OUT FOR A ROYAL GOOD TIME
"Will you do me a favor, Bumpus?"
"Sure I will, Giraffe; what is it you want now?"
"Then tell me who that is talking to our scoutmaster, Dr. Philander
Hobbs; because, you know, I've just come in after a scout ahead, and
first thing saw was a stranger among the patrol boys."
"Oh! You mean that thin chap who came along in his buggy a bit ago,
chasing after us all the way from that town where we had a bite of
lunch? Why, I understand he's the son of the telegraph operator there.
You know we made arrangements with him to try and get a message to us,
if one came along."
"Whew! then I hope he ain't fetched a message that'll spoil all our fun,
just when we've got to the last leg of the journey, with the boat only a
few miles further on! That'd be the limit Bumpus. You don't know
anything about it, I reckon?"
"Well, our scout-master looks kinder down in the mouth, and I'm afraid
it must be some sort of a recall to duty for him," remarked a third lad,
also wearing the khaki garments of a Boy Scout, as he joined the pair
who were talking.
"I'm afraid you're right, Davy," said the tall, angular fellow who
seemed to own the queer name of Giraffe, though his long neck plainly
proved why it had been given to him by his mates. "But don't it beat
the Dutch how many times Doe Hobbs has had to give up a jolly trip, and
hurry back home, just when the fun was going to begin, because the old
doctor he works with needed him the worst kind?"
"But say," spoke up the fat boy who answered to the designation of
Bumpus, "mebbe the Cranford Troop, and the Silver Fox Patrol in
particular, ain't lucky to have such a wide-awake, efficient assistant
scout-master as our Thad Brewster, who knows more in a day about
out-of-door things than Dr. Hobbs would in a year."
"Yes, that's right," replied Giraffe; "but we're going to know what's in
the wind now, because here's the scout-master heading this way, with
several of the other boys tagging at his heels, and sure as you live
they're grinning too. Looks to me like Stephen and Allan thought it a
good joke, though they look solemn enough when Doc turns their way.
He's just got to leave us, you mark my words, fellows."
It turned out that very way. An urgent message had come that
necessitated the immediate return of the scout-master. The old doctor
with whom he practiced had been unlucky enough to fall, and break a leg;
so it was absolutely essential that his assistant come back to look
after the sick people of Cranford, hundreds of miles away.
While the scout-master is getting his personal belongings together, and
the six boys gathered around are trying to look terribly disappointed,
it might be well to introduce the little party to such of our readers
who have not had the pleasure of making their acquaintance in previous
volumes of this series.
The Cranford Troop of Boy Scouts now consisted of two full patrols, and
a third was in process of forming. The original patrol was known as the
Silver Fox, and the six scouts who were with Doctor Hobbs, away up here
on the border of Lake Superior, bent on a cruise on the great fresh
water sea, all belonged to that division of the troop, so that they are
old friends to those who have perused any of the earlier books.
Thad Brewster, whom Bumpus had spoken of so highly, was a bright,
energetic lad, who had always delighted in investigating things
connected with outdoor life. He had belonged to a troop before
organizing the one at Cranford, and was well qualified for being made
the assistant scoutmaster, having received his credentials from the New
York Headquarters long ago.
Allan Hollister, who would assume the responsibility should Thad be
absent, was a boy who had spent quite a time in the Adirondacks before
joining the scouts, and his knowledge was along practical lines.
Then there was another fellow, rather a melancholy chap, who had a queer
way of showing the whites of his eyes, and looking scared, at the least
opportunity, only to make his chums laugh; for he would immediately
afterwards grin--in school as a little fellow he had insisted that his
name of Stephen should be pronounced as though it consisted of two
syllables; and from that day to this he had come to be known as Step Hen
Bingham.
The other three boys were the ones who engaged in the little talk with
which this story opens. Bumpus really had another name, though few
people ever thought to call him by it; yet in the register at school he
was marked down as Cornelius Jasper Hawtree; while the fellow who had
that strange "rubber-neck" that he was so fond of stretching to its
limit, was Conrad Stedman.
Davy Jones, too, wag a remarkable character, as may be made evident
before the last word is said in this story. He seemed to be as nimble
as they make boys; and was forever doing what he called "stunts," daring
any of his comrades to hang by their toes from the limb of a tree twenty
feet from the ground; walking a tight-rope which he stretched across
deep gully, and all sorts of other dangerous enterprises of that nature.
Often he was called "Monkey," and no nick-name ever given by boy
playmates fitted better than his.
Once Davy had been a victim to fits, and on this account gained great
consideration from his teachers at school, as well as from his comrades.
But latterly there had arisen a suspicion that these "fits" that doubled
him up so suddenly always seemed to come just when there was some hard
work to be done; and once the suspicion that Davy was shamming broke in
upon the rest, they shamed him into declaring himself radically cured.
It was either that, or take a ducking every time he felt one of those
spells coming on; so Davy always declared the camp air had effected a
miracle in his case, and that he owed a great deal to his having joined
the scouts.
"Too bad, boys," said Dr. Hobbs, who was a mighty fine young man, and
well liked by all the scouts in Cranford Troop, although they saw so
little of him because his pressing duties called him away so often; "but
I've got to go home on the first train. Doctor Green has a broken leg,
and there's nobody to make the rounds among our sick people in Cranford.
I never was more disappointed in my life, because we've fixed things for
a glorious cruise up here on Old Superior."
The boys assured him that they deeply sympathized with him, because they
knew it would break their hearts to be deprived of their outing, now
that they had come so far.
"Fortunately," continued Dr. Hobbs, with a twinkle in his kindly eyes,
"that isn't at all necessary; because all arrangements have been made,
the boat is waiting only a few miles away, and you have an efficient
assistant scout-master in this fine chap here, Thad Brewster, who will
take charge while I'm away, as he has done on numerous other sad
occasions."
"Hurrah!" burst from Bumpus; "that's the kind of stuff we like to hear.
Not that we won't miss you, Doctor, because you know boys from the
ground up, and we all feel like you're an older brother to us; but we've
been out with Thad so much, we're kinder used to his ways."
"Well," continued the scout-master, with a long sigh, "I've got to hurry
off if I expect to catch that afternoon train, and there's no other
until morning; so good-bye, boys. Take good care of yourselves, and
write to me as often as you can. I'll try and picture the jolly
happenings of this Lake Superior cruise as I read your accounts of it."
He squeezed the hand of every one of the six lively lads; and there was
a huskiness in his voice as he bade them a last good-bye that told
better than words how sorry he was to leave the merry bunch, just when
they were almost, as Bumpus put it, "in sight of the Promised Water."
So the vehicle passed from sight, and the last they saw of Doctor Hobbs
was a hand waving his campaign hat to them just before a bend in the
country road was reached.
All of them now turned to Thad to see what his plan of campaign would
be.
"If it's just this way, fellows," he remarked, with one of his smiles
that had made him the most popular boy in all Cranford, barring none;
"we've got about three miles to hit it up before we reach the lake
shore. Then we'll make camp and spend another night, which I hope will
be our last ashore for some little time. Because, unless there's a
hitch to the program, we ought to come on the landing where our boat is
going to be in waiting, by ten o'clock to-morrow."
"Hurrah!" cried Bumpus, who was already weary of "hiking" because his
build made him less active than some of the other scouts, notably Davy
and Giraffe.
"Let's get a move on, then," suggested Step Hen. "I can see that poor
old Giraffe here is nearly perishing for a little bite of supper."
A rippling laugh ran around at this, for every one knew the failing of
the long-legged scout, whose stowage capacity when it came time to eat
had never as yet within the memory of any comrade been fully tested; for
they always declared that his legs must be hollow, for otherwise it was
a mystery where all the food he devoured went to, since he never seemed
to get any stouter after a meal than he was before.
The march was accordingly resumed, with Tad and Allan leading the van.
The boys were going light, because they did not intend to do much
camping on this trip, as it was expected that the boat would accommodate
all of them with sleeping quarters.
Each one had a blanket strapped to his back, and with this were a few
necessities in the line cooking utensils and food. Most of their
luggage had been sent on by another route, as had also their supplies.
Doctor Hobbs had wished them to go to the landing where their boat was
to meet them, by following this roundabout course, having had some
reason of his own for visiting the country. His folks in Cranford owned
considerable land in this vicinity, and it was said that there were
out-croppings of valuable copper to be found upon it; which accounted for
the young man's desire to make inquiries while up in this region.
Joking and laughing, and even singing snatches of school songs, the boys
of the Silver Fox Patrol tramped along the road that was to bring them
to the shore of the lake by and by.
It was about half-past four when they obtained their first glimpse of
the apparently boundless body of water, said to be the largest fresh
water sea in the whole world. Shortly afterwards they reached the shore
and were looking almost in awe out upon the vast expanse of water, upon
the bosom of which they anticipated making their home for some weeks
during vacation time.
"Here's the finest camp site you ever struck in your born days,
fellers!" called out Giraffe, as he waved his arm around at the trees
that grew close to the edge of the inland sea; and every one of the
other five scouts agreed with him.
They had made many camps in the last two years, for they had wandered
far from the home town, down in Tennessee, up in Maine, and away out to
the Rockies on one memorable occasion; but no better place to spend a
night had ever greeted their eyes.
It was soon a bustling scene, with a fire being started, and
arrangements made to build a sort of lean-to shelter that would even
shed rain in a pinch should a storm come upon them during the night they
expected to spend here.
Davy, as usual, was climbing trees, and spying into every hole he could
find. When Monkey Jones had a chance to exercise his peculiar gifts
like this present opportunity afforded him it was utterly out of the
question to hold him in. And so he swung daringly from one limb to
another, just for all the world like a squirrel, chattering at times in
a way that Giraffe always declared left no doubt in his mind concerning
Davy's having descended from the original tree-climbing tribe that
sported tails.
There was one very large tree close by, that is, large considering that
in this section there were few that could boast a girth of more than a
foot; but this one was really what Bumpus called a "whopper;" and Davy
sported among the higher branches with all the delight of a child with a
new toy; giving the others more than one thrill as he swooped this way
and that with reckless abandon.
But suddenly he sent out a shout that caused every fellow to take
notice; and Bumpus actually turned pale with apprehension, as he vainly
looked around for some sort of weapon with which to defend himself;
because he always believed he must be a shining mark for any hungry wild
beast, on account of his plumpness.
"Oh!" shouted the boy in the tree, "a panther, fellers, a really true
panther!"