
XXXV We End Our Hike
XXXVI We Demobilize
Chapter the Last
ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY-BONE HIKE
CHAPTER I
WE GO
This is going to be the craziest story I ever wrote. But anyway every
word of it is true—except a few small words. Even the punctuation is
true. But I have to admit the story is crazy. It’s the craziest story
ever written in this world or any other world. I don’t care how many
worlds there are. The name I call it by is the Funny-bone Hike, but I
should worry what you call it.
When you study first aid you have to know all about the different bones
but the only bone I know anything about is my funny-bone. Anyway I don’t
care so much about first aid—I like lemonade better.
But one thing, I’ve got the Safety First badge. To get that you have to
think up a safety device in your home. I thought of a safety pin. I’ve
got ten other merit badges, too. Next to laughing my specialty is
cooking.
So now I’ll tell you about how all this crazy business started. It
happened accidentally on purpose. Our troop was up at Temple
Camp—that’s where we spend our summers. One morning six of us went down
to Catskill Landing in the bus to get some fish-hooks and jaw-breakers;
I’m crazy about those, I don’t mean fish-hooks.
The six scouts that happened to be along were Bert Winton, (he belongs
out west) and Hervey Willetts, (gee whiz, he belongs everywhere I guess)
and Garry Everson (he lives down the Hudson) and Warde Hollister (he’s
in my patrol and my patrol is the Silver Foxes and they’re all crazier
than each other, those fellows) and Pee-wee Harris (he’s one of the
raving Ravens of our troop) and Roy Blakeley, that’s me, I mean I,
correct, be seated. I was named after my sister because she was named
before I was. I’m patrol leader of the Silver Foxes, but I’m not to
blame, because they were wished onto me. I’m more to be pitied than
blamed.
Now it’s about ten miles from Temple Camp to Catskill Landing. And it’s
about three hundred and forty-eleven miles back from Catskill Landing to
Temple Camp. I bet you’ll say that isn’t possible and I know it isn’t
possible but it’s true just the same.
So this is the way it is. The first chapter of this story tells how we
went to Catskill Landing and the next twenty or thirty chapters tell how
we got back to Temple Camp. You can stay in Catskill Landing if you want
to and not bother with the rest, I should worry. But the book includes
the round trip only it wasn’t so round; it was kind of square like a
circle and rectangular and right-angular and left angular, and every
which way. It was shaped like a lot of wire all tangled up. The way back
was so crooked that we met ourselves a lot of times going the other way.
So if you want to you can call this story The Tangled Trail. But I like
the Funny-bone Hike better. Suit yourself.