The Rival Campers; Or, The Adventures of Henry Burns

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER VI. JACK HARVEY INVESTIGATES

  Tom's heart sank as he approached the tent, stepping over stones andfragments of wood that lay all about. Pulling open the flap of the tent,he looked anxiously inside. There lay the crew, to a man, stretched uponthe ground, motionless. A sudden fear seized on Tom that the shock hadkilled them as they lay sleeping, and he reeled and clutched one of theguy-ropes to keep from falling.

  The next minute the crowd of villagers had arrived, and several headswere thrust inside the tent. Just at that moment one of the crew slowlyraised himself on an elbow and said, angrily:

  "What's all this fuss about? Aren't you people satisfied with trying toblow us up, without coming around and making such a rumpus and keeping usawake?"

  It was Jack Harvey. The others of the crew, taking their cue from him,made a pretence of rousing themselves up from sleep, yawned and rubbedtheir eyes, and asked what was wanted.

  Then, perceiving for the first time that there were several stalwartfishermen in the party, and not daring to go too far, Harvey added, in asneering tone:

  "Oh, we're obliged to you all for coming down here. It wasn't curiosityon your part--of course not. You came down because you thought we werehurt, and we're much obliged to you. Of course we are. We're glad to seeyou, moreover, now we're awake. Wait a minute, and we will stir up thefire and boil a pot of coffee."

  This was maddening to the rescuers. Some of the fishermen suggestedpitching in and giving the crew a sound thrashing; but, so SquireBrackett said, "there was really no ground for such a proceeding, thoughhe, for one, would be more than glad to do it." They could blamethemselves for trying to help a pack of young hyenas like these. For hispart, he was going back home to bed. "They'll drown themselves out in thebay if let alone," he commented. However, he ventured the query toHarvey: "Guess you boys had a little powder stored around here, didn'tyou?"

  "Guess again, squire," answered Harvey, roughly. "Maybe we had a fortwith cannon mounted on it,--and maybe we'd like to go to sleep again, ifyou people would let us. We're not trespassing. We've got permission tocamp here, so don't try to go bullying us, squire."

  This was the satisfaction, then, that the rescuers got at the hands ofthe crew. They had come, burying their grievances, and with hearts fullof sympathy and kindness for the unfortunate boys, and they hadencountered only the same reckless crew, that mocked them for theirpains. So they turned away again, angry and disappointed, and nursingtheir wrath for a day to come.

  And then, as the sound of the last of their footsteps died away throughthe woods, Jack Harvey, chuckling with vast satisfaction to himself,said: "Wasn't that fine, though? Wasn't old Brackett and the othersfurious?"

  "Wild!" exclaimed Joe Hinman. "But I don't think, after all, Jack, thatit paid. We ought to have treated them better, after they had come allthe way down here to help us."

  "Pshaw!" answered Harvey. "Don't you go getting squeamish, Joe. For mypart, I'm mad enough at somebody to fight the whole village. There's ourcave that it took us weeks to dig, and hidden in the only spot aroundhere that couldn't be discovered, gone to smash, with everything we hadin it. Those two guns that the governor bought me were worth a prettyprice, let me tell you. They must have gone clear into the bay, for Ican't even find a piece of the stock of either one of them."

  "It looks to me as though somebody did discover the cave, after all,"said Joe Hinman. "You can't make me believe that it blew itself up."

  "Nonsense!" exclaimed Harvey--and then he paused abruptly; for, of asudden, there came sharply to his mind the white face of Tom Harris,peering in at the tent door, with a haggard, ghastly expression. Herecalled how Tom had started back and nearly fallen at the sight of thecrew lying still.

  "He was the first one at the tent, too," muttered Harvey to himself.

  "What's that?" asked Joe Hinman.

  "Nothing," said Harvey. "But you may be right, Joe. You may be right,after all. Come, let's all go out and look over the ground once more.There may be a few things yet, to save from the wreck."

  The explosion, strangely enough, had not injured a single member of thecrew. Not a piece of the wreckage had struck the tent. Pieces of rock andbits of branches and boards lay on every hand about the camp, and astone, torn from the bank, had crashed down on the bowsprit of the_Surprise_, breaking it short off, carrying away rigging and sails. Therewas also a hole broken in the yacht's deck by a falling piece of ledge.

  The crew, awakened from sound slumber by the awful crash and by theshower of earth and stones, had rushed out, frightened half out of theirwits, and at an utter loss at first to know what had happened. The fulldiscovery of what had occurred only served to deepen the mystery. How ithad happened no one could tell. To be sure, they knew what had escapedthe notice of Tom and Bob, that four lanterns in a corner of the cavewere filled with kerosene oil, and that in another corner, in a holeunder the floor, covered with a few pieces of board and a thin sprinklingof earth, were two kegs of blasting-powder.

  It had been a narrow escape for them. A hole was torn in the bank bigenough to hold several yachts the size of the _Surprise_. Not a vestigeremained to show that a cave had ever been dug there. Several bouldershad been dislodged from the bank and carried bodily down to the water'sedge, besides the one that had hit the bowsprit of the _Surprise_. Of thestuff that Tom and Bob had placed carefully outside the cave, not a scrapremained. Every bit of it must have been blown into the sea. But not arock nor so much as a stick had struck the tent. Beyond being dazed forsome moments by the shock of the explosion, not one of the crew was hurt.

  When they had made a second and unavailing search for anything that mighthave escaped the destruction, and some half-hour after the villagers haddeparted, the crew went back to the tent and laid themselves down againfor a morning's nap. They were soon off to sleep, save one.

  As often as he closed his eyes, Jack Harvey could see, in his mind's eye,Tom Harris come again to the door of the tent; and he could see him startback and almost fall. Could Tom Harris have had anything to do with theexplosion? And if so, how? It hardly seemed possible, but Harvey couldnot put the idea out of his head. Tom's frightened face looked in at him,in his troubled sleep that morning, and, long before his crew were awakeagain and stirring, he rose and stole out of the tent to the shore, wherethe cave had been.

  And so, while Tom and Bob rolled in on to their bunks that morning,thankful in their hearts that no harm had come to the crew, Jack Harveywas down there by the shore, examining the ground over and over again,every inch of it, from the place where the entrance to the cave had beento the place where the canoe had been made fast. Much of the bank hadbeen torn away there, but where the canoe had been moored there was aspot for some few feet that was undisturbed. Jack Harvey, after studyingthe spot carefully, went back to camp. If he had found anything thatsurprised him, he did not, for the present, mention it to his crew.

  Jack Harvey was a curious mixture of good and bad qualities. His parentswere wealthy, but uneducated and unrefined. They allowed him to have allthe money he wished to spend, and permitted him to do pretty much as hepleased about everything. Harvey's father had been a miner, and had"struck it rich," after knocking about the California gold-fields fornearly a score of years. Because he had managed to get along well in theworld without any education, and without the influence of any restraint,such as society imposes, he had a theory that it was the best thing for aboy to work out his own upbringing. As a consequence, his son was rarelythwarted in anything. Left to himself, Harvey, though not naturally bad,fell in with a rough, lawless class of boys, read only the cheapest kindof books, which inspired him to lead an idle, good-for-nothing life, and,as a result, went wild.

  He was strong and, among his associates, a leader. They gladly awardedhim this distinction, as they were, for the most part, poor, and he spenthis allowance freely. He was captain of a ball nine, for which he boughtthe uniforms and the necessary equipment; captain of his yacht's c
rew,and, in all things, their acknowledged leader. His companions camegenerally to be known as Harvey's crew.

  Tom and Bob had a mere speaking acquaintance with him, as they allattended the same school at home,--from which, however, Harvey was moreoften truant than present. Beyond that association they had nothing to dowith him. There were four members of the yacht's crew, although that termwas applied by the people of the town to some dozen or more boys. Ofthese four, Joe Hinman was a thin, hatchet-faced, shrewd-looking boy,whose father was employed by a railroad in some capacity that kept himmuch away from home; George Baker and Allan Harding were cousins, whoseparents had a rather doubtful reputation, as dealers in second-hand goodsand articles pawned, at a little shop in an obscure quarter of the town.Tim Reardon had no parents that he knew of, and earned an uncertainliving, doing chores and working at odd jobs through the winter. In thesummer, he was usually to be found aboard Harvey's yacht, where he wasfairly content to do the drudgery, for the sake of the livelihood and thefun of yachting and camping.

  It was not the sort of companionship that a wise and careful parent wouldhave chosen for his son, but they sufficed for Harvey, and no oneinterfered with him. These boys did as he said, and that was what hewanted.

  Nearly every one in the entire village had gone down to Harvey's camp inthe next hour following the explosion. Curiously enough, however, HenryBurns was not of this number. He had jumped out of bed at the crash andthe shock, and had hastily dressed and rushed down-stairs, ready to gowith the crowd. For once, however, Mrs. Carlin got ahead of him.

  "Why, Henry Burns," she had exclaimed, catching sight of him as he dodgedout of the door. "Where do you think you are going at this hour of thenight, and you that was feeling so bad only a few hours ago. You're notgoing off through those woods to-night, not if I know it. You can justtake yourself back to bed, if you don't want to be laid up with a sickspell."

  And Henry Burns, now that attention was thus publicly attracted to him,did not dare to steal out later and join the others, lest Mrs. Carlinshould hear of it, and, perchance, become suspicious of him. So he wentback unwillingly to bed, but not to sleep. He was wide-awake when theangry party returned. Listening from his window, he heard theirdescription of the explosion and their impudent reception by Harvey'screw; and proceeded to draw his own conclusion from it all.

  The more he thought of it, the more his suspicion grew that, in some way,Tom or Bob, or both, had had a hand in the thing. Tom, indeed, hadexpressed his intention to Henry Burns of spying on the camp in his huntto find the missing box; and, although it seemed a most unlikely hour forhim to have gone down there, Henry Burns wisely conjectured that that waswhat he must have done.

  Accordingly, shortly after Henry Burns had arisen that morning, and afterhe had gathered from a few villagers who were abroad some fuller detailsof the night's adventures, he made his way to the camp on the point.There were no signs of life about the camp, and, softly opening the flapof the tent, he peered within. Tom and Bob lay stretched out, soundasleep.

  Henry Burns stepped noiselessly inside. He called them by name in a lowtone, but they did not awaken.

  "Last night's excitement was too much for one of them, at least, Iguess," was his comment. And then he added: "If my suspicions are true,their fun lasted later than mine, and was far more exciting--but I'llfind that out."

  There was a camp-stool beside each bunk, upon which Tom and Bob hadthrown their clothes before turning in. Henry Burns quietly removed theclothing from these chairs, made them into a bundle, and, tucking thebundle under his arm, walked out of the tent and lay down on the grass,just outside.

  It seemed to him as though another hour had passed before he heard acreaking of one of the bunks, and a voice, which he recognized as Bob's,said: "Hulloa, there, Tom, wake up!"

  "Ay, ay," growled Tom, sleepily, but made no move.

  Again Bob's voice: "Say, Tom?"

  No answer.

  "Tom--hulloa, old fellow--come, let's get up. It's late."

  "All right, all right, Bob, so it is." And Tom roused up on an elbow andrubbed his eyes. Then he gave a prodigious yawn.

  "Whew!" he exclaimed. "What a night I had of it. I don't wonder we sleptlate, do you?"

  "Well, hardly," answered Bob. "My! But I can hear that explosion go offnow, it seems to me. And wasn't that an awful sight when the flame shotup against the sky? I'll never forget it as long as I live."

  "We'll have to keep our eyes on Harvey after this for awhile," said Tom."Hulloa!" he exclaimed, suddenly, as they tumbled out on to the floor."Where are our clothes? We left them right here when we turned in, didn'twe?"

  The boys looked at each other and stared in astonishment.

  "Of course we did," answered Bob.

  "What can it mean?" gasped Tom.

  "Hope to die if I can guess," said Bob. "It's plain enough, though, thatsome one has been in here while we were asleep and cleaned out ourwardrobe. Not a thing left. You don't suppose that Harvey--"

  "Nonsense," interrupted Tom. "It's that young scoundrel of a Joe Warren.He's always up to his monkey-shines. It's some of his doings. He was theone, mind you, that proposed yesterday that we carry our change of goodclothing up to his cottage for safe-keeping. Here we are, now, without arag to put on."

  "I suppose he thinks we'll have to march up to his cottage in blankets,like Indians," said Bob. "Well, if it comes to that, I'll stay right heretill night. You don't catch me parading around in a blanket in thedaytime, to be laughed at by everybody."

  "We'll have to pay him up for this," said Tom.

  At this moment Henry Burns appeared at the doorway.

  "I have some cheap second-hand clothes here," he said. "They're prettywell worn out, and you can have them for a small consideration, seeingthat you need them so bad. I want the money for my poor mother, who'ssick at home with the smallpox."

  "Scoundrel!" yelled Tom.

  "Pirate!" muttered Bob.

  They rushed fiercely at Henry Burns, who, however, smiling serenely,still held on tightly to the bundle of clothing.

  "Pay me my price for them, and you can have them all," he said.

  "How much?" asked Tom.

  "Wait till we try them on and see if they still fit," said Bob.

  "My price," answered Henry Burns, depositing the bundle on a chair andseating himself upon an end of one of the bunks, "is that you tell me howyou came so near to blowing up Jack Harvey's camp last night."

  It was a long shot on his part, but it went straight to the mark. Therewas an awkward silence for almost a minute. Finally Tom said:

  "There's no use trying to keep a secret from him, Bob. He knows halfalready. We may as well tell him all, and see what he thinks of it."

  "Fire away, Tom," said Bob. "No one was injured, anyway, so no great harmcan come of it."

  So Tom related to Henry Burns the story of the night's adventure. Henrylistened with the greatest interest.

  "I'd have given a good deal," he said, "to see Jack Harvey when he foundhis cave blown up, with all their spoils along with it."

  When the story was finished, however, he was inclined to treat the mattermore seriously than they had supposed he would.

  "I'm afraid it's a bad scrape to be in," he said at length. "From what Ihave heard about our friend Harvey, I judge he is not one of the kind tolet a thing of this sort go without paying somebody back for it. And Ibelieve he is as sure to find out who blew up that cave as I am that I amsitting here."

  "How can that be?" asked Bob.

  "I can't say," replied Henry Burns; "but if you keep your eyes open, youwill see that he suspects you. I'll warrant if we could see Jack Harveynow, we should see him out examining every inch of the shore, looking atthe rocks on the beach for any paint that might be scraped off yourcanoe, and all such things as that. He is a shrewd one, and, when he hasonce satisfied himself that you and Tom wrecked his cave, why, I wouldn'tgive a fig for your camp here,--that is, unless you propose to stay athome all the time to guard it."


  Strange to say, if they could have seen Jack Harvey just then, they wouldhave witnessed a most startling confirmation of Henry Burns's words. ForJack Harvey, at that moment, was at the shore once more. He was examiningevery inch of it. He was scrutinizing every rock along the beach. He wasout among the ledges, looking carefully along their sides. He wassearching here, and he was searching there,--but what he found he neitherconfided to his crew nor to any one else, but kept locked for the presentin his own breast.

  "I believe Henry is right," said Tom. "And it isn't the most pleasantprospect to think that our camp may be overhauled at any time, wheneverwe happen to be away, and perhaps disappear altogether some dark night,if we happen to be caught out on the bay or down the island. But what todo I don't see, for the life of me,--except to keep as quiet as possibleabout it."

  "I may not be right," suggested Henry Burns, "but my advice would be todo just the opposite,--that is, when you once feel certain that Harvey ishunting for you.

  "Tell Harvey," continued Henry, "that you blew up his camp, and how youdid it, and why. Tell him what you saw in that cave. Ask him point-blankif he would want the villagers to know what you saw in there. Strike abargain with him to call it even. He will be glad to do it; whereas, ifhe finds you and Bob out, without your knowing what he is up to, he willwatch night and day for a chance to harm you."

  "The fact is," added Henry Burns, as he arose to go, "what with JackHarvey and Colonel Witham on the war-path after you, you are likely tohave quite a lively summer before you get through. So keep your eyes openand look out. And remember, when in trouble, always apply to H. A. Burns,care Colonel Witham--always ready to serve you." And Henry Burns walkedaway, whistling.

  Tom and Bob went about their breakfast preparations, looking ratherserious for a time; but a hearty meal made them look at the mattersomewhat less seriously.

  "Henry Burns is quite apt to be right about things, so the Warrens say,"commented Tom, after awhile, as they were finishing their meal. "But Iguess he likes to talk some, too, just to make an impression. I don't seehow Harvey can find out who blew up his cave in a hundred years, if weonly keep quiet and don't give it away ourselves."

  "I'm not so sure," answered Bob. "Those things do get out."

  Jack Harvey, in the meantime, having completed a careful survey of theshore, and either finding or not finding what he sought for, went back tohis camp and crew. Toward noon, however, he left his camp, and a littlelater Tom saw him coming up along the shore.

  When he came to where the canoe lay on the beach, Harvey paused andexamined it closely. Then, as though to test its weight, he lifted it upon his broad shoulders, and then set it down on the beach again, thistime bottom up.

  Tom and Bob started down to the shore at this, but, before either they orHarvey had spoken, they had seen plainly that which, perhaps, Harvey hadlooked for, a long broad scratch upon the bottom of the canoe, near themiddle, where the fresh paint had been scraped off.

  "Hulloa, there," said Harvey, as they approached. "That's a fine canoeyou've got there. Guess I'll have to get the governor to buy me one. Isaw your tent yesterday, but didn't have a chance to come around. Youfellows got ahead of me, by coming over last night--with the crowd."

  "Yes," answered Bob. "We expected to find you all blown into the sea.What was the matter over at your camp?"

  "Why, between you and me," replied Harvey, eying them cautiously as hespoke, "I think some one of the crew did it, as a joke. They're up tothat sort of thing, you know. They'd just as lieve do it as not, any oneof them. Like as not that young Tim Reardon did it, because I make himlug water, and don't let up on him when he has lazy spells. To tell youthe truth, we had a little powder stored away in a hole under a tree, andI guess one of them touched it off."

  Harvey tried to speak carelessly; but there was an angry light in hiseyes and an expression around his mouth which would not be concealed, andwhich boded no good for somebody, and this was not lost on Tom and Bob.

  "Come up to the camp, won't you?" asked Tom. Harvey first declined, asthough it had not been his intention to stop, and then accepted, and thethree went toward the tent. On the way there Tom found a chance to say toBob, "I guess Henry Burns was right, wasn't he, Bob?" And Bob answered,"Yes."

  "Snug quarters you have here," said Harvey, as they entered the tent."Tight and dry,--and bunks, too. We can't beat these accommodationsaboard the _Surprise_. And here's camp-chairs, like a steam-yacht or acottage. You'll be having pictures on the walls next, and a carpet on thefloor,--and then you won't allow each other to have mud on your boots."

  Harvey was still watching them sharply as he spoke, and may have made thelast remark with a purpose, inasmuch as the boots of both Tom and Bobwere begrimed and smeared with the clay from the bank near Harvey's camp,and their clothes, for that matter, were muddy in spots.

  "Sure enough," answered Tom, "we have things as shipshape as we can.We've got a camp-kit here that can't be beaten on the island. Maybe youwould be interested to have a look at it." So saying, Tom deliberatelyunlocked the big packing-case and threw back the cover.

  "There," cried Tom, pointing to the box that had been stolen, "what doyou think of that?"

  Harvey drew back quickly, and looked as though he were about to strikeTom a blow, while his face flushed angrily. Bob sprang quickly from hisseat on one of the bunks, and he and Tom stood confronting Harvey. If thelatter had intended to strike a blow, he changed his mind and did not doit. Instead, he gave a half-laugh and said:

  "That's what I came up to see you about. The fact is, I have known youfellows blew up our cave ever since I saw your face"--looking at Tom--"atthe door of our tent last night. Then I found, too, where your canoe hadlanded on the edge of the shore, and just where that big scratch wasmade. The paint is on the rocks yet. Now I don't think you fellows usedme square, though I know you did it because you thought we stole yourbox--"

  "Which you did," interrupted Tom.

  Again the quick flush in Harvey's face, and again the gesture as thoughhe would strike Tom a blow; but he did not do it, as he had refrainedbefore.

  "No, there's where you are wrong," he said; "though I don't deny that oneof the crew took it,--not knowing it was yours. They wouldn't one of themtake anything from you."

  "Which is not true," said Tom, quietly.

  This was more than Harvey could stand. With clenched fist, he rushed atTom, aiming a heavy blow at his face, and crying, as he did so: "I lie,do I? Then take that!"

  Tom partially avoided the blow by stepping back and guarding his facewith one arm. The blow fell short, striking him near the shoulder. At thesame time, however, he tripped over the packing-case, and that, with theforce of the blow, sent him over backwards, so that he fell all in a heapin one corner of the tent.

  Harvey darted for the door, to make his escape; but Bob sprang at him andthe two clinched. Harvey was larger and more than a match for either oneof them, and, with a quick twist, threw Bob violently to the floor. Butthe latter clung to him and brought him down, too. Then, before Harveycould break Bob's hold, Tom had recovered himself and thrown himself uponhim. He rolled Harvey over, and the next moment he and Bob had himsecurely pinned to the floor.

  "Now," said Tom, as they held him fast, "we are not going to hurt you,Jack Harvey, because we are no such cowards; but I've got something tosay to you which it will be for your advantage to listen to.

  "In the first place, let me tell you that you are a coward and as good asa thief. You didn't steal our box because one of your crew did it for youand saved you the trouble; but you knew it was stolen from us, and wouldhave taken it yourself if you had had the chance. You need not tell usthat your crew would not steal from us, for we know better, and so doyou. In the second place, I want to tell you that we blew up your cavewithout intending to do more than burn some of the things in it. The restwe took out,--though it doesn't make much difference now what ourintentions were.

  "And, last of all, let me tell you that neither you nor your crew
aregoing to try to be revenged on us. Why? Because you don't dare to. Itwouldn't be healthy for any of you, if it became known in the villagewhat was in that cave, and nobody knows that better than you. Not thatBob and I intend to tell, ever, unless you give us cause to. But let metell you that it won't do for you to play any tricks on us.

  "Please don't forget that neither you nor a single one of your crew daresto disturb so much as a rope around this camp. Now you can get up."

  Harvey rose, white with rage, and stood for a moment, as though undecidedwhether or not to continue the unequal combat; but his better judgmentprevailed, and he walked slowly out of the tent, pausing at the door longenough to say:

  "You need not have any fear of our troubling you or your camp. You havebeen too smart for us, and we shall steer clear of you after this.

  "In fact," he added, sneeringly, "any little thing we can do for you atany time, just let us know. We shall think a great deal of two such smartfellows as you, I assure you." And so saying, he left them.

  "Sorry we can't say as much for you," Bob called out after him, and washalf-sorry for the words the next moment; for it was foolish to increasean enmity which could only lead to trouble.