SIGNS OF TROUBLE AHEAD.
LANDY was certainly badly frightened. The grave manner in which the
patrol leader said this with regard to the ivy poisoning seemed to add
to his alarm. Some of the boys afterwards declared that his knees
knocked together, but this the fat boy always indignantly denied.
Nevertheless it was with an almost plaintive expression that he
proceeded to inquire further about his prospects.
"Poison ivy, you say, Elmer? Was that the stuff growing around that tree
we rubbed up against? But Adam was in just as deep as I was; why don't
his face burn and turn red like mine?" he asked, as though he considered
it rank injustice that he should be picked out as a victim, when
another, equally guilty, went scot-free from harm.
"That's the queer thing about poison ivy," replied Elmer. "While it's
bound to act on most people, more or less, a few can handle it without
any bad result."
"That's so," broke in Ty just then. "Why, I've known fellers that would
begin to itch and burn if they even set eyes on the old stuff, and I
reckon I'm liable to get a little turn myself; had one spell and they
kept doctoring me for a week at home. Hand full of little water
blisters, and I had to be mighty careful, for when they broke they
poisoned wherever the fluid ran. Wow, hope I don't get it again, that's
all!"
"Oh, my goodness gracious! What's going to become of me, then?" gasped
poor Landy. "Because I've been crazy enough to rub it all over my face.
Me for the hospital, I guess!"
"Wait!"
It was Ted who said this, and somehow the very confident tone in which
he spoke awakened a wild hope in the heart of the lad who was in
trouble.
"Oh, Ted, can _you_ do anything for me?" he asked, eagerly, transferring
his attention from Elmer to the other, who had arisen after listening to
all that had been said, and now approached the group.
"Let me look at you firtht," remarked the budding doctor of the troop,
gravely.
He examined the face and hands of the boy closely.
"When did you rub up againth that vine?" he asked.
"Why," replied Landy, "just a little bit ago, when Adam was helping me
get a snapshot of the camp. It was in the way and we pulled it off the
tree. Fact is, I tripped over the old thing and got mad, so I yanked it
loose, and Adam, he helped."
"Then let me tell you, in the firtht plathe, that I don't believe it'th
poithon ivy at all, becauthe that doethn't begin to thow for theveral
hourth," said Ted.
"Oh, bully for you, Ted; it makes me glad to hear you say that!"
exclaimed the boy who was in trouble. "But mebbe you can tell if you see
the old vine?"
"Courthe I can, and here'th Elmer who knowth all about it, too. Did it
have jutht three leaveth to each thtem, do you remember?"
"Sure, I didn't pay any attention to the leaves, I was so anxious to
drag the old thing away so as to get a better view," replied Landy.
Elmer beckoned to Adam, and the two hurried off. Everyone knew that they
had gone to view the vine that had been accused of doing so terrible a
thing to the fat boy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ted had picked up a little bag which he usually carried
with a shoulder strap. Every fellow in the troop knew what that same bag
contained; and indeed, many of them had found reason to bless the
forethought that induced their chum to bring it along on every trip for
emergencies such as the present. Ted delighted to call it his "vade
mecum," and most of the scouts had only a hazy conception of what those
words meant, though they appreciated the bag all right.
"If it wath really poithon ivy," went on Ted, "the firtht thing to be
done would be to wath the thurfathe of the thkin with warm water, and
then apply thith weak tholution of permanganate of potath. It'th about
three per thent, and the color of wine, you thee. It'll dithcolor the
thkin, of courthe, and for a while Landy can path for an Injun; but it
doeth the work. Elmer put me in touch with the good it can do. He thayth
every hunter of big game out in India and Africa alwayth carrieth thome
along, to take out the poithon if he geth clawed by a tiger, a lion or
any other carnivorouth beatht."
There was some hot water, fortunately, and in another minute the
quick-witted camp doctor had bathed the face and hands of the patient
with this, as warm as Landy could stand it. Then he started to apply the
contents of the small bottle, to the intense enjoyment of Ty who seemed
to consider the whole thing in the light of a huge joke.
"Say, you'll be a beaut, Landy, and no mistake!" he chuckled.
"What's that matter, if it only does the business?" demanded the other.
"That'th common thenthe, anyhow," commented Ted, as he continued to
make sure that every inch of affected skin was liberally treated with
the liquid, which, as he said before, was of a magenta color.
"There comes Elmer, and now we'll know," remarked Ty.
The other two came hurrying back to camp. Poor Landy, whose eyes were
really looking half shut, turned a beseeching gaze upon the patrol
leader.
"Was it poison ivy, Elmer?" he asked, anxiously.
"Not in a thousand years," came the hearty reply.
"Oh, that's almost too good to be true!" said Landy, with the tears
standing in his eyes, for he had begun to fear that he was in for a
horrible experience.
"What was it then?" asked Ty.
"I don't know," replied the other. "Some of your plants here are strange
to me, and I reckon it's able to bring on a burning and a swelling
sensation in a hurry, like lots of them are, with some people. But it
can't be anything as bad as the real rhus tox. I've seen some serious
cases of poisoning from ivy. And, Ted, I think you're doing the wise
thing to use that potash solution."
"It can't do any harm," remarked the doctor, "and you thee, it'th bound
to do thome good. Of courthe Landy will look like the dickenth for
theveral dayth, but he'th a lucky boy if he geth off that eathy."
"Sure I am," affirmed the victim, readily. "Paint away all you like.
Tell you what, fellers, she feels some better already. Perhaps, after
all, I won't have to be led home with my face lookin' like a big punkin
and my eyes out of sight."
"We may be happy yet," remarked Ty, who could be cheerful because it was
not _his_ face that burned and stung as though nettles had done their
work. "And, Elmer, would you mind if I once more turned my attention to
getting grub ready? I've got a terrible vacuum down here, and you know
we learned at school that Nature abhors a vacuum."
"I'll do more and help you get supper ready, Ty," replied the other. "We
can leave Landy in the hands of Dr. Ted. He'll make him lie down and
rest; and above all things keep his hands from his face. It's good he
took hold of the case so quick, for the poison hasn't had much chance to
get in."
So the work went on, two of the boys hovering over the fire that had
been started, while Adam ran errands for Dr. Ted. Landy was given a
blanket and told to keep quiet, but he insisted on lying so that he
could watch the cooks out of the corners of his eyes, and every now and
then he would sniff the air as though his appetite had not been entirely
chased away by his misfortune.
When the coffee was done boiling, the Boston baked beans heated to a
turn and everything ready, Elmer opened the odd oven in the ground.
"Why, they're nearly as hot as when we put 'em in!" declared the
wondering Ty, as he unwrapped the two young chickens that had come from
the friendly farmer.
Landy sat upright presently.
"Here, don't you dare to forget me!" he called out, as he saw the others
about to sit down around the spot where the supper was spread.
"But sick people should never eat a bite," declared Ty, unable to resist
the opportunity to tantalize the patient, whose one weakness lay in his
enormous appetite, which he could never seem to control.
"I ain't sick, though," retorted the other, getting up with an effort.
"I always heard that it was the right thing to starve a fever, and stuff
a cold," Ty went on, deliberately helping himself to a portion of a
fowl, which almost fell to pieces in his hands, it was so tender and
well done; "and I guess you've got the fever, all right. Anyhow, you're
as red as a chief in the Buffalo Bill show."
"Oh, let up on that, Ty Collins!" cried Landy, indignantly. "Just give
me half a chance, and I'll mighty soon show you who's sick around here.
I can make them chickens look that way, I want you to know. Here, make
room for me! Looks don't count in camp. Just think I'm sunburned, that's
all. Elmer, help me to some of that delicious coffee, won't you? I've
been smelling it this long time. It would go right to the spot, I
believe."
"Sure I will, Landy," replied the other, smilingly; "and it does me good
to know you're feeling so much better. But let's hope this will be a
lesson to you never to handle vines that you don't know."
"It will, I promise you, Elmer," replied the other, earnestly. "And the
first time you run across some of the genuine poison ivy just call me,
please. I've heard so much about it that I want to know the stuff so I
can beware."
"I saw some only a few hours back, and to-morrow I'm going to take you
and Adam and Ty there to impress its looks on your minds. It may save
you a heap of suffering if you expect to roam much in the woods after
this."
Landy was feeling much better. Indeed, the swelling seemed to be going
down rapidly, and even the burning, itching sensation had yielded to the
application of that wonderful remedy.
Everybody, even Ty, felt glad of this, for Landy was a jolly chum and
they must miss him very much had he been compelled to be taken home in
suffering.
"Hot work, this cooking in summer weather, fellows," observed Ty, as he
looked up from cleaning off his tin platter.
"Then why don't you shed that terrible old red sweater?" suggested
Elmer, though he knew beforehand that Ty would find lots of excuses for
declining.
Winter and summer, Ty always wore that old flaming sweater when engaged
in any outdoor game, whether it be skating, playing hockey, football,
baseball, or even going fishing. The season seemed to make no difference
to him, though some of his chums declared that the mere sight of the
thing made them perspire.
"What, this!" he exclaimed, as though astonished that anyone should
mention the subject. "Why, I just couldn't do a thing minus my jolly old
sweater. It's been on all sorts of jobs with me. I look on it as my best
friend. Nobody knows how many colds it's saved me from. I'd just feel
lost without it on, that's what."
"But in hot weather like this it must make you swelter," continued
Elmer.
"Not much it don't. Why, don't you know it _keeps the warmth out_?
That's what I read once, and I believe in it, too. Besides, all the
fellers have got so used to seeing me with it on that they'd pass me by
if I dropped it," grinned Ty.
"That'th tho," remarked Ted.
No one suspected just then what an important part that same red sweater
was to play in a game that might change Ty's mind, and that before many
hours had passed.
The supper was pronounced prime, and a vote of thanks taken for the
farmer who had once been a boy himself and could appreciate the
appetite of five fellows who were camping out.
A tent had been brought along, and into this the five crowded when the
hour had grown late, and everyone admitted that he was "real sleepy."
Nothing out of the way happened during the night. There were no wild
animals of any consequence around that part of the country, although
farther north hunters got deer, and even a black bear had been shot the
previous spring. Now and then a sly fox would create a little excitement
among the neighboring farmers by slipping into their henroosts and
carrying off a fat fowl. Mink might be found along the smaller
tributaries to the Sweetwater; muskrats were plentiful in the marsh
land, and some smart trappers made quite a little sum taking these small
animals during the season.
Of course raccoons and possums abounded, as they always do around the
smaller towns all through the middle East. Elmer, waking in the night
and coming out to stretch his legs because the presence of five in a
small tent cramped the quarters somewhat, amused himself for some time
in listening to the various sounds that came from the woods close by.
To one not familiar with the voices of the forest folks, these might
have passed as unmeaning noises, but he could place every one. In
imagination he saw the bushy-tailed coon trying to scoop up a fish from
the end of the log that ran down into the water; he could follow the
movements of the fat possum climbing the tree to her nest in a hollow
limb, and that angry snarling he understood came from a couple of slim
mink who had met while patrolling the bank of a small creek on their
nightly rounds.
Morning came at last, and as the boys emerged from the tent, the first
thing they did was to take a plunge in the river. Even Landy was on
hand, looking very comical, it is true, with his stained hands and face,
but feeling quite "chipper," as he declared, when Elmer asked concerning
the state of his health.
They could all swim, of course, even Landy, who earlier in the season
had been utterly ignorant concerning the first rudiments of how to keep
afloat; but association with the other scouts in camp had caused him to
take lessons, and Elmer had shown him how useful the knowledge of
swimming may prove to any boy at some unexpected time.
"Whose turn to go for milk this morning?" asked Elmer, after they had
dressed.
"I reckon it's mine," remarked Ty. "Some other fellow must start getting
breakfast, then. Perhaps Adam may turn out as good a cook as he is a
diver. Here, give me the directions how to take that short cut to the
farmer's shack."
So, presently, Ty wandered off, carrying the tin pail for the milk. The
getting of breakfast went on apace. Adam seemed willing to act as an
assistant to Elmer, and between them they soon had things in an advanced
stage.
"Thay, that Ty ought to be here with the lacteal fluid," remarked Ted,
who often amused his chums by spouting big words.
"That's so," remarked Elmer, "and as Adam is busy here and poor old
Landy recuperating from a bad attack of sunburn, I'll appoint you a
committee of one to meander along the trail and hustle Ty up."
Ted hurried away, for he was beginning to feel the gnawing sensation of
a hunger that always attacks growing boys soon after arising. Besides,
that cold dip seemed to just give them all an additional zest.
Ten minutes later Landy jumped up in considerable excitement.
"Look there, fellers!" he exclaimed, pointing along the trail over which
Ted had recently passed, "ain't that our chum Ted comin' back on the
dead run and waving his hands like fun? Tell you what, something's just
gone and happened to Ty! That's what he gets for making fun of me.
P'raps he's run across a rattlesnake! You know that farmer said they
killed one up here last year, and we did the same early this season. Oh,
my, I hope not!"