The Outdoor Chums - Captain Quincy Allen
"Precious little to see here; don't compare with some of the big
camps up in your Maine, I guess. But they're making a gash in the
timber all right, and in a few years it'll be all gone--that is, what
is worth taking."
They came to a halt near the log cabin, from which the head of the cook
was quickly thrust, he having heard the sound of their engines as they
approached.
"Back again, boys?" he inquired genially, for the vision of that coin was
still fresh in his memory.
"Bad penny always comes back, Jock," laughed Jerry.
"We've come to convoy the wagon in. You see all our supplies, tents, grub
and blankets happen to be in that wagon, and we don't mean to let it be
captured by any of the Lasher crowd," remarked Frank.
He saw the cook start at the mention of that name, as he muttered:
"Butch Lasher a-comin' up hyer--then them fellers must aben some o'
his pals."
"Just what they were," and Frank went on to explain how it came there was
a second vacation for the academy boys of Centerville, and also the
unfortunate fact of Andy, known among his chums as "Butch" for some
unexplained reason, having determined to take an outing in the same
region at the identical time they had arranged to come.
"We expect to have trouble with them right along, but they'd better be
careful how they try any of their smart tricks on us up here. We mean to
let them alone, if they mind their business and pay no attention to us;
but, on the other hand, we know how to defend ourselves, and we've got
the means to do it," he went on.
The cook shook his touseled head.
"Thet critter is sure a terror, an' I orter know," was all he would
say; but the boys could imagine that there was some sort of a story
back of it.
Less than ten minutes later, while Jerry was prowling around looking
at the bunks in which the lumberjacks slept when in camp, the sound
of voices came to Frank, who was watching outside, and looking down
the crooked road he caught sight of the wagon, with the two colored
men on the seat.
A shout brought Jerry plunging out of the door, and he joined in noisily
greeting the coming of the team.
It had been previously arranged that he was to take Erastus on his
machine over to the station on the railroad, about two miles away,
so that he might get the afternoon local, which would stop upon
being flagged.
Meanwhile, Frank would escort the wagon to the camp, feeling quite able
to take good care of the supply train, as Jerry called it, when he tired
of saying "chuck-wagon."
Jerry got away first, with Erastus perched behind him, and grinning from
ear to ear with the novelty of the experience.
"H'm, he won't think it so funny if they strike a root and take a header;
but then Jerry's a cautious driver, and he knows something of the lay of
the land; so I hope they'll get along without a spill. Now, Uncle Toby,
do you think you can stand a mile or two of rough sledding; for the
'tote-road' is hardly meant for a wagon with springs?" Frank asked, as
the other vanished from sight, going back along the way they had come
from Centerville.
"'Deed an' I specks I kin, Marse Frank; dis chile is able to stan' a
heap o' knockin' 'round on 'casion. S'long as I keeps my shins safe, I
don't seem to keer 'bout much else. Say de word, sah, an' I'se ready to
hit um up ag'in right peart," was the reply from the old, gray-headed
Toby, who had worked for Frank's father many years--indeed, he was fond
of saying he had been a slave in the Virginia branch of the Langdon
family "befo' de wah."
The horses had not had a very hard pull up to this time, and were,
therefore, in pretty fair condition to attempt the last quarter of
the journey.
And they needed all their strength to drag that heavily-laden wagon over
the half-broken road, where so many obstacles stuck up to jolt the poor
driver until he almost lost his grip on the seat, though the boys had
been able to avoid most of these because they could steer aside with the
single line of wheels.
But the vehicle had been well made, and the horses were full of vim,
while the venerable black man who gripped the reins was a "sticker," as
he expressed it, after being once tossed out upon the back of the near
horse by the sudden stoppage of the wagon.
After rather a trying experience they finally sighted a column of smoke,
and, calling Toby's attention to this, Frank said:
"That's as far as we go this time, Toby."
Toby shut his eyes for a brief moment and doubtless gave thanks, for his
poor old body must have been pretty well bruised by this time.
Will and Bluff had spied the wagon by now, and they shouted a
noisy welcome.
"Now we're prepared for a siege, with the grub at hand," cried Bluff,
dancing around with his gun held on high.
"Say, be careful with that contraption, will you? If ever it started
going off not one of us would live to tell the ghastly tale," called
Will, as if really and truly alarmed, which, of course, he was not.
Bluff gave him an indignant look, for it pained him to have his pet
gun insulted after this rude fashion; but he was too much delighted
over the coming of the supply wagon to cherish any animosity; and
besides, as Frank said, he never could keep on being angry over a few
minutes at a time.
Such fun they had getting that vehicle unloaded.
Then the tents had to go up, which was an operation that consumed
considerable time, for Frank proved to be very exact in his way of
arranging things, and would not accept any poor work.
When finally both tents had been erected, with a burgee bearing the club
name floating from the very tops, the camp began to have a mighty cheery
look that was invigorating.
Then another fly was put up just in the rear, under which some of the
coarser provisions, such as water would not injure should the rain get
in, were stored; here, too, Toby was to bunk while in camp.
"Everything looks like business, boys," said Jerry, as he came in later.
"What did you do with Erastus?" demanded Frank; "upset him in a ditch?"
"Do I look like I had been rooting? He got off on the train, and is
home by now."
Home--the boys looked at each other, for it already seemed as though
they had been away a long time, and yet their first night under canvas
was still ahead.
They meant to keep the horses with them over night, and next day Jerry
would go with Toby to the farmer's, about a mile off, leaving the outfit
there until it was needed to take them back again.
As evening came on the boys began to lie around and watch the old darkey
start operations for supper, which he did with evident delight; for Toby
loved nothing better than to get away with "Marse Frank" and some of his
friends, where he could wait upon them and enjoy a holiday in the woods.
The unusual exertions of the ride and subsequent wood-chopping had really
tired all of the chums, though none of them would publicly admit it. When
Bluff attempted to get up in a hurry for some purpose, he found himself
so stiff he could hardly move, and it was only after much grunting and
three distinct efforts that he finally managed to reach his feet.
Frank only smiled.
He had expected just this, and knew that in a few days the boys would
have succeeded in getting the kinks out of their muscles.
Bluff had insisted that they have fried onions with that glorious
steak, and, indeed, he even prepared a dozen of the same himself, for
Bluff could be very persistent when he chose; Frank called a halt at
this number.
"We may want a few another time, old fellow," he admonished.
"Oh! all right, then. I was just waiting till somebody called me off.
I've shed more tears than Brutus ever dropped at the bier of Caesar. Wow!
some kind person wipe my eyes, please; my hands are too rank to touch my
tear-rag," he declared, and Will performed this friendly office, thinking
that he deserved it after his heroism.
The coffee was soon bubbling on the fire, and the delightful odor of that
fine sirloin steak, together with a second frying-pan full of onions, so
permeated the surrounding atmosphere that had any of the Lasher crowd
been hiding in the vicinity they must have suffered tortures in the
thought that they were debarred from that glorious outdoor feast around
the first campfire.
"Look there!" said Jerry, quietly, pointing as he spoke.
"It's a little chipmunk come to find out what all this row is about
here," remarked Frank, tossing a piece of bread toward the cunning
animal. "If you don't do anything to frighten them away we can have a
lot of such friendly creatures hanging around the camp all the time."
"Then, for goodness' sake, chain up that annihilator of Bluff's before he
gets it working overtime. Looks as if he had an eye on it just now, for
game is game to the pot hunter, no matter how he gets it, or what it
happens to be," growled Jerry, scowling in the direction of the other,
who only grinned in reply.
"Supper am ready, gemmen. Kindly draw yer seats 'round de table,"
announced the tow-headed cook at this juncture; and in the eagerness
to appease their keen hunger everything else was forgotten for the
time being.
Two collapsible tables had been brought along, and these were placed
under the raised fly of one of the tents, so that the warmth of the open
fire could be enjoyed; but the whole supper had not been cooked after the
old fashion, for Frank had a little outfit that burned kerosene, making
its own blue flame, and which the other boys declared to be the finest
thing of the kind they had ever seen.
A set of aluminum ware went with it, the kettles nesting in each other;
there were cups, dishes, knives, forks and spoons for four persons;
besides, Frank had added a lot of kitchen things from the house, so that
they were amply supplied.
The supper was almost finished when something crashed through the
branches of a tree and fell at Frank's feet.
"What's that?" exclaimed the boy.
Crash! came another object. It landed on a platter and bounded off into
Bluff's lap.
"A rock! Somebody is throwing rocks at us!" cried Will, starting to
scramble to his feet in wild excitement.
"It must be one of that Lasher crowd," ejaculated Jerry; "come on, boys,
and let's get hold of the fellow!"
CHAPTER VI
BLUFF MEETS WITH A LOSS
The wildest excitement ensued.
Jerry met with a mishap right in the beginning of the hunt, falling over
the long box in which much of their camp material had been carried.
It happened to lie just back of the tent, empty save for a few fag-ends
of canvas brought along in case of need, and with the cover in place.
"Talk about your obstacle races!" he shouted, as he scrambled up, and
went limping after the others; "this has 'em beaten to a frazzle."
The hunt for the offender was without result. He had evidently made haste
to scuttle off, after heaving the stones at the camp.
Frank and Will, after searching for some little time, started to return
to the camp, and on the way overtook Bluff.
"Where's Jerry?" asked Frank, as they joined forces.
"Don't know," came the answer, as Bluff pushed on eagerly ahead; "last
I saw of him he was taking a header over that long coffin-box back of
the tents."
"I hope he didn't hurt himself badly, that's all. What's your hurry,
Bluff?" continued Frank, noticing that the other seemed particularly
anxious to get along.
"Why, I left my gun standing against a tree," replied Bluff.
"Well, we all did about the same thing. I forgot I had a gun, in fact,
being so anxious to get my hands on that chump who bombarded our camp. I
guess you'll find the gun safe. Uncle Toby stayed in camp," said Frank,
nudging Will.
"He did not. I saw him scooting off like a scared dog. Like as not that
coon is hiding somewhere under the bushes at this very minute,"
declared Bluff.
At which both the others laughed.
Presently the cheery blaze was seen through the trees.
Some one was there, for they could see him bending over as though
busily engaged.
"It's Jerry, all right," said Bluff, over his shoulder.
"But what in the wide world is he doing? I believe he's been hurt, boys,"
declared Frank, with a touch of anxiety in his voice, for Jerry and he
had been very thick of late.
"Binding a bandage around his shin, as sure as you live! Hello! What
happened to you, old fellow? Did one of those rocks hit home, or was it
the box you tried to capture that jumped up and kicked you?" asked Will.
Bluff was in the meantime rushing wildly about the camp as though looking
for something.
"I tumbled over that plagued box, that's all; and after limping around
for a spell thought I'd better come back and put some witch-hazel on the
bruise," explained the other, turning down his trousers' leg, and
scrambling to his feet to ascertain how well he could walk.
"It will be some stiff in the morning, I reckon. Talk about your bears,
I thought one had me nailed when I fell over that thing 'ker chunk,'" he
continued, as he rubbed his shin and screwed his face up as if to
conceal his pain.
"I told you so--it's gone!" shouted Bluff, at this juncture.
"What's gone?" echoed Will.
"My gun! Something seemed to tell me it was a silly thing for me to run
off in that way and leave it. And now they've stolen it!" wailed Bluff.
"What! Do you really mean to say you can't find it?" questioned Frank.
"Help me look, fellows. Oh! my heart will be broken if it's true. I was
just dreaming of what great things I meant to do with that splendid
repeating shotgun. Please search around the camp!" pleaded Bluff.
Of course they immediately started a thorough hunt for the strangely
missing weapon, even the limping Jerry seeming as deeply interested in
the search as any one of his comrades.
High and low they looked, turning over all the blankets in the tents, but
not a sign of the wonderful "pump-gun" could they discover.
The other guns were just where they had been left, and so far as they
could see not another thing had been stolen.
"I declare, this is mighty queer," remarked Frank, when they were ready
to give over the quest.
"Strangest thing I ever heard of," declared Will.
"Talk about your airships, I think the blooming old thing must have taken
wings and sailed away," grunted Jerry, still rubbing his wounded shin
sympathetically.
"But why should they pick out Bluff's gun of the lot?" demanded Frank.
"That's easy enough to answer. They knew a good thing when they saw it,
I bet that crowd noticed what a bully gun I carried, when we passed them
on the road, and they've been hanging around ever since," avowed Bluff,
positively.
"Then the rocks--" began Will
"Were fired at us only to tempt a rush. It was all a plot, fellows, to
coax us away for a short time. And the worst of it is the game worked
only too well. I'll never get over that loss, never! I feel sick!"
went on Bluff.
He kept shaking his head as if working himself up into a desperate frame
of mind. Evidently it would have gone hard with any one of Andy Lasher's
crowd if the offended boy could have laid hands on him just then.
"I wonder if Uncle Toby could give us any information on this subject?"
suggested Frank.
"Oh! call him in and see. Perhaps he even grabbed it up in his fright.
Shout to him, Frank, please," exclaimed Bluff, eagerly.
"Hello! Uncle Toby! Show up here; the coast is clear, and all
danger past!"
Placing his hands about his mouth, after the fashion of a megaphone,
Frank shouted these words several times.
"There he comes!" cried Will, pointing to a moving object.
"Has he got anything in his hands?" gasped Bluff, anxiously.
"Not that I can see," replied the other.
Bluff groaned and wrung his hands disconsolately.
"It's gone, boys! I'll never set eyes on that beauty again. Might as well
give up and go back to town," he said, gloomily, as if brokenhearted.
"Oh! shucks! Don't give up so easy, Bluff. Who knows but that we may find
a chance to recover the gun again, sooner or later. Live in hopes."
"It's easy for you to say that, Frank, when your gun is all safe and
sound. Why, what can I do now without anything to shoot game with?"
"Well, I wouldn't worry about that. This is Kamp Kill Kare, you know.
Trust us to find plenty for you to do. There'll be fish and game to
clean, and dishes to wash while Toby is busy at something else. Oh! you
can be useful all right, I give you my word, Bluff," said Frank, gaily.
The aggrieved boy gave him one indignant look. He did not seem in a humor
to trust himself to speech.
Meanwhile the aged darkey had entered the camp.
"Have you seen my repeating-gun, Toby?" demanded Bluff, striding
up to him.
"'Deed an' I hasn't seen any gun since I jumped into de bush to find dem
young raskils wot trowed dat stone at me. I war just a-wishin' I had a
gun along. Wouldn't I jest a peppered dem scalawags as dey run past me?"
replied the old fellow.
"Say, did you see them then?" demanded Frank.
"I shore did, Marse Frank."
"How many were there?" came the quick question.
"I war jest a-countin' ob dem jailbirds, an' had 'rived at 'leven w'en a
'streperous root she keeled me ober. W'en I gits up agin dey had gone.
Den I heard Marse Frank a-callin' me to come back," went on Toby, glibly.
The boys looked at each other and smiled. They knew that without doubt he
had been cowering close to the ground in mortal fear the whole time, for
Uncle Toby had little reputation for bravery.
"Did you see any of them have a gun?" asked Bluff, faintly.
"I done t'ink de whole bunch hab guns; least-way dat was my 'pression at
de time dat creeper done trip me up. It's lucky my haid is 'customed to
hard knocks, or it split open for sure."
"That settles it; my new gun is gone. Oh! it makes me so mad just
to think one of that crowd may be handling it," cried Bluff,
shaking his fist.
"I just fancy I can hear the squirrels laughing, and the little chippies
singing for joy," declared Jerry. "Now they'll have a chance to live.
What's hard on you, Bluff, is just happiness to them."
"You always did envy me the possession of that gun, and I know it, in
spite of your sneers. You just thought I'd beat you out in making a
record. Wait! I'm going to get that cracker-jack gun back again, some
fine day," remarked Bluff, grimly.
And Frank, seeing that look of determination on his face, knew he meant
it.
CHAPTER VII
THE SHACK OF THE MUSKRAT TRAPPER
"Wake up, everybody!"
Bang! bang! bang! went the big spoon on the frying pan Frank held.
As the others came crawling out of the tents they sniffed the air.
"Say, that bacon smells prime!" declared Will, smacking his lips.
"Hope you didn't forget about that mess of hominy I spoke about last
night, Toby. Hominy's my great stand-by for breakfast. All right, I see
it on the fire. Give me just five minutes. If it wasn't for that gun--"
"Talk about your Ambrosia, that Java sure has it knocked clean out,"
broke in Jerry. "Me for a quick-dressing act and then grub!"
Uncle Toby grinned, for he knew what appetites boys are apt to develop
when in the woods, and, of course, he had made allowances.
They were soon gathered around the table and busy.
"What's the programme for to-day?" asked Frank, when the edge of their
appetites had been taken away.
"First thing of all I want some snapshots of the camp in the morning sun.
You can see that's the best time to get a good view. Now, just sit still,
fellows, and let me do my little trick," said Will.
They assumed grotesque positions, but the photographer refused to
stand for that.
"What d'ye think I want, a collection of freaks broken loose from the
lunatic asylum? Here, you, Will, be dishing out some more bacon on to
your plate; Frank, take up the coffee-pot and be helping Bluff. Uncle
Toby, just look pleasant."
"Pretend you found my gun, and I was giving you half a dollar, Uncle
Toby," remarked Bluff, quickly.
"Always thinking of that cheap, clap-trap affair," growled Jerry.
"Goodness knows if we'll hear anything else from him all the time we're
in camp. I declare I've half a notion--"
"To do what?" asked Frank, looking at him suspiciously.
Jerry only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"Now, hold your positions, fellows. Frank, lean a little forward, so your
face stands out better; there, that's right. Toby, raise your head and
point up as if you saw a bird in that tree. That's good, all right; it's
over. Thank you!"
Will kept his position for a little while, and every few minutes seemed
to find a chance to snap off another view. He evidently believed in
getting a variety of the main subject of their outing--the home camp.
"I move we try and find old Jesse Wilcox this morning," suggested Frank.
"That suits me, if we don't have to go too far," agreed Jerry.
"How's the shin, by the way, this morning? Haven't noticed you
limp much?"
"Feels pretty fair. Next time I chase out of camp I'm going to make sure
to clear that old box, all right. How about the rest--do you say go?"
asked Jerry.
"Count me in," called Will.
"Yes, you will want to get some views of the old trapper and his cabin,
with the door covered with muskrat skins," remarked Frank.
"Coming along, Bluff?" asked Jerry, watching the other covertly.
"I guess not to-day. I'm going to hunt around again to see if I could
have unconsciously grabbed up that gun as I bolted, and then dropped it
in the brush. Such a thing might happen, you know, fellows," returned
the other.
So he remained behind when the other three sallied forth, Frank and
Jerry carrying their guns over their shoulders, while Will brought up the
rear bearing his camera ready for use and on the lookout for subjects.
"If you see any game please give me a chance to snap a view before you
shoot," he pleaded; at which the others laughed.
"Perhaps, but we can't promise. If a partridge got up suddenly it would
be a case of shoot first, and think afterwards," said Frank.
"But if it should be a deer standing feeding?"
"Or a black bear on his hind legs begging?" jeered Jerry.
"All right. I'm going to be ready for all that comes along. Still life,
if I have to, or anything else."
Will's last words were drowned in the report of Jerry's gun. He had swung
it around like a flash, and without apparently glancing along the
barrels, fired one charge at something that was flashing through the
undergrowth.
There came a second shot, so close upon the heels of the first that the
reports were almost blended in one.
Jerry turned and looked reproachfully at Frank.
"Talk about your sporting blood, you sure wiped my eye that
time," he said.
"The bird was a little too close for your shot to scatter; I had a better
chance as it flew away farther. You'd have dropped him with your second
barrel, I reckon, old fellow," cried Frank, hurrying forward to pick up
the partridge.
"Yes, I've no doubt I would; but that's the first time I ever had any
one step in and beat me clean. I'll have to watch out for you after
this, you sly 'possum. But then you've shot lots of these birds up in
Maine, I suppose?"
"Plenty of them; but up there they light in trees, and the natives don't
hesitate to drop them while they sit."
"That's little short of murder," said Jerry.
After an hour's walk they reached the camp of old Jesse.
"There it is, boys," said Frank, pointing ahead.
"And he's home, too; something I hardly expected at this time of day,"
from Jerry. "Because if he has a line of traps the morning is the time he
tends them, I'm told."
As they approached, the man in the camp turned and saw them. He was a
tall and angular fellow, well on in years, and with keen eyes that seemed
always looking for signs around him.
"Say, boys, this here is right nice o' you, comin' to look me up. Out on
a leetle hunt to-day?" he asked, as he shook hands all around.
"We've come up to camp out for a couple of weeks, while repairs are made
to the school building, damaged in the gale of wind," answered Frank.
"Sho, ye don't say? Well, now, that's fine! I'll be right glad to see
sumpin' o' ye while around. Whar's the camp, Jerry?"
"At the spring under the twin hemlocks. We wanted to run over and see
how you were getting on. Started to put out your traps yet, Jesse?"
asked the other.
"Oh! I got a few in line. Season's a bit early yet, ye see. Bringing in
some musquash," and he swept his hand around at a dozen wooden frames
upon which the skins were drying in the shade.
"Please let me get a picture of you at work, just as you were when we
came up," said the ambitious photographer, keen on the subject that
interested him most.
The trapper grinned good-naturedly.
"Fire away, then. So long as I don't give away any o' my secret ways o'
preparin' the pelts, I don't keer. I'm some proud o' that shack, too.
Sheds the rain, an' kin be kept warm easy; what more do a feller want?"
he observed.
The operation was speedily completed.
"Hope you feel better now you've got that out of your system,"
said Jerry.
"I have five more exposures on this roll of film, boys. Hope to get
something worth while before we start back to camp," retorted Will,
caressing his new camera.
"Where do you get the muskrats, Jesse?" asked Frank, as he bent down to
examine the way in which each skin was carefully stretched out on its
little frame.