CHAPTER XII.
THE MISSING CAMPER.
Ethan beckoned to Tom, and together they at once began to preparedinner. The boys noticed their proceedings, but in spite of the factthat they had had no breakfast, none of them took any interest in theboatman's task. They did not leave their position on the bank, andstill stood looking out over the river, vainly watching for the comingof a canoe which as yet had not appeared.
Dinner was soon ready, and Ethan at once summoned the young campers.His own distress was evident, and did not tend to allay the anxiety ofthe boys; but in response to their protest that they were not hungry,he said:--
"That doesn't make a bit o' difference. Ye've got to eat whether yewant to or not. It may be we'll have a lot o' work yet to do, and ifye don't eat ye can't work."
"Ethan," said Jock, "don't you think we'd better telegraph to myfather or to Ben's?" The boys had obeyed the summons, and were nowseated at the table, but the eyes of all were upon the boatman.
"Telegraph?" replied Ethan. "It'll cost ye four shillin' to do that."
"I don't care what it costs," said Jock, recklessly; for even Ethan'sfear of a telegram and its probable expense did not interest him now.
"Wall, mebbe, mebbe," said Ethan, slowly. "Ye'd better eat yer dinnerfirst, and then we'll see what can be done."
No one spoke during the early part of the dinner, and although theboys managed to eat some of the food which had been provided for them,it was evident that they were not hungry, and their thoughts were allupon their missing comrade. The hopes which they had had at the comingof the day had disappeared now, and with the passing of the hours theconviction deepened that Ben was lost. How could they ever send wordto his home? When Jock thought of the enthusiasm with which they hadcome, and then realized that he was the one who had proposed the camp,he was ready to blame himself as the cause of all the sorrow andtrouble. Already in his mind he could see Ben's father and mother,when the word should be received in their home. How could he bear it?But Ben was gone; there could be no question about that, and it wasquite probable that they never would learn how or where he haddisappeared. The hungry current of the river bore swiftly onward inits course all that it seized, and traces of missing boat or boy wouldbe difficult, if not impossible, to find. His eyes filled with tears,and he started abruptly from the table.
No one spoke to recall him, for they all understood his feelings, andindeed their own sympathies were now increasing; but as Jock rantoward the shore, he perceived that Tom was standing on the bank andgazing earnestly out upon the river.
Jock looked up to see what had interested Tom, and perceived a smallsteam-yacht coming close in-shore. Even while he was watching it, thebeautiful little craft stopped, and a moment later he saw a canoelowered from the stern and some one step into it.
The whistle of the yacht sounded shrilly, and in a moment all thecampers were running swiftly toward the dock. No one spoke, but thecanoe was now being paddled toward them, and in a brief time such ashout rang out from the watchers as was seldom heard on the greatriver.
"It's Ben, it's Ben!" cried Jock; and instantly his companions joinedin the word.
There could be no doubt about it now, for even Ben's face could beseen as he occasionally turned and glanced at them. The yacht whistledagain, as if the people on board shared in the manifest excitement ofthe camp, and then turned and steamed up the river, leaving a longtrail of dark smoke behind it. None of the boys marked her departure,however, interested as they would ordinarily have been in the approachof such a beautiful visitor, for they were all intent upon the canoeand its occupant now.
Nearer and nearer came the canoe, and soon it was close to the shore.In their eagerness, the boys ran into the water, and to save himselfBen was compelled to relinquish his paddle, and suffer himself to bedrawn up on the beach. As soon as he was safely landed, there was ascene enacted which none of them ever forgot. Jock was laughing andcrying at the same time, and even the phlegmatic Bob was not unmoved.
"You rascal!" he said at last, when a momentary lull came, "what doyou mean? Give an account of yourself, sir!"
"Here I am," replied Ben, evidently not unmoved by his reception."Proceed, my lord, and do as it seemeth good in thy sight."
"Where have you been, Ben?" said Jock, eagerly. "Tell us about it."
"Mebbe he wants some dinner, first," suggested Ethan, who was not theleast unmoved of the party. "He can tell us while he's eatin'."
"We're all hungry, now," said Bert; "we've been fasting while you'vebeen gone, Ben. Don't we look so?"
"Fasting, fasting?" exclaimed Ben; "then you must have sufferedkeenly. I'm as hungry as a bear, myself. Come on, and I'll tell youall about it, while I'm sampling Ethan's wares."
The boys were soon all seated at the table again, and now that theirlost comrade was found it seemed as if the lost appetites had alsobeen restored. They fell upon the food before them in a manner whichhighly delighted Ethan, and compelled him and Tom to busy themselvesin preparing more.
The dual occupation seemed in no way to interfere with Ben's abilityor disposition to talk, and he at once began his story.
"Well, fellows, it was like this. When I started out last night Iintended to go only a little way. I was going up just around the firstisland and then come straight back to camp; but when I rounded theisland, I found the passage so narrow and dangerous I thought I'd goon around the next one. When I got to the end of that I found I was agood way out of my course; for the island was a pretty long one, yousee, and when I cleared it, and I came out into the open river again,I must have made a mistake in my bearings. I didn't realize I'd lostmy way till about a half an hour later, but then I knew it. There wereislands all around me, and the wind had died away, or at least haddied down a good deal.
"I kept on, thinking I'd strike a familiar spot, but the current ismuch stronger over there than it is here, and I found I was going downthe stream all the time. I ran the canoe in-shore and took in my sailand thought I'd paddle, for the wind was mostly gone, as I said. I gotalong all right till I was out in the open water again, and had gone agood distance, but I couldn't find the island I was looking for.
"I began to look about me then, for the sun was almost out of sight bythat time, and the first thing I knew it was dark, and the rain was onme. I'd been so busy I hadn't fairly realized there was a stormcoming, but I knew it pretty quick then, I can tell you. I kept on anddid my best, but that wasn't much, as you can imagine, and all thetime it kept getting darker and darker. I was wet to the skin in notime, and the way the waves began to toss my frail bark about was acaution. Paddling wasn't of much use, and I began to look about me forsome place to run into. Everything was pretty dark, and getting darkerall the time, and I couldn't make out any island anywhere near me. ButI wasn't staying in one place all the time, let me tell you, for theriver was busy if I wasn't, and I went down the stream very swiftly,for the wind was at my back.
"I don't just know how long the thing kept up, or how far I'd gone,but I pretty soon saw a light ahead of me which I decided in veryshort metre must be a cottage or a house on some island. The paddlewas still in my hands, for I'd been lucky enough to hold on to that,and then I did my best to steer for the light I'd seen.
"It kept coming nearer to me all the time, or so it seemed to me,though I suppose I was the one that was doing the travelling, andafter a while I found I was correct, and that it must be 'a light inthe window for thee, poor sailor, a light in the window for me.' Ipulled for the shore, or rather ran for it, and I thought I was justgoing to run into shelter, when plump! my canoe struck a rock, and Iwas in the water before you could say Jack Robinson. The water didn'tcome much above my knees, and then, when I discovered that I wasn'tdead, I swallowed my despair, also a few gallons, more or less, ofthis noble river, made a grab for my canoe, and somehow managed to getto the bank.
"The storm was getting in its fine work then, but it didn't make muchdifference to me, for I was wet and couldn't be any wetter. I'dreached
the superlative degree, you see, by that time. I looked up,and there on the bluff was the light which I'd seen when I was out onthe river; so, when I'd carried the canoe up on the bank, I decided totry my luck in the house, for I knew I couldn't get back to camp thatnight, so I marched up to the door and rapped as bold as you please.
"She looked at me a minute, as if she didn't know whatto make of it." _Page 151._]
"I almost fell over backward when the door was opened by one of theprettiest girls you ever saw. She looked at me a minute as if shedidn't know what to make of it, and to tell the truth, fellows, Icouldn't think of anything to say. But her father came to the doorjust then, and in a few minutes they knew all about my story, though Idon't remember a word I said.
"At any rate, if I was a stranger they took me in, and the goodman ofthe house dressed me out in some of his clothes. He was 'a trifle tooshort, and a shaving too lean' for me, so that when I was finallydressed I didn't hardly dare to go downstairs again, for I couldhear their voices through the floor, you see, and I knew there wasmore than one girl there then.
"Finally, I plucked up courage and went down, but do you know whatthose girls did when I came into the room? Well, they tried to bepolite and all that, but they were mightily tickled about something,and pretty quick one of them got up and made a rush for the window andmade out that she was looking out into the storm; but I could see herput her handkerchief to her face as if she was crying, and then theother three girls went to join her and see the dark, and then one ofthem said, 'Tee-hee,' and before you could say Jack Robinson they werelaughing with 'inextinguishable laughter,' as our Homer has it.
"At last one of them turned to me, and I was glad to see her blush,for she ought to have been ashamed of herself, and I think she was,and she said, 'You must excuse us, Mr. Dallett. We are ashamed ofourselves, but really we couldn't help it. If you will come over herewith me you'll see for yourself what it is that troubles us.' Well, Iwent over and she stood me up in front of a mirror and what do yousuppose I saw, fellows? There was a chap looking at me from thatmirror, and he was a little pee-culiar I must admit. The coat he hadon was about three sizes too small for him. His trousers were aboutfour inches above the tops of his shoes, and he looked as if he wasmostly hands and feet.
"Well, I laughed. I couldn't help it, and we had a good time, afterall. You see, Miss Bessie had three of her classmates with herspending the vacation, and they're a lively lot, I can tell you. I hada good time, and this morning, clothed in my right mind and also in myproper garb, they brought me back to camp in their steam-yacht."
It was the middle of the afternoon before Ben's story was ended, andafter they had given vent to their delight over the safe return oftheir friend, Ethan said, "Ye don't want me to stay any longer to-day,do ye?"
"No, Ethan. You can go home. Come over early to-morrow morning."
"To-morrow's Sunday," said Ethan, soberly.
"You don't mean it?" exclaimed Jock. "I'm ashamed to say I'd actuallyforgotten even the days of the week."
"I'll come over and take ye all to church," suggested Ethan.
"We'll go to church, but you needn't come for us," said Ben, quickly.
"Ye can't go then, for I thought I'd take yer canoes back with me. Idon't want to leave ye in any more danger."
"No, no. You're not going to take the canoes," protested Ben. "We'regoing to master them, now. I'll never give up in the world."
Ethan hesitated, and then under protest finally yielded. He explainedthat they could attend service at the Corners, at Alexandria Bay, orthe "Park," as they preferred.
"We'll go to the Bay," said Ben, quickly, so quickly that the boys alllaughed, thinking that they understood his motive.
"'Twill be better for ye to go there," said Ethan, soberly; but he hadno idea of the trouble which his suggestion brought on the youngcampers on the following day.