CHAPTER XXII
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
It was just about an hour after dawn, and the sun had hardly gotstarted on his journey toward the zenith, when two boys in the khakigarb of scouts arrived at the house to which Walter Douglass had beencarried on a litter.
Mr. Witherspoon on coming out to get a breath of air before breakfastwas announced was surprised and pleased to see Tom and Josh.
"Why, this is splendid of you, boys!" he remarked, as they came towardhim. "Of course you were anxious to know about your comrade. We got himsafely home, and called the doctor, who said he would not have to setthe limb again, since you scouts had done the job in first-class style.It's a feather in your cap, for he is sure to tell it everywhere. Now,what makes you look so glum, Josh?"
That gave them a chance to explain. When the scout master heard of thelatest outrage of which the Tony Pollock crowd had been guilty, he wasmuch annoyed.
"We thought," Tom went on to say, "that perhaps by coming over herebefore you got started we might influence the gentleman to spare us asmall amount of coffee, a strip of bacon, and some sort of tin to makethe coffee in."
"No harm trying," Mr. Witherspoon immediately remarked; "and it doesyou credit to have thought up such a scheme. I've found him anaccommodating gentleman. If he has anything he can spare I'm sure we'llbe welcome to it."
When the matter was mentioned to Mr. Clark, he immediately offered tohelp them out as far as he could do so.
"I can give you plenty of eggs," he said, "and enough coffee forseveral meals. It happens that I'm shy on bacon just now, and intendedto run in to town to stock up either to-day or to-morrow, when I havemy eggs to dispose of. What I can spare, you're entirely welcome to."
Nor would he allow them to pay a cent for what he handed over to them.
"What I've heard about you boys from Mr. Witherspoon here has arousedmy interest greatly," he told Tom and Josh as they were about todepart; "and I'd be glad to know more about such a splendid movement asthis promises to be. You must keep me informed of your progress. Iwould appreciate an occasional letter. Then, if it happens that youraccount of the outing is ever put in print, Tom, remember me with acopy."
"I certainly will, sir," the patrol leader promised, for he realizedthat the gentleman and his wife led a lonely life of it, removed fromassociation as they were, with most of their fellows.
They reached the camp in three-quarters of an hour after leaving thehouse, and received a noisy welcome from the rest of the boys, who gavetheir leaders the regular scout salute as they came into camp.
Then once again the affair was discussed, this time with Mr.Witherspoon to listen and give occasional comments. It ended in theiroriginal plan's being sustained. They would not give up, and would tryto carry out the plan as arranged before the hike was started.
Tom had an idea that they must be near the cabin of Larry Henderson,the naturalist whom he had met in Lenox, at the time of the snowballbattle with the Pollock crowd.
"He gave me directions how to find his cabin," Tom explained to hiscompanions when they were discussing this matter, "and I believe wemust be somewhere near there right now. I asked Mr. Clark, and what hecould tell me only confirmed my idea."
"But Tom, do you think we could get some supplies from him?" askedJosh.
"There's a reasonable chance of that," he was told. "I understood himto say he always kept a supply of all sorts of food on hand. It was tolay in a lot that took him down to Lenox that time, you know."
"Then goodness knows I hope we can run on his shack to-day," said Felixfervently. "We want most of all coffee, potatoes, onions, bacon, ham,and, well anything that can stop the gap when ten campers are halfstarved."
"Shall we get started right away, Tom?" asked George, who lookeddistressed, as though he had not been wholly satisfied with the amountof his breakfast.
"There's nothing to delay us, since we have no tents to come down," Tomtold him. "Every fellow fold up a blanket, and make his pack ready."
"It's going to be marching in light order with us nowadays," sighedFelix, "with all our good stuff stolen. That's the only compensation Ican see about it."
"Tom, you've studied your chart good and hard, let's hope," commentedJosh; "so we won't run any chance of going past the place withoutknowing it?"
"He gave me certain land marks that I couldn't very well miss seeing,"explained the patrol leader.
"According to my way of thinking," Felix was saying, "we must be halfaround the foot of Big Bear Mountain by this time."
"You've got the right idea of it," admitted the one who carried thechart; "and Mr. Henderson's cabin isn't far away from here. That cragup on the side of the mountain was one of the things he told me about.When we can get it in a direct line with that peak up there we will bewithin shouting distance of his place."
Tom continued to keep on his guard as they pressed onward. Every onewas alive to the necessity of finding the cabin of the old naturalistas soon as possible. Farms were so rare up here that they found theycould not count on getting their supplies from such places; and thepossibility of going hungry was not a pleasant prospect.
After all it was an hour after noon when Tom announced the fact thatthe several land marks which had been given to him were in conjunction.
"The cabin must be around here somewheres," he said, positively.
Hardly had he spoken when Josh was noticed to be sniffing the air in asuspicious fashion.
"What is it, Josh?" asked the scout master.
"I smell smoke, that's all," was the answer.
Others could do the same, now that their attention was called to thefact.
"With the breeze coming from over that way, it ought to be plain enoughwe must look for the cabin there," remarked Tom.
The further they advanced the plainer became the evidence that therewas a fire of some sort ahead of them. Presently they got a whiff ofcooking, at which some of the hungry scouts began to sniff the air likewar horses when the odor of burnt powder comes down the breeze from thebattlefield.
"There it is!" exclaimed one of the watchful boys, suddenly.
Yes, there stood a commodious cabin right in the midst of the thickwoods. It was a charming site for the home of one who loved nature asmuch as the old naturalist did.
When a vociferous shout rang forth a form was seen to come quickly tothe open doorway. It was the same genial Larry Henderson whom some ofthe scouts had once rescued from the unkind assault of the bully ofLenox and his crowd, as they pelted the lame man with hard ice balls.
He welcomed them to his little home with a heartiness that could not bedoubted, and soon a royal dinner was being prepared for the wholeparty. While this was being dispatched later on, the owner of the woodscabin listened to the story of the great hike over Big Bear Mountain,as told by the boys.
Everything seemed to interest him very much indeed, and when last ofall they told him how some unscrupulous boys had stolen most of theirsupplies, meaning to break up the hike, Mr. Henderson looked pleased.
"Don't let a little thing like that deter you, boys, from carrying outyour original proposition," he remarked. "I can spare you all you wantin the way of supplies. Yes and even to a coffee-pot and an extrafrying-pan. An enterprise as splendidly started as this has been mustnot be allowed to languish, or be utterly wrecked through the meantricks of such scamps as those boys."
He was pleased when they gave him a round of hearty cheers, such ascould only spring from a group of lively, wide-awake American boys.
Afterwards he showed Tom and some of the others many things thatinterested them more than words could tell. Indeed, so fascinating werethe various things he took the trouble to explain to them, that thescouts only wished they could stay at the cabin in the woods for anumber of days, enjoying his society.
It was decided that they must remain there at least until anothermorning, which would give them a night with the naturalist and hunter,a prospect that afforded satisfaction all around.
Tom soon saw that Mr. Henderson had something on his mind which hewished to confide to him; consequently he was not much surprised whenhe saw him beckon to the leader of the Black Bear Patrol to join him.
"Tell Mr. Witherspoon to come, too, and also that bright chap you callRob," remarked the recluse. "It is a little matter that may interestyou and I think it best to lay the story before you, and then let youdecide for yourselves what you want to do. Still, from what I've seenup to this time of your character, I can give a pretty shrewd guesswhat your answer will be."
Of course this sort of talk aroused a good deal of curiosity in bothTom Chesner and Rob Shaefer, and they impatiently awaited the coming ofthe scout master.
"And now I'll explain," Mr. Henderson told them, when he found threeeager pairs of eyes fastened on him. "I chanced to be about half a mileaway from home an hour before noon to-day when I heard angry voices,and discovered that several persons were about to pass by, following atrail that leads straight into the worst bog around the foot of BigBear Mountain."
"I warrant you that it must have been the four young rascals who robbedour camp, that you saw," ventured Mr. Witherspoon.
"I know now that it was as you say," continued the other. "At the timeI might have called out and warned them of the peril that lay in waitfor them if they should continue along that misleading trail, but whenI looked at their faces, and heard a little of the vile language theyused, I determined that it would be a very unwise thing for me to letthem know I lived so near."
"And you allowed them to go on past, you mean, sir?" questioned Mr.Witherspoon.
"Yes, I regret to confess it now," came the reply, "but at the time itseemed to be simply ordinary caution on my part. Besides, how was I toknow they would pay the slightest heed to anything I might say? I didnot like their looks. But since then I've had grave doubts about thewisdom of my course, and was more than half inclined to start out, lamethough I am, to see whether they did get off the only safe trail, andlose themselves in the bog."
"Is it then so dangerous?" asked Mr. Witherspoon; while Tom was sayingto himself that perhaps the chance so ardently desired by poor Carlmight be coming at last.
"There are places where it might be death itself to any one who got offthe trail, and became bewildered. The mud is deceptive, and once onegets fast in it an hour or two is apt to see him swallowed up; nor willhis fate ever be known, for the bottomless mire of the bog neverdiscloses its secrets."
Tom drew a long breath.
"If you will show us the way there, sir," he told the naturalist, "wewill certainly accompany you."