WE KEEP ON GOING NORTH
One thing I’ll say for Hervey Willetts and that is that wherever he goes
there is adventure. He carries it with him. He couldn’t just go on a
hike, that fellow couldn’t. He always has to start something.
Garry said, “Well, things seem to be moving.”
“Oh, they’re moving all right,” Bert said.
Warde said, “There are only two directions left to go in.”
“Have patience,” I told him; “we’ll try them all; there are four, east
and west and up and down.”
“And in and out,” Warde said.
“Sure,” I said, “that’s six. I wonder how much the fare to Albany
is—the round trip?”
“It’s not so very round,” Pee-wee said.
“It’s a kind of triangular circle,” I told him. “If we pay our fare both
ways we don’t get any dinner in Albany, we’ll have to walk back. And if
we don’t have some dinner we can’t walk. So there you are; take your
choice. It’s as clear as mud.”
“You’ve got us into a nice fix,” the kid said. “I knew you were crazy
when you made us throw away those chocolate bars. The next thing you’ll
have us in jail.”
“You should worry, you can eat the prison bars,” I told him.
“Let’s see how much money we’ve got,” Bert said.
I had about seventy-five cents and the cap of a fountain pen that I use
for a whistle.
Pee-wee had fifty-two cents and a lot of junk; we had a little over
seven dollars altogether. It was lucky that was enough for our fare to
Albany. But we didn’t get much change. The conductor said the train went
to Albany without change—I guess that’s why we didn’t get much.
“How can we hike back thirty miles to-day, tell me that?” the Animal
Cracker wanted to know.
“That’s easy,” I said; “by doing two miles at a time, that makes
fifteen. Are you getting frightened?”
“We don’t know where we’re going but we’re on our way,” Bert began
singing.
“Maybe it won’t be so far back as it is there,” Garry said.
“Sure, because it’s always shorter going south,” I told him.
“Six of us ought to be able to earn seven dollars in Albany,” Warde
said. “And we can take an evening train down.”
“I’m not going on any more trains,” Pee-wee yelled. “I’ve had enough of
trains. If we come back on a train it won’t stop till it gets to
Poughkeepsie, and then if we come up on another one it won’t stop till
it gets to Montreal. You don’t catch me getting on another train.”
“Follow your leader,” I told him. “Follow your leader wherever he goes.”
Everybody in the train was laughing at us, but what did we care? It
might have been worse, we might have been on the Erie.
“We’ve got enough left to wire to camp, if the worst comes to the
worst,” Bert said.
“It’ll have to be worse than that before _I’ll_ wire,” said Hervey.
“I’ll say so,” I told him. “I’m not worrying, this train knows where
it’s going. If we forget to get out at Albany we’ll get out at Buffalo
and you can follow your leader across Lake Ontario. That used to be in
my geography.”
“I guess it’s there yet,” Garry said.
“Take a slap on the wrist for that,” I told him.
“You all make me tired,” Pee-wee said, very disgruntled.
“Well, you’re having a good rest,” I told him. “We’re on our way to
Temple Camp, don’t worry. We’re only taking a long cut. Our trail is
tied in a knot. We’ll get there when we get there—maybe a little
sooner. All you have to do is follow your leader wherever he goes.”
“Absolutely, positively,” Warde said; “that’s understood.”
“Even if he goes to sleep,” I said; “excuse me while I take a nap. I
expect to have a long walk this afternoon.”
Just then the train began slowing down and the whistle started blowing
very loud and shrill. A brakeman with a red flag came hurrying through
the car.
“I guess there must be a mosquito on the track,” Garry said.
“Maybe the engineer’s going to pick some blackberries,” Warde said.
All of a sudden—bang! the cars knocked against each other, the train
stopped so suddenly. The whistle blew three or four times very quick and
shrill.
In about one second I was on my feet. “Follow your leader,” I shouted.
And through the aisle I went with the rest of them after me all singing
those crazy rhymes that stuck in our minds like glue.
Don’t start to go back if it freezes or snows,
Don’t weaken or flunk or suggest or oppose;
Your job is to follow and not to suppose.
And follow your leader wherever he goes.