CHAPTER XVII
_Christmas in Camp Venture_
As breakfast was in course of preparation the next morning, Ed brought alarge dripping pan and set it in front of the fire.
"Now you fellows," he said, "who are broiling bacon on the points ofsharpened sticks, will please let the fat from it drip into this pan,and you'll kindly do the same from now till Christmas."
"What's up Ed?" asked Jack. "What do you want us to do that for?"
"Why the Doctor insists that I must stay indoors till after Christmas,so quite naturally it is going to fall to me to cook the Christmasdinner. I take it for granted that little Tom is going to get that bigturkey gobbler he told us about, and I'm going to cook it properly--oras nearly so as the limited resources of Camp Venture will permit. Tothat end I shall want some drippings from broiling bacon. So save allthe fat you can, boys, from now until Christmas."
The boys asked no questions, knowing that Ed Parmly was by all odds thebest cook in the camp, but they saved all they could of the drippingsfrom the slices of bacon that they were toasting in the fire.
Three days before Christmas, Tom took his rifle and went out on themountain in search of his big turkey. He brought back some game--Tomnever failed to do that--but he came back without the big turkey, thoughit was well after nightfall when he arrived at the camp. Some of theboys were disposed to joke him about his failure, though of course in afriendly way.
"That's all right fellows," answered Tom. "But I've promised you thatbig turkey, and I'm going to deliver the goods."
"How can you speak so confidently, Tom?" asked Harry. "You've missedgetting him to-day and you may miss getting him to-morrow and next day."
"But I shan't do that," answered Tom with that confidence which is bornof knowledge and skill. "I know where that turkey and his flock areroosting to-night, and I'll be there before daylight to-morrow morning.I'll be right under him when he wakes, and I'll have my shot gun withme, for the range to a roost is short. I'll have that turkey gobblerhere before noon to-morrow, or I'll admit that I'm no hunter."
"But suppose he quits his roost during the night and wanders awaysomewhere," suggested the Doctor, who knew nothing of the habits of wildturkeys.
"Turkeys never do that," answered Tom. "When once they go to roost theystay there till the dawn broadens into full daylight. Nothing couldpersuade them to quit their perches much before sunrise, and before thattime I'll have that stately gentleman flung over my shoulder."
Accordingly Tom left camp about two hours before the daylight came, andabout ten o'clock he returned, bearing the gigantic gobbler, in triumph,and with it two smaller turkeys which he had also killed.
"There you doubters!" he said as he flung down the birds, "I promisedyou a turkey dinner for Christmas and I've kept my word. It only remainsfor Ed to cook the big bird properly and I haven't the least doubt thathe'll do that. The other two will keep in such weather as this as longas we care to keep them. What with the game we already have on hand, andthese three turkeys, I think we're in no pressing danger of an outbreakof scurvy in camp, are we Doctor?"
"So long as you are around, Tom," answered the Doctor, "I shall feel noapprehension of scurvy, and still less of starvation."
Tom had shown his spoil at that part of the camp where the other boyswere chopping. Having done so he carried the turkeys to the house anddelivered them over to Ed, who, incapacitated for other work by hiswound, had made himself at once sentinel in charge of the prisoner andcompany cook.
As soon as Tom left the choppers, Jack stopped his work, and said to theothers:
"I say, boys, Tom was a Christmas baby, and this coming Christmas daywill be his eighteenth birthday. Isn't there any way in which we cancelebrate it?"
"Yes," answered the Doctor, "We'll give a big dinner in his honor onthat occasion and surprise him with it. I have been jealously saving afew onions and potatoes that I brought up the mountain in my pack. Ihave carefully guarded them against frost as well as against use,meaning to keep them all winter in case scurvy should appear among us.But evidently Tom is taking care of that by keeping us abundantlysupplied with fresh meat. So I'm going to suggest to Ed that onChristmas day he roast the onions in a pan or skillet and bake thepotatoes in the ashes. That, with the big turkey, will give us a dinnerfit for princes."
"Good!" cried the others, "and we'll pretend to forget all about it'sbeing Tom's birthday," added Jim Chenowith, "till the dinner is dishedup in his honor. Then we'll congratulate him."
Ed fell in with the plan with all heartiness when he was told of it. Hewas a notably good cook considering that he was a boy, and he wasdetermined to produce the best result he could with the meagre means athis disposal.
On Christmas morning he took the giblets of his big turkey--the gizzard,liver, heart, the outer ends of the wings and the upper part of theneck, and put them on the fire to stew.
Then he puzzled his brain over the question of a stuffing for thegigantic turkey. He had no wheaten bread of any kind, and he doubtedthat corn bread could be made to answer. Just then he remembered that abox of crackers, two-thirds full, remained among Camp Venture's stores.He hunted them out and took as many of them as he needed. He toastedeach to a rich crisp brown. When all were toasted he reduced them tocrumbs. Next he mixed the crumbs together with the bacon fat drippingsthat he had made the boys save from their broiling. He added just enoughwater to make the mass half adhere together. Then he chopped up onesmall onion and mixed it with the stuffing. After adding a littlechopped bacon and a liberal supply of black pepper, he pressed the wholemass into the hollow of the big bird and hung the turkey up before thefire to roast, placing a dripping pan under it, setting it whirling atthe end of a string, and from time to time basting it with the drippingsthat fell into the pan.
A little later he placed the potatoes in the hot embers to bake. He putthe onions into a skillet and placing live coals under and upon the lidof that utensil, left them to roast. Still later he made up some cornpones and set them to bake in another skillet. Finally, just beforedinner time, he brewed a great pot of coffee.
But in the meantime he had taken the giblets off the fire, chopped themto a mince meat and poured them into the dripping pan that had reposedunder the turkey as it roasted. Into this he poured the water in whichthe giblets had been stewed and added a little of the cracker crumbs forthickening, a little salt and a liberal supply of pepper. This done hestirred all together vigorously and produced a gravy of which even hismother--the best cook he had ever known--might have been proud.
At the very last he dug the potatoes out of the ashes, split open oneside of each and inserted, in the mealy depths, a freshly broiled sliceof bacon. This was to replace the butter which he had not.
Then he called the boys to dinner, but as the day was warm he served themeal on an improvised table out of doors, from which both points ofpossible invasion of the camp could be fairly well observed. He did thisin order that the whole company, sentinel and all, might sit downtogether in celebration of Christmas and of little Tom's birthday.
When the little company assembled, each member of it grasped Tom's handand warmly congratulated him, and when the boy learned how they hadexerted themselves to make his natal day one to be remembered, he fairlybroke down with affectionate emotion. It was assigned to him to carvethe great turkey gobbler, which in the absence of scales on which toweigh him, the boys pretty accurately estimated at twenty-six pounds.Jack served the roast onions, which were done to a beautiful brown, andEd himself dished out the potatoes, roasted to a hard crust without andenticing mealiness within.
The coffee was drunk with the meal after the manner of the country, andof course there was no milk to go with it, but these healthy, happy,out-of-door boys enjoyed that Christmas dinner as they had never enjoyeda dinner before.
Just as they were finishing the eating of it something struck andpenetrated the clapboards that formed the extemporized table. Tominstantly glanced at the mark made, estimated direction and, turni
ng,sent a bullet from his long range rifle toward the point from which hebelieved the shot to have come. A moment later there came another shotand another, and this time Tom saw the smoke of the rifles from whichthey came. He aimed carefully but quickly, and fired two shots in reply.
"There!" he said. "They are shooting from long range, or what theyregard as such, up there on the mountain. They think we have nothing butshot guns and their plan is to shoot at us from too great a distance forus to shoot back. I reckon those three bullets of mine will give them anew idea of the situation, for this rifle carries at least twice as faras any they have."
Apparently Tom was right, for after his shots were delivered no more washeard from the assailing mountaineers.
"Now that teaches us a lesson," said Jack. "Our house door facesdirectly south and up the mountain. There are points up there from whichthose rascals can fire right into our house through the door, wheneverthey feel so disposed. We must stop that right now."
"But how?" asked the Doctor.
"By building a bullet proof barricade of poles right here, ten feet infront of our door," answered Jack. "We can easily do it this afternoonand still get some chopping done."
Jack's suggestion was adopted instantly and the boys set to work at onceto carry it out. They set up some poles about fifteen feet high and sixfeet apart, burying their lower ends deep in the earth. Then they set upa second line in the same way about eight inches in front of the firstline. Next they placed in the space between the two lines a tier ofpoles about five inches thick and so closely fitted together as to bebullet proof. Then for complete safety they cut small brush into pieces,and with them filled in what space remained between the two lines ofpoles.
"Now then," said Jack, "Camp Venture is in a state of defence. But itneeds offensive as well as defensive advantages. We are pretty wellprotected against stray bullets by the wooden barrier we have erected,but we must also be able to shoot over it whenever that becomesnecessary. Let's build a platform inside of it, so that one of usstanding on it can see everything beyond and shoot as from a breastwork, if those fellows insist upon shooting as a condition of the game."
So the boys built the platform of poles, with a little ladder leading upto it, and as it gave a full view of every part of the camp, it wasdecided that the sentry should thereafter be stationed there in aprotected position, instead of being required to expose himself outunder the cliff.