SCOUTS IN CLOVER
"THERE used to be a time," Uncle Caleb went on to remark, as he lifted
the heavy wildcat, and started toward the door of his cabin, "when I was
considered quite a sportsman. I took every opportunity I could to be in
the woods and on the water, shooting deer, quail, partridge, snipe,
ducks, geese, brant and all such things, for my fancy seemed to run more
in the line of small game than grizzly bears or lions, tigers, elephants
and the like. But years ago I began to notice a change gradually taking
place in my feelings. I suppose many men find the same thing working
when they grow older, and the fires of youth are spent. I began to
dislike taking life of any sort, and recently I have allowed many a fine
chance to make a bag slip by, because I would sooner snap off a picture,
and live on canned goods supplied from the store."
Of course none of the boys could fully understand this sentiment. They
viewed it from the standpoint of youth, and would never know any
different until they too grew old, and their hunting instincts became
mellowed.
At the same time they could respect such humane motives, and understand
something of the peculiar fascination that taking pictures of wild
animals in their native haunts was apt to entail.
"Now to see what a mess the creature may have made of my little cabin
home," Uncle Caleb went on to say, as he flung open the door and
entered, leaving the body of the late trespasser outside to be attended
to later.
The scouts crowded in after him, and looked eagerly around. They found
that the cabin in the snow forest was quite a neat affair. Evidently the
occupant had gone to considerable trouble and expense to make it
comfortable. As he expected to spend most of his time here under this
roof, Uncle Caleb believed in having things to suit him, even to a
little bathroom off the back, which in summer was supplied with running
water from a spring on higher ground, and fed through a sunken pipe, now
disconnected on account of the freezing temperature that would have
speedily burst it.
There were a couple of bunks built into the walls on either side of the
big fireplace, which latter came out several feet into the room. Besides
this there was a cot that was also a settee in the daytime, a large
table, several comfortable seats that were along the type of the Morris
chair Elmer had in his den at home, and various cases of books,
curiosities and such things.
Upon the floor were a number of real imported small rugs that Uncle
Caleb must have brought from the Orient himself. The boys thought them
rather odd, though at the same time pretty; but they were later on
staggered when they learned the history of each little carpet, and what
a vast sum Uncle Caleb had paid for them in his role of collector.
Taken in all, the interior of that cabin was about as far from
resembling the average hunter's home as anything could be. Immediately
Lil Artha quit calling it the "shack," because forever afterwards with
that cheery interior it would appeal more to him in the garb of a
miniature palace.
Uncle Caleb was a rich bachelor, and he liked to be comfortable.
Besides, he was a man of science, and a student, rather than a hunter;
so they concluded that he was quite right in making his little home look
so pleasant.
Just then, however, things were in something of an upset condition. The
hungry cat in prowling around and searching for something to eat had
upset a number of articles, broken a pet dish of the cabin's owner;
while there on the table was the partly gnawed strip of bacon at which
the animal had been busily at work when interrupted by their arrival on
the scene.
"I can save the better part of it," said the easy-going Uncle Caleb,
"and besides, there is plenty more in the locker, for I lay in my
winter's stock long before the first real snow comes, so as not to be
bothered later on by trips to the town where I trade, which is many
miles away from here."
When later on he showed them his "strong room" where his stores were
kept George in particular was noticed to lick his lips with a satisfied
smile on his face as if telling himself that there need be no fear of
hunger so long as they stayed with Uncle Caleb.
"Choose your bunks, boys," they were speedily told, "and toss your
blankets in the ones you select. It seems that you figured pretty
closely, because if there had been another scout in the party we'd have
had to get busy building a new bed. As it is, there is one apiece all
around."
"But how about you, Uncle?" asked Toby, solicitously; "we don't want to
push you out of your regular bed. Let me sleep on that cot."
"No, I prefer to take it," the owner of the cabin replied; "in fact, as
a rule I have slept on the cot winters, because I can pull it up in
front of the fire on nights that are particularly bitter."
"You must get some howlers up here, sir, I should think," suggested
Elmer.
"Along in January we often have a terrible storm or blizzard, when it's
utterly unsafe to venture outside the door, because one can never see
ten feet away. Men have been found frozen to death close to their own
cabins, which they did not dream were so close by when they gave up in
despair. The storm that just visited us was pretty severe, but not to be
compared with some I have seen."
"George, take your pick of bunks," said Elmer.
Perhaps he allowed George to have the first say because of the other's
notorious habit of grumbling; the wise scout master did not want to give
him any chance to complain that he had not been treated fairly and
squarely.
Now George was not so greedy but that he could feel ashamed. He seemed
to scent the true reason why Elmer was so kind, for a flush came over
his face, and he actually shook his head in a decided negative.
"That isn't just fair to the rest, Elmer, and I won't have it," he said,
with a show of spirit. "The bunks are all built alike, but one may be
better than the others, 'specially of a cold night. Now I tell you how
we'll fix that up fine and dandy; I'll mark them by numbers up to four;
then I'll write that many on pieces of paper and we'll put them in a
hat. Each one draws one out, and in that way gets his bunk without any
favoritism being shown. What d'ye say to that, Elmer?"
"Just as you like, George; and I want to tell you I admire the
independent spirit you display when you refuse to be favored above the
rest. That's the right way to show what you're made of. It speaks well
for the regard you have toward others."
While Elmer was saying this George drew out a lead pencil stub and made
a figure on the front of each bunk, running from one to four. Then he
did the little numbering on as many small squares of paper torn from his
notebook. These latter he threw into a hat and held it so no one could
look in, though a hand might be inserted through the small opening.
"Elmer, you draw first!" George went on to say, as he held the hat out
to each one of the others in turn.
So the scout master accommodated him, and found that he had hit upon one
of the lower bunks. Toby got the upper, and Lil Artha drew the other
elevated bed; so that after all George was given the pick of the lot. No
one could ever begrudge him his good luck, now that he had shown such a
fair spirit.
"It hit me about right," admitted Lil Artha, as he stood up alongside
the wall, and flung his blanket inside the second upper bunk, "because
Nature always intended that I should nest high, when She gave me this
pair of stilts. Lucky you made the bunks over six feet long, Uncle
Caleb, or I'd never have been able to turn over without drawing my knees
up to my chin. It gives me a pain whenever I think that I may go on
stretching out for nearly four years yet. My folks think of cutting the
doors higher in our house. They get tired of seeing me duck my head
every time I come into a room."
A fire was soon built up in the open space under the chimney flue which
the cunning wildcat had used as a means for entering and leaving the
cabin. At the time there happened to be little heat among the ashes, for
the owner was averse to leaving a fire when he went away for hours, lest
he return only to find a blackened heap where his cabin with its many
precious treasures had stood.
It was like a picnic to cook when there were so many conveniences, and
Lil Artha, who insisted on helping George, called attention to the
excellent iron frame which was intended to be placed over the fire, and
serve to hold such cooking vessels as were needed in the preparation of
the meal.
Besides this there was a portable oven which made splendid biscuits and
bread, as the boys learned later on, when Uncle Caleb showed them how he
lived while keeping bachelor's hall alone in that wilderness, days,
weeks and months at a time. He had a small barrel of flour in his
storeroom, with such a collection of canned goods and dried as well as
smoked meats, that George declared it looked like a young grocery store
to him; and privately admitted that he would not care very much if they
had been booked to stay the balance of the winter with Uncle Caleb,
instead of just a few days. He could see all manner of "good times" in
that delightful storeroom collection.
They had a light lunch, as the old scientist usually preferred to eat
his one heavy meal in the evening, after his thinking was done for the
day.
"Make yourselves quite at home, boys," he told them, with a sincerity
that even skeptical George could not question; "everything I have is at
your disposal. You will find hosts of things to interest you among my
collection of curios, and the myriads of pictures I have taken the last
seven years. Some of them have been honored by being published in a
geographic magazine, and excited considerable interest among a certain
class of scientists. I'm ready to answer every question you can ask, and
it will give me the greatest pleasure imaginable to be of service to
you. All I seek in return is full confidence; you must tell me all about
what scouts do, and learn, and aim to accomplish; also what adventures
you may have encountered in carrying out these organization principles."
During the rest of that never-to-be-forgotten afternoon the boys
manifested no desire to wander through the white forest, but stayed
indoors looking at the many interesting things owned by Uncle Caleb,
many of which he had picked up in various quarters and corners of the
world, for he had been a famous traveler in his day.
They almost talked themselves hoarse, asking questions, and explaining
all about what duties and obligations a boy takes upon his shoulders
when he subscribes to the scout promise, and assumes the
responsibilities accompanying such a service.
Uncle Caleb had about everything that money could purchase in connection
with his photographic fad; and among other things a daylight tank for
developing the films.
As he was very anxious to find out whether the snapshots taken of the
wildcat on the cabin chimney would turn out to be worth anything, he
proceeded to develope the films that afternoon.
When he held them up after washing, and let the boys see the result they
were loud in their declarations that he had really done himself proud.
There was the one with the big cat crouching on the chimney-top, and
giving all the detail that could be desired. The other was not quite so
clear, but it seemed that he must have aimed the camera just right, and
pressed the button while the leaping animal was in midair, just
crumpling up under the two charges of shot received from separate
quarters. This last was a thrilling picture, and ought to make a fine
print.
"They'll be a splendid addition to my collection," Uncle Caleb told the
boys, as he surveyed his prizes with kindling eyes; "I've got a good
many strange pictures but I expect these will top the list. I'll print a
copy for each one of you to carry home when you go, because in a measure
that is your cat, as well as mine."
Taken in all, they would never be apt to forget that same afternoon.
Their genial host seemed to be so delighted to have such a wideawake
pack of boys up there with him, that he could not do too much for them.
Many were the yarns he spun connected with his nomadic life under
different suns; and since settling down to this peculiar state of
existence he had known a multitude of adventures, both great and small.
"Right now," he told them, as the afternoon light began to fade with the
drawing near of the time for sunset, "you might say I am a marked man;
not that it gives me any great amount of concern, because I hardly
believe that Zack Arnold will ever get his courage up to the sticking
point, and attempt to carry out the wild threats he made against me."
"I remember hearing a man speaking that name on the train when we were
nearing your station, Uncle!" exclaimed Toby; "he talked as though the
fellow might be a sort of woods guide, though a tough rascal feared by
every one, even the game wardens, who were afraid to try and arrest him
for shooting game out of season."
"All of which is about as true as it can be," was the reply. "Six months
ago I had the misfortune to run foul of this same Zack. He was even then
half under the influence of liquor, and very abusive. I could have stood
it for myself, but when the big brute raised his hand, and knocked down
a half-grown girl who had chanced to stumble, and fall against him, in
the store, it was too much for my blood."
"You gave him what he deserved, didn't you, Uncle?" demanded the
exultant Toby.
"Well, I knocked him down three times in succession, for he had come at
me with a knife the second and third times. After that he lay there, and
was counted out. Now I was never proud of having upset a brawling bully
like that when half-seas over, but it had to be done to pay him for
striking that poor child. I heard afterwards that he was furious at me,
and vowed he would get even, if he had to come all the way up here to
where I held out, and settle his debt."
The boys exchanged looks.
"But he might take a sudden notion to visit you, when feeling in a
particularly ugly mood, Uncle," Toby remarked, soberly, "and no one
would ever know who had set your cabin on fire, and perhaps burned you
in the same."
"Well, I thought of that and for a time never went outside these walls
without carrying a gun along; but months have passed, and he does not
show up, which I take it means he is too big a coward to risk his ears
trying to do me an ill turn. And of late I've neglected any of those
precautions. When first I saw my fox trap had been tampered with, and
that valuable prize taken, I thought of what Zack Arnold had sworn, and
was sure it must be his work. But let's forget about such an unpleasant
subject, and have a little music for a change."
It seemed that among his many other accomplishments Uncle Caleb was
something of a musician; that is, he loved music, and could play very
well on a banjo, as well as on a guitar. The boys had found this out,
through Toby, and looked forward to having good times listening to their
genial host during evenings, as they sat before a crackling fire, and
cared not for the weather without.
It was getting pretty sharp again, as George announced after coming in
with an armful of wood; but little they cared, with such comfortable
quarters, and plenty to eat in the family cupboard.
As if to dismiss an unpleasant subject from his mind Uncle Caleb started
in to amuse his young guests with various popular selections, most of
which the scouts knew as well as they did their own names. From these he
presently drifted to older airs from the operas, and sentimental
serenades that afforded the boys considerable pleasure. In the end he
played a few such favorites as "Home, Sweet Home," with so much effect
that he had one or two of them secretly winking rapidly in order to keep
the tears from filling their eyes.
"Come, we've had enough of this for the present," said the player,
suddenly, on catching sight of Toby blowing his nose with great
vehemence, "and as it's getting dark outside, suppose we start our
preparations for supper. I've got a few wrinkles I'd like to show you,
although I rather expect some of you boys will turn out such good cooks
that you'll make my little efforts look primitive."
All the same they did not. Uncle Caleb excelled in nearly everything he
undertook, from science, music, and photographing wild animals in their
native haunts, all the way down to cookery--perhaps George and Toby and
Lil Arthur might object to using that word, and on their own account say
"_up_ to cookery."
At any rate he certainly gave the scouts a supper they would not soon
forget; and they admitted in private afterwards that they must look to
their laurels if they did not want to be considered "back numbers."
Uncle Caleb had done his own cooking for a good many years, and being of
an investigating turn of mind, had not been content to go along beaten
paths, like most bachelors left to their own devices, but had studied
cook-books, and made a success of many fine recipes.
After the meal was over, and things cleaned up, they gathered before the
burning logs, and looked forward to an enjoyable evening. Every one was
to have a part in entertaining the company, with story or song, as the
case might be; and Elmer had a long list of questions which he wanted
answers for, mostly pertaining to the habits of the little woods and
swamps animals in which Uncle Caleb had become so vitally interested.
Before they could get fully settled down, however, there was a shuffling
sound heard at the door, and then came a hesitating sort of knock from
without.