CHAPTER IV.
WHEN THE FIRE WAS KINDLED.
"How are you feeling now, Bumpus?" asked Thad, some time later, as heonce more stopped to allow all the stragglers pull up; for some of theboys were beginning to look rather fagged, though they tried to hide thetelltale signs, being too proud to own up to any weakness that illbecame a scout.
"Pretty ragged, to tell the truth," replied the fat boy, who was puffingas he came along. "It ain't the poison I've absorbed in my system, somuch as a weakness that just makes me shiver all over. And Thad, I'vewalked this far before, and never felt like this, either."
"Oh! I expected that you'd have that sort of a spell," remarked theother. "You see, that tumble, and the shock of feeling something bitingyou, that was terrible because you were in the dark, must have givenyour nervous system a bad jolt. But keep up if you can, Bumpus. In alittle 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 haveto-night," spoke up Giraffe, craning his long neck to glance around thecircle 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 totake up the duties all scouts ought to learn, so they can take care ofthemselves, 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-nightwithout permission."
Giraffe shrank back, looking crushed. He had been building high hopes onhaving unlimited chances for carrying out his favorite diversion, onceaway from the restraints of civilization. But he must learn by degrees,possibly through sad experience, that a fire is just as terrible in thewilderness, once it gets beyond control, as in a settled community. Itis 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 isgetting wilder the further we go. And around Lake Omega they say itbeats everything, for you can't see a single house."
"How does it come that this lake, lying so close to Cranford, has neverbeen visited by any of you fellows?" asked Bob White, who, being acomparative newcomer, like Allan and Thad, could not be supposed toknow as much about things as the rest of the scouts, who had been bornin Cranford, and brought up there.
"Why, you see for a long time all this country up here was owned by arich man, who meant to make a game preserve out of it. He even had ahigh wire fence built around part of the tract, including the lake, andkept 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 widowsold 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 wassaid to be a very smart lawyer; and Davy bade fair to follow in hisfootsteps. At least, the boy was never asleep when anything was goingon; and he could easily subscribe to that scout injunction whichrequires that a boy keep his eyes and ears open, in order to learnthings the ordinary person would never see nor hear.
Once more they took up the march, Bumpus being a little refreshed fromthe halt. A couple of the other fellows kept near him from now on, andeven linked arms with the fat boy, who was universally well liked onaccount of his disposition being sunny, no matter whether in fairweather 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 ofthe others.
"Well, with that neck you ought to be able to see anything," called outBumpus, from further back in the line.
"I guess I could see whether a bee went into a hole in a stump, or justswung past," retorted the other. "But there's your lake, fellows; andwe're right close up on the same, now. Just look through that opening inthe trees; see the sun shining on the little waves. Say, don't it lookfine, though? Talking about fires--but that'll keep," as he saw thepatrol leader turn his eyes quickly upon him.
Every one felt like quickening his pace, even the weary Bumpus. Step-henseemed especially solicitous about the welfare of his stout comrade, forhe kept hovering near him, offering to lend his arm, or do any otherkindly act. Bumpus eyed him a little suspiciously, as though he had anidea the other might have some dark motive in being so extra kind.
"See here, Step-hen," he declared once, when the other slipped an armthrough his and helped him on his way; "I reckon you're thinking that ifyou're good to me I'll own up to taking that beastly little compass ofyours, 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 yousay compass to me again, hear?"
"Oh! never mind," said Step-hen, very sweetly, for him, and with acurious smile that made the fat boy uneasy; "of course if you say youdidn't keep it, there must be some mistake; only it seems mighty funnyhow _my_ things are always disappearing, and the rest of you get offscot free. But don't bother about it, Bumpus; sure the thing is bound toturn up somewhere. Only I hope I find it before I go and get lost in theforest. I always was afraid of that, you know. I'll try and forget allabout compasses. Here, lean on me a little harder if you want to. Iain't tired a whit, and can stand it."
But Bumpus was able to walk alone. Truth to tell he fancied Step-hen wastrying to frisk him all over, as if endeavoring to locate the positionof 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 thetwo who had come up here on a spying trip beforehand. Each boy took whathe could carry, and in this way the entire equipment was carried down toa camp site on the shore of the splendid body of water known as LakeOmega.
"That word Omega means the end, don't it?" said Davy Jones, as theystarted 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 hadbeen casting furtive looks around, as if searching for an ideal spot onwhich 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 towardSmithy meaningly.
"Oh! I want to know how, Thad, believe me," returned that worthy,earnestly. "My mother doesn't believe any fellow should go near thewater until he knows how to swim; but how could he ever learn in thatcase, I'd like to know?"
"Fix himself up in a tree, and strike out!" suggested Davy, to whom atree appealed very frequently as the first way out of any trouble.
"Now, you're away off there, suh," broke in Bob White, smiling; "heshould immediately proceed to get in touch with one of those schoolsthat teach everything through the mails; and take his dives off thedining-room table."
It was at least satisfying to see how, under the management of the twoexperienced leaders, Thad and Allan, the tents were soon raised. Thenseveral of the boys were set to work digging around the upper halfoutside the canvas.
"What's all this for, Mr. Scout-Master?" asked Smithy, as he laid an oldnewspaper on the ground to kneel on, and began digging away with thehatchet; having actually drawn on a pair of new working gloves made ofcanvas, 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 aflood rush through the tents if we didn't make this gutter or sluice tothrow it off. Notice that it's on the upper side only. And while you'refinishing here, boys, Allan and myself will make the stone fireplacewhere we expect to do pretty much all our cooking. The big camp-fire isanother thing entirely, and we'll let you all have a hand in buildingthat of logs and brush."
So they constructed a long fireplace of stones easily
found along theshore of the lake; it looked a little like a letter V, in that one endwas wider than the other. And across the smaller end a stone was placedas a support for the coffee-pot which would occupy a position in thatquarter, 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 camplife, fashioned a second one close by. For the patrol was to be dividedinto two sections, when the matter of cooking was concerned.
The sun was sinking low behind the hills when the matter of supper wasagitated. Giraffe was calling for something to stay the terrible senseof hunger he declared was making him feel weak. This thing of not beingable to sneak into the home pantry between meals was already giving himtrouble; and evidently Giraffe would have to lay in a greater stock whenthe regular chance arose, or else go hungry.
Finally, however, those who did the cooking on this first night, Thadand Allan they chanced to be, announced that the meal was ready. So, tocarry out the idea of being under rules and regulations, the bugler wastold to sound the assembly call, though every member of the patrolhovered close by, ready to fall to with the eagerness of half famishedwolves.
Then came the job of making ready for their first camp-fire. That was amatter of such tremendous importance in the eyes of all that everyfellow 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 tosee the red flames dancing upward, and the sparks sailing off on thefaint night air, as though they carried messages from the camp of theBoy Scouts to some distant port unseen from that lower world.
And when finally all was ready, the young scout-master after groupinghis followers around the heap, solemnly took a brand from one of thecooking fires, and with a flourish applied it to the inflammable tinder.Immediately the crackling flames shot up through the stuff prepared, andin another minute there arose a brilliant pyramid of fire that causedthe neighboring trees to stand out like red ghosts. And then arose ashout from eight lusty young throats, as the Silver Fox Patrol dancedaround the first camp-fire of their new organization.
That was an event long to be remembered, and to be written down in theannals of the outing with becoming ceremony.