Endurance Test; or, How Clear Grit Won the Day

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER V.

  A DOUBLE-ACTION JOKE.

  "JUMP, Adam!" called Elmer.

  The German had waited as long as he dared, and as if the voice of thepatrol leader gave him the sign, he suddenly made a backward spring,turned a somersault in the air, just as he had done from the springboardwhen swimming, and landed squarely on his feet.

  Crash!

  That was the bull striking head-on against the fence. And it wasfortunate for the other boys, as well as Adam, perhaps, that the ownerof the bull had made that fence additionally strong. Had it given waybefore the onslaught of the animal the chances were Elmer and his mateswould have had to do some lively running to get clear.

  But the fence held, though it wabbled suspiciously, and Elmer felt surethat a few more such blows must have demolished the barrier completely.

  "Don't you wish you could, old fellow?" taunted Landy, after he had madesure of the fact that the animal was going to be held back.

  The bull looked through the fence, snorted, pawed the earth, and let outan angry bellow. Then he walked disdainfully away, as though satisfiedwith the victory he had gained, that one fragment of the torn redsweater still floating from his horn, just for all the world, as Tyremarked, "like a flag at half mast."

  "Come, let's hike back to camp, boys," remarked Elmer, moving off, "andfinish getting our breakfast ready. By the time Ty manages to come alongwe'll be fixed for business."

  "Oh, I'll show up in decent shape, all right," remarked the other. "Thistime I'll take no rash chances in crossing fields. Around the fence isgood enough for me, I guess."

  He was as prompt as his word, and came along with his pail of fresh milkjust as Elmer was beating the tattoo on the frying pan that summoned theparty to breakfast.

  "What did they say up at the farmer's, Ty!" asked Landy.

  "Not guilty," replied the other, who was cramming his mouth with aportion of the flapjacks Elmer had made, and which were really fine.

  "Now, what's the use of giving us puzzles to solve!" complained the fatboy, as he speared his second helping from the tin platter, andproceeded to deluge the same with some maple syrup that had been broughtalong in a bottle. "Not guilty of what, say!"

  "That ain't their bull, you see," remarked Ty.

  "And tho they declined to buy you a new thweater, ith that it, Ty?"asked Ted, a little maliciously.

  "Oh, rats!" cried the other; "you know right well I'm not built thatway, Ted Burgoyne. Never once thought of trying to make anybody pay formy foolishness in trying to cut across a field that had a bull in it. Ionly mentioned the fact because, you see, I had to explain what happenedto their tin bucket, when I was paying for it. But after all theywouldn't accept the money--said it was only an old pail after all, andthe farmer he told me I ought to be glad it was the bull, and not me,that kicked the bucket."

  "Bully for the farmer!" said Landy, or at least that was what the otherstook it for granted he meant, since his mouth was so full of flapjackthat he could hardly do more than mutter.

  After breakfast was over they started to carry out the various duties orpleasures which each fellow had in view. One wanted to take a fewpictures, and, of course, this was Landy, though his mates solemnlywarned him to be careful what vines he touched while in the woods.Another declared he felt like trying to tempt some of the finny denizensof the river from their beds on this bright morning. This was Adam, andhe had brought along a lot of new tackle, as well as a fine jointed rod,to prove that he was as good a fisherman as he was a water dog.

  Elmer chose to potter around the camp. There were always plenty ofthings that could be done to improve conditions and add to the generalcomfort of those who occupied the tent and cooked at the fireplace madeof stones. And having the true sportsman spirit in his composition, hewas never more happy than when arranging these many little detailsconnected with the camp.

  He improved the fireplace so that the coffee pot would not tilt andthreaten to upset from the three metal crossbars that formed a gridiron;he dug the drain at the back of the tent a little deeper, so that incase of a sudden heavy downpour the surplus water would be carried offand not inundate the tent, and, finally, he finished the rude buteffective table on which they could place their food at meal times, andeven had a couple of short sections of log rolled up so as to take theplace of seats when they dined.

  Ty, after the breakfast things had been washed up and put away, wanderedoff somewhere. And Ted was supposed to be fishing farther down thestream, he, too, having expressed a wish for a real fish dinner thatnight, if so be the bass in the Sweetwater were in a "taking" humor.

  Several times when Elmer stood up to rest the muscles of his back, andconsider what he would do next, he happened to cast a curious look up towhere Adam had taken his position on the bank of the river.

  Apparently the fish did not respond to the urgent invitations of theGerman boy as well as he had expected, or else Adam's education withregard to the ways the American black bass has to be attracted to thebait had been neglected.

  For some time he was industriously seen threshing the water as thoughissuing a call to all the fish in the river to come and have a bite withhim. Of course that was just the opposite of what he should have done;for bass are shy and have to be tempted in quietness.

  Elmer chuckled to himself when first he noticed what the new scout wasdoing.

  "Looks like Adam is densely ignorant along our ways of fishing," hethought. "Wonder now what kind of fish he's ever caught that style onthe other side of the ocean. Perhaps he never wet a line before in allhis life. I noticed that he watched Ted closely, and imitated himexactly in setting up his line, even to the float Ted always persists inusing."

  The third time Elmer looked it was perhaps an hour after Adam hadstarted fishing, and he saw that a change had come over the manner ofthe young Teuton. He was no longer casting out again and again with agreat splashing of the water. On the contrary, he sat astride the treetrunk that jutted out some eight feet above the water. His line randownstream and the float could be seen bobbing in the midst of thelittle bubbles that marked an eddy below.

  Elmer watched him closely for five minutes, and not once in all thattime did he see the other move in the least.

  "Well, I declare, I believe the fellow's gone to sleep!" he laughed. "Ireckon Adam isn't used to camping out, and on that account he's had poorrest these two nights. And that hot sun is enough to make any fellowfeel drowsy, too. Whew, what if he nodded too hard and just dropped offthere! Perhaps I'd better go and wake him up. And while I'm about it Ican just give him a few pointers as to how he'll have at least a decentchance to coax a few bass to his bait."

  Filled with this feeling of comradery toward the new recruit, whom hewas fast learning to like because of his constant good-nature and reallywitty remarks, Elmer started away from the camp.

  It just chanced that instead of heading directly for Adam, he walkedfirst of all out to the river bank. Looking downstream he could just seeTed busily engaged in landing a fish that seemed to be fighting hard,and this told that the bass were "on the feed," if only one knew how toattract them.

  The idea of that sleepy Adam dozing there and letting the golden harvesttime slip by unheeded made Elmer laugh again. He even allowed himself toimagine that it would just about pay Adam right if he crept up and gavehis line a sudden tug, to make him think he had a bite.

  Just then something moving attracted his attention. It was directlybelow the boy who sat astraddle of the projecting log, and a littlefarther downstream.

  Ty, why of course it was that party, though minus his distinguishing redsweater, which was now, alas, no more. But what under the sun was hedoing there? As near as Elmer could see he appeared to be industriouslyattaching some bulky object to the end of a line!

  All at once what seemed to be the truth burst upon the patrol leader. Tyhad also noticed the sleeping Dutchman, and was bent upon having alittle joke at the expense of Adam. Yes, he had managed to draw the lineof the fisherman in, by t
he aid of a long stick that had a crotch at theend, and was now fastening a bunch of hemlock browse, done up torepresent a big fish, to the end of the same.

  When all was ready and the current pulled strongly at the bulky object,possibly the additional strain might arouse Adam, who would immediatelythink he had hooked a monster bass, and doubtless the ensuing excitementwould tickle the joker to the top of his bent.

  And if Adam did not wake up himself, it would be easy for Ty to creepunder the projecting log until he could reach out and give the line ajerk.

  So Elmer concluded that he might as well wait and see the fun. Being aboy himself, he liked anything that partook of clean sport, so long asthe joke did not border along the cruel or mean stage.

  Now Ty had dropped his artificial fish back into the river. The swiftcurrent that ran farther out did not seize upon it at once, for therewas an eddy and a rather deep pool at the spot Adam had selected for hisfishing. Consequently the pull upon the line did not seem to come up tothe expectations of the joker.

  Ty crouched there waiting for results.

  The minutes passed and all remained peaceful and serene. Adam seemed tobe enjoying a lovely sleep. His head was upon his chest and his wholefigure appeared to be in a relaxed state.

  Twice did Ty rise up to stare at the boy who sat there straddling thatlog, as though he wondered why Adam did not arouse to the occasion.Plainly, the practical joker would have had his labor for his painsunless something was done to start things moving.

  The third time Ty seemed to come to this conclusion himself, for insteadof merely observing the sleeping fisherman he started to advance towardhim.

  At this point the bank of the river was hollowed out somewhat. There wasjust about enough footing below for an agile boy to clamber along andkeep from being precipitated into the water.

  Elmer chuckled quietly.

  "It's coming," he said to himself, as he prepared to see more or lessexcitement around that region. "Looks like Adam might be due to a littlesurprise party."

  Ty had finally managed to crawl far enough along the narrow ledge. Hewas apparently directly below the log that stuck out from the bank abovehim. Elmer judged this by the way the other craned his neck in order tolook up.

  "Now he's got his chance, if he can only reach that dangling line!" hethought.

  Apparently Ty realized the same thing, for he was seen to be extendingthat same crotched stick that had before proven so useful.

  In this fashion he speedily drew the line in toward him, gently, so asnot to arouse the fisherman before he was ready to give him a good hardshock.

  "Pull up the curtain, the stage is all ready!" Elmer said to himself, ashe kept close watch on the movements of the boy below.

  He could see Ty taking a firm grip on the dangling line as though hemeant to have it no halfway affair.

  "Now, go!" exclaimed the watcher.

  Just as though Ty might have been waiting for some such order, he wasseen to suddenly tighten his hold, and then give a tremendous jerk, thatwas surely calculated to make Adam believe the champion bass of theSweetwater had taken his bait and gorged it.

  Then something happened, something that doubtless the practical jokercrouching below had not anticipated as a result of his prank.

  Adam seemed to suddenly awaken. He was evidently greatly excited, and ashe made a wild clutch at the butt of his rod, which had been partlyjerked out of his grasp by the violence of that bite, he just naturallylost his seat on the log.

  Elmer saw him gracefully slide around the trunk of the fallen tree andgo down with arms and legs sprawled out like an immense frog. And,strange to say, as he dropped his extended arms seemed to suddenly claspTy in their embrace, for both of them went headlong into the river witha tremendous splash!