THE RIVAL FISHERMEN
As the afternoon crept on, and the boat continued to keep up a merry
pace, the boys began to feel their confidence return. As Thad assured
them he did not expect to have any further trouble with the engine, they
no longer kept an anxious eye on the working part of the craft, while at
the least unusual sound every fellow's heart seemed ready to jump into
his throat with wild alarm.
It was not the purpose of the cruisers to try and cross the vast body of
water upon which their little craft was launched, and which is so
immense that for two whole days they might be out of sight of land.
Thad knew the danger that lay in such a thing, and had promised the
folks at home in Cranford that he would be very careful. Indeed, only
for the presence of Dr. Hobbs, some of the parents of the scouts might
have felt like revoking their promise to allow their boys to be of the
party.
Accordingly their course was now laid in such a quarter that they could
keep the land in sight upon their port quarter most of the time.
Of course, while the scouts had not been at sea, and really knew very
little of navigation, they were ambitious to learn. And as Bumpus had
before hand written down all sorts of phrases used long ago on board the
ships that sailed the seas in such white-winged flocks before the advent
of steam gave them such a backset, he read these all out to his mates;
and after that, whenever they could think of the nautical name for
anything they insisted on using it, because, as Giraffe declared, it
gave such a realistic effect to things.
"But let me tell you there's a rumpus in the navy these days," said Step
Hen, as Giraffe asked him to "step aft, and hand me that pair of
binoculars, so I can take an observation."
"What about?" asked Thad.
"Why, they want to abolish some of these old terms that are just a part
of sea-faring life. For instance they say that when the man at the
wheel is told to 'port your helm,' it takes just the fraction of a
second for it to pass through his mind that that means 'turn your helm
to the left.' And so they say in our navy after this the officer will
callout: 'Turn your helm to the left, Jack!' Whew! that must rile every
old jack tar, though. It's like taking the seasoning out of the mince
meat."
"Don't you believe it'll ever pass," asserted Bumpus, indignantly; "and
just after I've made up my mind to learn every one of this list so I can
rattle it off like I can already box the compass. No siree, every true
sailorman will rise up in arms against it. You can count on my vote in
favor of sticking to the old way. Nothing like the old things, say!"
"'Cepting engines," interposed Step Hen, maliciously.
"Oh! well, I draw the line there, that's true," Bumpus admitted, with a
shrug of his fat shoulders, as his eyes unconsciously dropped, so that
he looked down into the depths of the lake, "a full mile deep," as he
always said to himself.
"Oh! I saw a fish then!" he suddenly shouted, showing new excitement.
"Get your hook and line, Bumpus, and mebbe we'll have fried speckled
trout or white fish for supper!" remarked Giraffe, with what he meant to
be satire in his speech.
"Huh! I ain't that green about fishing, and you know it," remarked the
other, as he gave the tall scout a look of scorn. "Anyhow, I can beat
you a mile fishing any day in the week, Giraffe, and I don't care who
hears me say it."
"Is that a challenge, Bumpus?" demanded Thad, seeing a chance for some
fun to enliven their cruise.
"If he chooses to take me up, you can call it that," responded the fat
boy, with a belligerent look at his rival.
"Oh! I'm ready to meet you half way, Bumpus; anything to oblige,"
Giraffe went on to say, sturdily. "I'd just like a good chance to show
you up for a fish fakir. We've heard a heap about how you used to haul
'em in; now's your chance to prove that you're the big gun of this
trip."
"All right, just as you say, and we'll leave it to Thad to lay down the
terms of the contest, the loser to treat the crowd to a dinner when we
get back home," Bumpus went on to say, with the took of one who would
die sooner than give up.
"No need of that last," Allan asserted, with a shake of his head. "We
expect to have a spread anyhow when we arrive back in Cranford, because
there's plenty of money in the treasury of the Silver Fox Patrol; but
the loser must do the drudgery that always goes with a dinner, and be
the waiter for the other seven fellows. Do you both agree to that?"
"I do!" said Bumpus, holding up his right hand, just as thought he might
be before Squire Jasper, and about to give his evidence in court.
"Ditto here; I agree, Thad," Giraffe hastened to say, not wishing to
have it appear that he lagged behind his competitor a particle.
"Now, about the terms; what sort of fish are we to grab?" Bumpus wanted
to know.
"You don't grab any, Bumpus," Giraffe warned him; "every one must be
fairly caught with hook and line, and no seines or nets or guns used.
Ain't that right, judge?"
Thad immediately declared he understood that, it was to be a genuine
sportsmanlike proceeding, and that no underhand tactics would be
tolerated.
"First the number will count," he went on to explain; "after that
variety will stand for a second point. Then the heaviest fish will be a
third claim, and we might as well make it interesting, so let's call the
smallest fish caught a fourth point."
"That's four in all; can't you think up another, so's to have it five;
and then three points will be a majority, and wins out?" suggested Davy
Jones.
"A good idea, Davy," Thad assured him; "suppose, then, we also say the
longest fish when measured by inches; that would make five points, all
right."
"Yes," interrupted Giraffe, "but ain't that already covered when you say
the biggest fish?"
"Not necessarily," Thad told him, "though in some cases the two would go
together, I suppose. But sometimes you'll catch a bass that measures
two inches longer than the one the other fellow got, but when you use
the scales his weighs more by six ounces. How does that come--well,
we've got an illustration right here in you and Bumpus; you call
yourself the larger by nearly a foot, but when it comes--"
Giraffe threw up his hands in token of surrender.
"That's right, Thad," declared Bumpus, "the longest ain't always high
notch. They do say the best goods come in the smallest packages. But
write the conditions down, Thad, while they're fresh in our minds, and
read 'em out. When I come in under the wire first, as I surely will,
it'd grieve me to hear any squealing from our tall friend here, and have
any dispute about not understanding the rules of the game."
Giraffe sniffed scornfully, but did not say anything. However, for a
long time after that both boys busied themselves sorting out the
greatest lot of fishing tackle their chums had seen for an age; showing
that they were in deadly earnest about trying to win the wager.
Bumpus even managed to attach a phantom minnow to the end of a line,
which he slyly dropped overboard when he thought no one was looking, in
hopes of being fortunate enough to get first blood in the competition.
And the others knew that if this thing kept up they were bound to have
plenty of fun in watching the desperate efforts of the rival fishermen.
Thad was looking up at the sky occasionally.
"Seem to be some clouds gathering?" remarked Allan, noticing this action
on the part of the pilot of the expedition.
"Yes, but then they may not mean anything; though I've been told that
storms do come up very suddenly around here. May be something about
this big body of fresh water that brings that about, for the sun must
draw heaps up from Old Superior every hot day."
"I reckon, now, you're aiming to get to that cove you marked on the
chart, so's to have a snug harbor for the night," Allan went on to say.
"Just what I am," the other admitted; "this lake is a bit too big for us
to think of anchoring out, and taking chances. A storm is bad enough in
daytime when you can see around you; but it must be terrible in the
pitch darkness."
"Excuse me, if you please," spoke up Step Hen, who had been listening to
all the others said. "I hope there are aplenty of them same snug
harbors; for a boat the size of ours to drop in and stay overnight."
"That's just the trouble about cruising on Superior," said Thad, "and
especially along the American shore, because there are few rivers that
empty into the lake. Up along the Canadian side it's different, because
there are some fine trout streams that extend from White Fish Bay along
toward old Fort William."
"I'd like to see that last place," spoke up Davy, "because I've heard
about it ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper. You see, my great
grandfather used to live in Montreal in the days when the Northwest Fur
Company was in competition with the Hudson Bay Company, and my ancestor
was employed each Spring to set out from Montreal with some, big
batteaus manned by French Canadian voyageurs, who would row and sail all
the way through most of the Great Lakes to Fort William, where the agent
had collected heaps of valuable pelts from the trappers and the Injuns
after the season was done. These he'd fetch all the way back to
Montreal again, the flat bottom boats being loaded down with the bales.
And let me tell you that was taking risks some; but they raised men in
them days, I reckon, men that never allowed themselves to think of such
a thing as danger, because they were always facing some sort of perils."
"I guess you're, about right, Davy," admitted Thad; "and I often sit and
wonder how it'd seem if a fellow lived away back in those days before
the times of automobiles, motorboats, telephones, talking machines and
electricity."
"Huh!" grunted Bumpus, "according to my mind, what dangers they faced
ain't to be mentioned in the same breath as them we have hovering over
us all the while. For instance, what if Thad here just crooked his
hand, wouldn't we be apt to run smack into that other boat that's goin'
to pass us right now.
"And say, fellows," remarked Giraffe, in a low, mysterious tone, that
somehow managed to thrill the others, as no doubt he intended it should;
"just take a peek at the men in that boat, will you? Somehow I don't
know just why, but they make me think of pirates, if ever they have such
critters up here on Old Superior. And take it from me, boys, right now
one of the bunch is looking us over through a marine glass. Like as not
they're making up their minds who and what we can be, and if it's going
to pay 'em to board this same craft, to clean it out. Don't anybody
make out like we're watching 'em; but try and remember where you put our
gun, Thad; because who knows but what we might need the same right bad
before long?"