WHEN THE FIRE WAS KINDLED.
"How are you feeling now, Bumpus?" asked Thad, some time later, as he
once more stopped to allow all the stragglers pull up; for some of the
boys were beginning to look rather fagged, though they tried to hide the
telltale signs, being too proud to own up to any weakness that ill
became a scout.
"Pretty ragged, to tell the truth," replied the fat boy, who was puffing
as he came along. "It ain't the poison I've absorbed in my system, so
much as a weakness that just makes me shiver all over. And Thad, I've
walked this far before, and never felt like this, either."
"Oh! I expected that you'd have that sort of a spell," remarked the
other. "You see, that tumble, and the shock of feeling something biting
you, that was terrible because you were in the dark, must have given
your nervous system a bad jolt. But keep up if you can, Bumpus. In a
little while now we'll be near the lake, and our first camp."
"And just think of it, boys, what a roaring old fire we'll have
to-night," spoke up Giraffe, craning his long neck to glance around the
circle that had gathered about the leader.
"You'll just leave all that to me, Giraffe," said the patrol leader,
sternly. "Here we are about to get into our first camp, and begin to
take up the duties all scouts ought to learn, so they can take care of
themselves, and be of help to others in the woods. And let me tell you,
the first camp-fire is too serious a thing for you to start it off-hand.
So I positively forbid you to think of using a single match to-night
without permission."
Giraffe shrank back, looking crushed. He had been building high hopes on
having unlimited chances for carrying out his favorite diversion, once
away from the restraints of civilization. But he must learn by degrees,
possibly through sad experience, that a fire is just as terrible in the
wilderness, once it gets beyond control, as in a settled community. It
is a good servant, but a very bad master.
"How far is the lake from here, would you say, Thad?" asked Davy Jones.
"Not over two miles," was the reply. "You notice that the country is
getting wilder the further we go. And around Lake Omega they say it
beats everything, for you can't see a single house."
"How does it come that this lake, lying so close to Cranford, has never
been visited by any of you fellows?" asked Bob White, who, being a
comparative newcomer, like Allan and Thad, could not be supposed to
know as much about things as the rest of the scouts, who had been born
in Cranford, and brought up there.
"Why, you see for a long time all this country up here was owned by a
rich man, who meant to make a game preserve out of it. He even had a
high wire fence built around part of the tract, including the lake, and
kept game keepers here, so nobody could get in to steal a single fish.
But he died before he ever had a chance to finish the job; and his widow
sold the ground to a lumber concern, that never cared a thing for game.
Chances are there'll be some high old hunting around up here this Fall;
and I'm going to get in on it if I can."
It was Davy Jones who gave this information. He had a father who was
said to be a very smart lawyer; and Davy bade fair to follow in his
footsteps. At least, the boy was never asleep when anything was going
on; and he could easily subscribe to that scout injunction which
requires that a boy keep his eyes and ears open, in order to learn
things the ordinary person would never see nor hear.
Once more they took up the march, Bumpus being a little refreshed from
the halt. A couple of the other fellows kept near him from now on, and
even linked arms with the fat boy, who was universally well liked on
account of his disposition being sunny, no matter whether in fair
weather or in storm.
Along about four in the afternoon a shout arose.
"I see water ahead!" yelled Giraffe, who had managed to get in ahead of
the others.
"Well, with that neck you ought to be able to see anything," called out
Bumpus, from further back in the line.
"I guess I could see whether a bee went into a hole in a stump, or just
swung past," retorted the other. "But there's your lake, fellows; and
we're right close up on the same, now. Just look through that opening in
the trees; see the sun shining on the little waves. Say, don't it look
fine, though? Talking about fires--but that'll keep," as he saw the
patrol leader turn his eyes quickly upon him.
Every one felt like quickening his pace, even the weary Bumpus. Step-hen
seemed especially solicitous about the welfare of his stout comrade, for
he kept hovering near him, offering to lend his arm, or do any other
kindly act. Bumpus eyed him a little suspiciously, as though he had an
idea the other might have some dark motive in being so extra kind.
"See here, Step-hen," he declared once, when the other slipped an arm
through his and helped him on his way; "I reckon you're thinking that if
you're good to me I'll own up to taking that beastly little compass of
yours, eh? Well, just get that notion out of your head, won't you?
Because I ain't goin' to confess to something I never did. And don't you
say compass to me again, hear?"
"Oh! never mind," said Step-hen, very sweetly, for him, and with a
curious smile that made the fat boy uneasy; "of course if you say you
didn't keep it, there must be some mistake; only it seems mighty funny
how _my_ things are always disappearing, and the rest of you get off
scot free. But don't bother about it, Bumpus; sure the thing is bound to
turn up somewhere. Only I hope I find it before I go and get lost in the
forest. I always was afraid of that, you know. I'll try and forget all
about compasses. Here, lean on me a little harder if you want to. I
ain't tired a whit, and can stand it."
But Bumpus was able to walk alone. Truth to tell he fancied Step-hen was
trying to frisk him all over, as if endeavoring to locate the position
of some object that might feel like the missing compass.
"There's the stuff the farmer brought, fellows!" said Thad, presently.
It had been dumped alongside the road at a certain place marked by the
two who had come up here on a spying trip beforehand. Each boy took what
he could carry, and in this way the entire equipment was carried down to
a camp site on the shore of the splendid body of water known as Lake
Omega.
"That word Omega means the end, don't it?" said Davy Jones, as they
started to put up one of the two tents, and gather the provisions,
blankets, cooking utensils and such things together.
"I hope it won't be the end of any of us," chuckled Giraffe, who had
been casting furtive looks around, as if searching for an ideal spot on
which he hoped the first camp-fire would be built.
"Well, every fellow who doesn't know how to swim has got to get busy,
and learn the first thing," said the patrol leader, looking toward
Smithy meaningly.
"Oh! I want to know how, Thad, believe me," returned that worthy,
earnestly. "My mother doesn't believe any fellow should go near the
water until he knows how to swim; but how could he ever learn in that
case, I'd like to know?"
"Fix himself up in a tree, and strike out!" suggested Davy, to whom a
tree appealed very frequently as the first way out of any trouble.
"Now, you're away off there, suh," broke in Bob White, smiling; "he
should immediately proceed to get in touch with one of those schools
that teach everything through the mails; and take his dives off the
dining-room table."
It was at least satisfying to see how, under the management of the two
experienced leaders, Thad and Allan, the tents were soon raised. Then
several of the boys were set to work digging around the upper half
outside the canvas.
"What's all this for, Mr. Scout-Master?" asked Smithy, as he laid an old
newspaper on the ground to kneel on, and began digging away with the
hatchet; having actually drawn on a pair of new working gloves made of
canvas, in order to keep his hands from getting soiled.
"Why, in case of a sudden and heavy rain, we'd be in danger of having a
flood rush through the tents if we didn't make this gutter or sluice to
throw it off. Notice that it's on the upper side only. And while you're
finishing here, boys, Allan and myself will make the stone fireplace
where we expect to do pretty much all our cooking. The big camp-fire is
another thing entirely, and we'll let you all have a hand in building
that of logs and brush."
So they constructed a long fireplace of stones easily found along the
shore of the lake; it looked a little like a letter V, in that one end
was wider than the other. And across the smaller end a stone was placed
as a support for the coffee-pot which would occupy a position in that
quarter, the frying-pan needing considerably more room.
Taking pattern from this first fireplace some of the other scouts,
ambitious to try their hand at making such a useful adjunct to camp
life, fashioned a second one close by. For the patrol was to be divided
into two sections, when the matter of cooking was concerned.
The sun was sinking low behind the hills when the matter of supper was
agitated. Giraffe was calling for something to stay the terrible sense
of hunger he declared was making him feel weak. This thing of not being
able to sneak into the home pantry between meals was already giving him
trouble; and evidently Giraffe would have to lay in a greater stock when
the regular chance arose, or else go hungry.
Finally, however, those who did the cooking on this first night, Thad
and Allan they chanced to be, announced that the meal was ready. So, to
carry out the idea of being under rules and regulations, the bugler was
told to sound the assembly call, though every member of the patrol
hovered close by, ready to fall to with the eagerness of half famished
wolves.
Then came the job of making ready for their first camp-fire. That was a
matter of such tremendous importance in the eyes of all that every
fellow had to share in bringing the fuel, and helping to stack it,
according to the directions of Allan.
No one worked with greater eagerness than Giraffe. He was fairly wild to
see the red flames dancing upward, and the sparks sailing off on the
faint night air, as though they carried messages from the camp of the
Boy Scouts to some distant port unseen from that lower world.
And when finally all was ready, the young scout-master after grouping
his followers around the heap, solemnly took a brand from one of the
cooking fires, and with a flourish applied it to the inflammable tinder.
Immediately the crackling flames shot up through the stuff prepared, and
in another minute there arose a brilliant pyramid of fire that caused
the neighboring trees to stand out like red ghosts. And then arose a
shout from eight lusty young throats, as the Silver Fox Patrol danced
around the first camp-fire of their new organization.
That was an event long to be remembered, and to be written down in the
annals of the outing with becoming ceremony.