CHAPTER XVI
RECORDS TWO VICTORIES OVER WICKASAW AND AN EPISODE WITH FISH
That afternoon a new flagpole was raised at Wickasaw and on it appearedagain a square of white cloth bearing the inscription “W. 18; C. 4.”But Dan and Nelson and Tom only smiled knowingly when they saw it.There are flags and flags; and they knew of one flag that would neverflutter again over the Wickasaw landing. For Dan had greatly surprisedthe other two that morning by producing a very bedraggled square ofwhite sheeting bearing marks that, before its immersion in water, hadbeen two letters and two numerals.
“Why, you got it after all!” exclaimed Tom.
“You didn’t think I was coming away without it, did you?” asked Danscornfully.
It was subsequently cut into four equal pieces and distributedamong the quartet, Bob having been duly apprised of the midnightproceedings and having been so evidently hurt at being left outof their confidence that he was made a recipient of a share of thespoils of war. Directly after breakfast the Four had taken themselvesunobtrusively off through the woods to bring back the abandoned canoe.When they neared the spot where they had left it they heard voices andpaused to consider.
“Some of the fellows are ahead of us,” said Dan. “It’s Carter’s canoeand they’ll want to know how the dickens it got down here. If Clinthears of it he will put two and two together----”
“And make we three,” finished Tom.
“Come on,” said Bob. “You can say you paddled down a little while agoand left it there.”
“Which would be a silly lie,” said Dan. “Besides, they know we haven’thad time. We’ll see who it is and ask them not to say anything aboutit.”
So they went on and emerged from the woods just in time to see two boysin the white jerseys and trunks of Camp Wickasaw climb into the canoeand start to paddle away to where, a little ways out, the Wickasawlaunch, manned by three other fellows was waiting.
“Here, that’s our canoe!” shouted Dan.
The two stopped paddling and looked doubtfully at the new arrivals.
“Come on, Jack!” called a voice from the launch. “Don’t mind them!”Whereupon the pair in the canoe dug the paddles again.
“Drop those paddles and let that canoe alone, I tell you,” commandedDan again. “That canoe belongs to us and you know it.”
“We found it,” said one of the fellows. They stopped paddling again andwould undoubtedly have relinquished the craft then and there had nottheir companions in the launch encouraged them to keep on.
“I don’t care if you did,” answered Dan. “We left it here.”
“When?” asked a Wickasaw youth.
“That’s no affair of yours,” said Bob. “Just you tumble out or we’llthrow you out.”
“Bring it along, you fellows!” came from the launch. “If it’s theirsthey’ll have to prove it.”
“It was on our land,” said Nelson, raising his voice and addressing theparty in the launch.
“No, it wasn’t either. Your line’s away over there. This land belongsto Mr. Carpenter. You fellows swiped our flag last night and if youwant that canoe you’ll have to come over to camp and prove it belongsto you. Bring it out, Jack.”
“Come on,” said Dan quietly. “We can get to ’em before they reach thelaunch.” And he led the way into the water on the run, stumbling overhidden obstacles and making straight for the canoe. Bob and Nelson andTom followed. As soon as there was depth enough they threw themselvesforward and began to swim. Meanwhile the two lads in the canoe werepaddling for all they were worth and the launch had started up andwas coming in gingerly to meet them. Had they been expert paddlersthe two Wickasaw youths might easily have won that race with the longstart they had, but neither of them knew very much about it and theirstrokes got more and more flurried and ragged as Dan and the othersbegan to overhaul them. The launch had sighted obstructions and was nowbacking again, the while its occupants shouted encouragement to theircompanions and defiance to the foe. Half a dozen yards from the launchDan’s hand reached up and seized the end of the canoe. The nearestpaddler raised his “beaver tail” threateningly.
“If you hit me with that,” said Dan calmly, “I’ll just about drownyou.” And while the other hesitated Tom, coming through the waterlike a torpedo-boat, joined Dan. The launch, its occupants angry andexcited, was trying to reach the scene. But it didn’t get there in time.
“Over with them,” said Dan, and the next instant the two Wickasaw boyswere struggling in the water. Dan grabbed one of them and Bob, who hadarrived on the scene of action meanwhile, seized the other. Thewearers of the white and red disappeared from sight. When they came upa moment later, choking and sputtering, the paddles had been wrestedfrom them and the capsized canoe was yards away in charge of Nelson. Abig youth with a very red and angry face stood on the bow of the launchaiming blows at Dan with the boat-hook. But he was a yard too far awayand Dan only grinned at him exasperatingly and said:
“Over with them,” said Dan.]
“Say, if you don’t look out you’ll fall overboard, and if you do--well,I won’t do a thing to you!”
The former occupants of the canoe had been released and the way theywere striking out for the launch was beautiful to see. Bob brought downthe paddle he held behind one of them, which so alarmed the swimmerthat he went down again. Nelson, having dragged the canoe out of range,returned, eager for the fray. But the fray was over, all save verbalencounters, and the Four, with a final retort to the revilements thrownat them, turned their backs to the enemy and swam leisurely back toland, rescuing and righting the canoe on the way. Then they got into itand paddled off up the shore, leaving the Wickasaw launch churning thewater angrily in an effort to get free of a sunken tree trunk or rockupon which she had run her bow. As long as they were in ear-shot tauntsand challenges followed them, but they could afford to be calm andundisturbed; they had come off victorious. When last seen the launchhad finally got clear and was chugging its way home.
The Four returned to camp in the best of humor and set about theirneglected duties. Luckily they all had easy tasks that morning and sowere able to report on time to the orderly. Bob felt in such conceitwith himself that he selected that morning for his interview with Mr.Clinton regarding the proposed canoe trip and half an hour afterwardsought out the others with cheerful countenance.
“It’s all right,” he announced. “Clint says we may go for three days.We’re to start next Monday morning and we must be back to camp byWednesday night. We’re to keep away from hotels and behave ourselves.He wanted to send one of the councilors along with us at first. Then hethought better of it; said he guessed we could be trusted to look afterourselves for three days. Isn’t it great?”
“Bu-bu-bu-bully!” sputtered Tom.
“Swell!” said Nelson.
“Out of sight!” declared Dan. And they began to lay plans for the tripthen and there. Bob produced a map of the country thereabouts and theyproceeded to mark it up with pencil lines until, had they followedall the routes laid out, they would have been busy for the rest of theyear. When it was time for “soak” the route was still undecided, but asthe hour of departure was yet six days off that didn’t much matter.
The next day Dan and Nelson went fishing up at the head of the lakenear Evergreen Island. They brought home seven bass and four chub. Thebass went to the cook, and appeared on the supper table, but the chubDan took up to the storehouse with the explanation that he was going toput them on ice until the next day.
“Oh, throw them away,” said Nelson. “Nobody wants to eat chub.”
“That’s all you know about it,” answered Dan. “Bob’s terribly fond ofthem. I’m going to give them to him, but don’t say anything about itbecause I want to surprise him.”
Nelson eyed him suspiciously.
“I’ll bet you’re up to one of your silly jokes,” he said. Neverthelesshe kept his own counsel.
That night Bob and Joe Carter and his brother, who since Saturday’sbaseball gam
e was looked upon as a veritable hero, played euchre onBob’s bunk from after camp-fire until it was time to go to bed. Danlooked on awhile but seemed very fidgety and quoted somebody whosename he didn’t remember to the effect that cards were only fit forfools and imbeciles. Finally he wandered back to his own bunk and beganto prepare for slumber. Tom was already in bed with his lantern riggedup beside his pillow and was deep in his fascinating book.
“What are that silly hero and the girl doing now?” asked Dan.
“Escaping from the lighthouse,” answered Tom without raising his eyesfrom the volume.
“How? In a trolley car?” asked Dan sarcastically.
“Boat; and they’ve only got one oar and there’s a peach of a stormcoming up, and they haven’t got anything to eat, and----”
“Tommy, you ought to be ashamed to read such trash,” said Dan severely.Then he seized the book and sent it with excellent aim to the fartherend of the hall, where it narrowly missed Bob’s nose and createdconsternation among the card-players. Tom leaped out of bed and racedafter it, and during the next thirty seconds Dan, unnoticed of all,worked very hard. Having recovered his book Tom started to retrace hissteps.
“Don’t you bring that pernicious literature around here,” warned Dan.“If you do I shall be forced to take it away from you. I must protectmy morals at any cost.”
Tom told him what he thought of his morals and then annexed Nelson’sbunk and returned to his story. When he was ready for bed Dan wentvisiting farther down the dormitory. The result of this maneuveringwas that when bedtime came and the lights at the ends of the hall wereput out by the councilors Tom and Dan were still out of their bunks.The former closed his book with a sigh of regret and stumbled down theaisle. Dan heard him putting the book away. Then there was a moment ofsilence save for the whispers of the fellows, and then----
“_Gu-gu-gosh!_” shrieked Tom, leaping out of bed again.“Wh-wh-wh-what’s in my bed?”
Instantly the dormitory was in a turmoil, the fellows, scenting fun,tumbling out of their bunks to gather about Tom, who stood, wild-eyedand disgusted, in the middle of the aisle.
“What’s the matter?” they asked him expectantly.
“Somebody’s pu-pu-put something nu-nu-nasty in my bed,” he answered. “Ibu-bu-bu-bet it was Du-du-du-Dan did it!”
“What’s that about me?” asked Dan innocently. By this time there wereplenty of lanterns, and Tom gingerly threw back his blankets. In thebed repose four slimy, cold chub, their round eyes seemingly fixedreproachfully upon Tom.
“Fish!” shouted Nelson quite as though he hadn’t expected it.
“Chub!” cried Dan.
Tom, cautiously examining his bedfellows, caught the expression onDan’s face.
“You du-du-did it!” he shrieked wrathfully, and seizing one of the fishby the tail he whirled it once around his head and let it fly at Dan.Now, as anybody who had ever attempted to throw a fresh fish by histail must know, accuracy is impossible. That’s why the chub, instead ofhitting Dan, smacked itself straight into Dr. Smith’s face. But Tom wasnot to be easily discouraged. Without stopping for apologies he seizedupon the remaining fish and chased Dan down the aisle and out intothe darkness under a veritable fusillade of chub. Tom’s aim was hastyand the chub were slippery, and so Dan escaped all save one of themissiles. That one took him squarely in the back and imprinted itselfupon his nice clean light blue pajamas. Then Tom went back to make hispeace with Dr. Smith.
That night was long remembered. Tom’s misadventure was the forerunnerof others. Several beds were upset with their contents and “sneakers”were so thick in the air that Dan, cautiously returning from outerdarkness into inner gloom, was struck twice between the door and hisbunk.
It was almost midnight when the councilors at last secured quiet.And then, just when most fellows were getting drowsy, there was astrange, uncanny noise like that of a man talking through a hundredfeet of gas-pipe, a whirring and buzzing, and finally a loud discordantlaugh and a jumble of shrill words that sounded as though they werecoming from the stove. Somebody in some manner had got hold of Wells’sphonograph and started it going. Up and down the hall fellows sat up inbed and laughed and shouted their applause. Bedlam was loose again!
“Give us ‘Bluebell’!” some one demanded.
“I want ‘Hiawatha’!” called another.
“Cornet solo, please!”
Then Dr. Smith’s voice was heard above the babel.
“Cut it out now, fellows! Wells, stop that noise!”
“I didn’t do it, sir.”
“I don’t care who did it; I want it stopped.”
“Why, Wells, you know you did it!” said some one up the hall.
“Sounded just like your voice, Wells!” called another.
“Cut it out, fellows,” said Dr. Smith sternly.
“Yes, sir.”
“All right, Doctor!”
“Good night, sir!”
“Thank you for stopping the noise, Doctor; I’m very sleepy!”
“Yes, sir; thank you, sir!”
Then followed giggles--silence--slumber.
Three of the Four were very busy for the balance of the week. Everyafternoon there was hard practise on the diamond for the baseball teamin preparation for the second game with Wickasaw on Saturday afternoon.If Wickasaw should win this game she would have the series; if not,a third game would be played. Dan had made up his mind to conquer,and the way he worked the team was a caution. On Thursday there wasa spirited contest between the camp nine and the scrub in which Mr.Clinton distinguished himself by knocking three home runs out of fivetimes at bat. But for all that the first team won handily, displayingfar better form than at any time during the season.
Besides the practise there was a lot of planning to do in regard tothe trip. By Friday all arrangements were complete, and at last theyhad agreed on a route. They were to go through to Hipp’s Pond, carryacross to Northwest Bay, and so reach Lake Winnipesaukee. Tuesday theywould cruise on the lake and on Wednesday they would return as far asThe Weirs by train and from there paddle home again. They were to taketwo canoes, not so much because they were both necessary as becauseit looked more imposing. A 7 x 9 canoe tent, blankets, an aluminumcooking outfit, a waterproof duffle bag, a few provisions, hatchet,fishing-tackle, camera, and compass made up the bulk of their luggage.Tom was strongly desirous of taking a great many more things, amongthem a checker-board, a pack of cards, and his wonderful book--but theothers refused.
“We may have to carry a good ways,” explained Bob. “If we do you’ll beglad we haven’t any more truck, Tommy.”
Mr. Clinton gave his counsel and help and regretted many times that hewasn’t going along. By Saturday morning all luggage was assembled underDan’s bed and nothing remained but to await as patiently as possiblethe hour of embarkment. Naturally, they were much envied by the otherboys and many were the applications received for membership in theexpedition.
Wickasaw appeared on the field Saturday afternoon minus one of theircouncilors, who was too ill to play. As he was one of the best of theWickasaw nine his absence was partly accountable for the result of thecontest. But Chicora’s playing had a good deal to do with it. Wellspitched a good game and very few hits were made off his delivery. Onthe other hand Nelson and Bob and Loom, who played short-stop, wereable to find the Wickasaw pitcher for a number of timely hits. At theend of the sixth inning Chicora had a comfortable lead of four runs. Inthe seventh an epidemic of errors in the Wickasaw infield enabled herrival to pile on three more, and the game ended with a score 9 to 3 inChicora’s favor.
Dan spent most of the evening manufacturing a flag of victory, whilethe other three lent him valuable advice. He sacrificed one of histwo pillow-slips and on it drew a broom--which he explained wasemblematic of victory and a clean sweep--from the upper right-hand tothe lower left-hand corner. Above it, in amazing letters and numerals,he inscribed “Chicora 9!”; below it in much smaller characters hetraced the inscription: “Wick. 3.”
As his exclamation point had muchthe appearance of a figure 1, the score at first glance was a bitstartling. When they went for their dip in the morning they attachedthe flag to the line under the camp banner.
“They won’t be able to steal it if they want to,” said Dan. “Because,you see, it’ll come down at night and go up to camp.”
The only thing that marred his happiness that morning was the fact thatthere was no breeze and consequently the flag hung straight downwardand failed to flaunt its message to the eyes of the inhabitants of BearIsland.
Sunday passed very slowly for the Four. In the forenoon they wrotetheir regular weekly letters home and had their “soak.” At noonthey ate a great deal of dinner. In the afternoon they secured themotor-dory and with three others went for a trip around the lake. Butfor the most part their thoughts were set on the morrow. In the middleof the night Nelson awoke in a most unhappy frame of mind. He haddreamed that it was raining so hard that the dormitory was afloat andDr. Smith was dealing out rowboats so that they could get to breakfast.But one glance through the open window at the foot of the bunk broughtrelief. The night was still and cool and through the silent leaves thewhite stars were twinkling merrily.