LAUNCHED ON THE INLAND SEA
Sure enough Bumpus was in plain sight, for the fire still burned, and
there was also a bright moon high up in the heavens. The fat scout
seemed to be trying to execute all the steps in a Southern hoedown, or
an Irish jig; for he was prancing around this way and that, holding on
to his hand, which the other boys now discovered was streaked with
blood!
"Oh! what's happened to you, Bumpus?" cried Step Hen, as he ran out
toward the spot where the other continued to waltz around in his bright
red and white striped pajamas, that made him look like an "animated
sawed-off barber's pole," as one of his chums had once told him.
"It bit me, oh! I'll bleed to death, I reckon now!" wailed the other;
"say, Thad, get out some of that purple stuff you use for scratches from
wild animals. Mebbe blood, poisoning'll develop; and I'd just hate the
worst kind to die up here, away off from my own home."
"What bit you; can't you tell us, Bumpus?" asked Thad, though already he
may have had suspicions that way.
"Jim did, the bally old owl!" came the dismal answer; "please, oh!
please tell me whether his beak is poisonous, won't you, Thad?"
"Well, what d'ye think of that?" ejaculated Step Hen, "however did you
happen to meddle with my owl, tell me? Sure, I did give you permission
to unchain him, if you had the nerve; but I never did believe you'd go
and take me up at that."
"I didn't neither," Bumpus declared, still dancing around.
"Here, let me see that wound!" called out Thad, as he and Allan cornered
the sufferer; "all it may need is washing, and then binding up with some
healing salve. But it makes a nasty cut, don't it, Allan?"
"I should say yes," replied the other; "but it's some lucky it wasn't
his face the bird struck at. Why, Bumpus might have lost an eye."
At that possibility the fat scout set up another roar.
"Just you believe the old thing meant to snap my eye out when he bit at
me; and I must have happened to put out my hand--so he struck that!" he
declared; while Allan hastened to open a package and take out some salve
and tape such as scouts should always carry along with them when in
camp, because there is no telling when it may be needed badly, just as
in the present instance.
"But see here, what possessed you to walk around in this way, and go
over to try and pet that savage bird?" asked Thad.
"Give you my solemn affidavit that I don't know a single thing about
it!" the other went on to say, as solemn as the owl that sat on the
branch near by.
"Do you mean you don't remember getting up, and coming out here?"
continued the scout-master, who always probed things to the very dregs,
or until he had extracted all the information possible.
"Not a thing," reaffirmed Bumpus, and his face showed that he was
speaking only the truth. "I can remember laying down for a snooze, and
then everything seems to be blank after that, till all of a sudden I
felt that awful pain, and it made me let out a whoop, I'm telling you."
"I should think it did," muttered Giraffe; "ten Injuns rolled into one
couldn't beat that howl. I sure thought the panther had got you that
time!"
"Well, likely I thought just that same thing, Giraffe, when I warbled
that way, because I remember now I was dreaming about gray-coated
panthers. Then I thought about rattlesnakes too, because you know I
can't stand for the crawlers. Next thing I opened my eyes with a jump,
and saw that old owl, with every feather on his back standing up like
the quills of a porcupine, and trying to jab me a second time."
Thad and Allan, who had now returned in time to hear this last exchanged
looks.
"A clear case of sleep walking, seems like!" ventured the former.
"Oh! my goodness gracious! I thought I was over them tricks years ago!"
exclaimed Bumpus, shivering. "If they're agoing to take me again I see
my finish; because some night I'll walk off a precipice, and that'll be
the end of me."
"We'll like as not have to tie you by the leg every night, just like Jim
is now; and that'll stop you prancing around loose, trying to set my
pets free in your sleep," Step Hen went on to say, reassuringly; but
somehow Bumpus did not seem to take to the idea the least bit.
"You let me alone, that's all, Step Hen Bingham," he told the other,
"and I'll fix my own business. That's what comes of you keeping the
silly old owl. Serve you about right if his mate dropped in and bit the
end of your big toe off to pay you up for fastening that chain on the
poor thing's leg."
"Say, I like that, now; when you were the very first one to ask if we
couldn't keep that same owl!" Step Hen told him.
"Wow! that hurts some, let me tell you, fellows!" groaned the fat scout,
when Allan was putting some salve, calculated to help heal the wound, on
the torn place, and then with the assistance of the scout-master started
binding the hand up with windings of soft linen that came in a tape roll
two inches wide.
"But let me tell you it's some chilly out here, with only pajamas on,"
objected Giraffe; "and for one I'm going to skip back under my blanket,
where I can snuggle down. Somebody remember to throw a little wood on
the fire, please. Let Davy do it."
Of course that really meant either the scoutmaster or Allan; and Giraffe
often had a failing for shirking some duty like this. It was so easy to
expect some other to do disagreeable things; though as a rule the boys
were accustomed to saying, "let Davy do it," until it had become so
tiresome that the Jones boy had rebelled, and refused to be the errand
boy any longer for the entire patrol.
In half ah hour silence again brooded over the camp. Bumpus must have
done something to make sure he did not start walking in his sleep again,
for nothing occurred to disturb their slumbers until dawn came along
and, with birds singing, as well as gray squirrels barking lustily at
the intruders, awakened them all.
Breakfast was hurried, because all of them were' anxious to be on the
move. They knew that by following the shore of the big water several
miles they would come to the point where there was a village, with
something of a landing place in a sheltered nook; and here they expected
to find their boat awaiting them.
It was about an hour after sun-up that the cheery notes of Bumpus'
silver-toned bugle gave the signal for the start; and the six khaki-clad
lads could be seen moving at a fairly fast pace along the shore of the
lake. Step Hen had managed to bundle the captive owl in a spare
sweater, so he could carry him all right without danger.
The little waves came purling up close to their feet, and seemed to
welcome the strangers to their domain; but Thad knew full well that
under different conditions these same waves would unite to threaten them
with destruction.
Step Hen having found a way to muzzle the owl, so that he could carry
the prisoner, without fear of dire attacks from that sharp beak seemed
more determined than ever to try and keep Jim; and he frowned every time
he saw Bumpus observing the bird thoughtfully, because he imagined the
fat scout might be hatching up a scheme for choking the thick-necked
prisoner, in revenge for what he had suffered from its savage thrust.
Finally a loud shout was heard from Giraffe, who, being so much taller
than the balance of the scouts, and possessed of a neck he could stretch
to an alarming degree, was in a position to see much further than the
rest.
"The village is in sight!" he announced, whereat there was a cheer, the
owl commenced to struggle afresh, and Step Hen had his hands full trying
to quiet his feathered prisoner.
With their goal now close at hand the boys were able to step out at a
more lively pace, even Bumpus showing surprising gains.
About ten o'clock they arrived at the settlement where they had seen
some sort of dock, at which a couple of ore barges of the whaleback type
were being loaded.
Already the eager eyes of the boys had discovered a boat that answered
the description of the one they expected to find awaiting them.
Making straight for the place they found that they had guessed rightly.
That good sized powerboat was the Chippeway Belle, the vessel which was
to be their home for the next two weeks or more, as they pleased.
An investigation revealed the fact that their stores were all aboard, as
well as their extra supplies that went under the general designation of
"duffel."
"Nothing else for us to do but go aboard, and make a bully start, is
there, Thad?" asked the impatient Giraffe, eager to find out how the
craft could go; for up to now the Silver Fox Patrol had generally spent
their outings on dry land; and this idea of a cruise had come somewhat
in the shape of what Thad called an "innovation."
"Nothing at all, Giraffe," replied the other, himself looking pleased at
the prospect of being about to start on such a splendid pleasure trip.
"How about paying for the use of the boat; has all that been attended
to?" asked careful Bumpus, who was not so very much of a water-dog
himself, and rather viewed the prospect of getting out of sight of land
on board so small a craft with anything but exultant delight; indeed, to
tell the honest truth, the fat scout was already secretly sorry he had
come.
"Oh! yes," replied Thad, quickly; "Dr. Hobbs attended to all that for
us; fact is, this boat is owned by a friend of his, which was how we got
it as cheap as we did. And more than that, the gentleman attended to
packing all our supplies at the Soo, and sent the boat here on a
steamer, so we could start from this place. It was Dr. Philander's
idea, you know, this coming through the copper region along the south
shore of the Eke. And now, if you're all of the same mind, let's get
started."
"Hurrah; hoist the Pennant of the Silver Fox Patrol that your Sister
Polly made us, Giraffe, and every fellow dip his hat to the colors of
the gay Chippeway Belle!" and in answer to this request on the part of
Davy Jones they did salute the raising of the neat little burgee that
had a silver fox fashioned in silken hand-work upon it.
Thad examined the engine carefully. He knew considerable about such
things, and yet he fancied, he might have more or less trouble with the
motive power of this Lake Superior boat; for it was of rather an ancient
pattern, and had evidently seen its best days.
Between them Thad and Allan confessed this much, but they did not think
it good policy to say anything to the others, though anxious Bumpus
watched their conference uneasily, and could be seen to carefully pick
out a spot on the rail where he perched, and seemed inclined to stay--it
was handy to a quick getaway in case the worst happened, and the engine
blew up, as he whispered to himself.
After he had, as he believed, mastered the rudiments of the working of
the motor Thad told them to cast off, and they would make a start.
Several men stood around to watch them get away, among them the party in
whose charge the boat had been left, and who had only delivered it up
after Thad had produced an order for the same, and paid certain expenses
for storage and watching.
"Were moving at last!" called Step Hen excitedly, as the machinery
started to go with a rush, after Thad had cranked the engine.
Allan stood by the wheel, and as the prow of the boat gurgled through
the clear waters of the great lake, every scout was thrilled with the
vast possibilities that faced them, now that their cruise had begun.
"This means that we'll eat our first meal aboard at noon to-day,"
remarked Giraffe who seemed determined that no regular feeding time
might be neglected, if he could help it.
"You ought to be a happy fellow, Giraffe," remarked Davy Jones, "after
taking a look over the piles of grub we've got aboard. Why, do you know
there's a whole big ham, two slabs of bacon, and all sorts of good
things. No danger of any of us going hungry on this excursion; unless
the old tub should happen to sink, and leave us marooned on some rocky
island."
"Oh! see here, stop joking about that sort of thing, Davy," remonstrated
Bumpus, shivering as though he felt a cold draught; "I know right well
that if such a horrible thing ever did happen to us, the rest of you'd
make up your minds to begin on me the first thing."
"Well, that's the penalty you have to pay, Bum, pus, for being so
tempting," chuckled Step Hen; "now, who'd ever think of picking Giraffe
out for a dainty meal; why he's as skinny as an old crow."
"There are times when it pays right well to be thin," remarked the scout
held up to derision, "and that'd be one of 'em, I reckon."
They were by now far away from the ore dock, and the barges that were
loading; indeed it was only with an effort they could see either, for a
haze had crept over the surface of the lake. The Chippeway Belle had
been going along at quite a fair pace, thought making more noise than
was agreeable to either Thad or Allan, when all at once, without the
least warning there was heard a loud report. Instantly the sound of the
engine ceased.
"She's broke down, and we're wrecked already!" yelled Giraffe,
excitedly.
"Oh! mercy! and she may explode at any second now!" cried poor Bumpus;
after which, in sheer desperation he jumped deliberately overboard,
clinging to the side of the swaying craft, and in momentary expectation
of hearing a fearful crash, as the gasoline tank went up.