The Rival Campers; Or, The Adventures of Henry Burns

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XVI. A TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP

  It was late the following morning when Tom and Bob awoke. The sun waswell up, and the light was streaming into the tent. Their eyes opened onunfamiliar objects and on strange surroundings.

  "It gave me the strangest feeling," said Tom, telling Henry Burns aboutit some time later. "At first, before I was fully awake, I had forgottenwhere I was, and I thought I was back in our own tent upon the point.Then it flashed over me that that was gone, and the next moment Iremembered that I was down there in Harvey's camp, and you can't imaginewhat a queer feeling it gave me."

  Harvey and the crew had already arisen, and Tom and Bob could hear thecrackling of a fire outside, where they were preparing breakfast. Harveyhad awakened apparently as strong as ever, unharmed by his terribleexperience of the night before.

  "Hello, Bob," said Tom, as they looked across the tent at each other. "Doyou know where you are? Isn't this a queer scrape? I wonder what willcome of it."

  "Hello," answered Bob, yawning and stretching. "Oh, but how I did sleep.I feel as though I had slept about a week. I never was so tired in mylife. Say, this is queer, isn't it? Who'd ever have thought we would besleeping here, of all places."

  They arose and stepped outside.

  The crew paused in their work and looked up, while Harvey advanced tomeet his guests.

  "Hello," he said. "We thought we'd let you have your sleep out. You musthave been played out."

  "Hello," answered Tom and Bob. "We thought you were far worse off thanwe," continued Bob, "but you seem to have come out of it all right."

  Harvey had by this time come up to them. He paused, hesitatingly, for amoment, while his face flushed. Then he put out his hand.

  "Will you shake hands with me?" he asked.

  Tom and Bob, for answer, extended each his right hand and grasped that ofHarvey.

  "Thank you," said Harvey, simply. "I don't deserve it, I know."

  There may have been the faintest suspicion of moisture about his eyes.

  "Come over here," he said, and led the way to a big log that lay near thefire, close by where the crew now stood. "I want to say something to you,and so do the fellows, too."

  There was an embarrassing moment as Tom and Bob seated themselves on thelog, while the crew stood awkwardly by. They seemed uncertain what to door say to these brave young fellows, whom they now knew had risked theirlives to save their leader. With boy-like reticence, they were tooashamed to speak. Harvey broke the silence.

  "The fellows and I don't know hardly what to say to you," he said. "Thecrew want to tell you how ashamed we all are for the way we have treatedyou, and they want to thank you for what you did for me; but they can'tbegin to tell what they feel,--and no more can I,--but they want me tospeak for them, too, as I've been their captain in all we've done, aswell as aboard the yacht.

  "They know what you did for me," continued Harvey. "I told them the wholestory this morning. There never was anything braver than what you did,and they all know it now as well as I do. They know you were as neardrowning as I was, at the last, and you wouldn't give up and let me go,but stuck to me till the end, and couldn't have saved your own lives ifthere had been another rod to go.

  "I wouldn't be here now, if it wasn't for you--"

  "Well, you would have done the same for us, and so would the crew," saidTom, eager to spare the other's mortification as much as possible, andfeeling his heart kindling toward his late enemy.

  "I don't know whether I should or not," replied Harvey. "I don't thinkI'm so much of a coward, even if I _have_ been doing things that lookthat way. But that doesn't make our position any the better. It isn'twhat we would have done for you in the same danger that counts. It's whatwe have been doing to you ever since you landed on the island that makesour case so bad."

  "I tell you," Harvey exclaimed, vehemently, as he arose from the log,"we've been a lot of fools and we've been thinking all the time that wewere smart. It just came to me like a flash, as I thought I was goingdown out there, all the mean things I've been doing and what a fool I'vebeen. I knew it all the time, too, I guess, only I didn't care. But youfellows have just brought it home to us hard, and we are going to try tosquare things up all that we can.

  "Now, first," continued Harvey, taking a long breath and speakingearnestly, "we're sorry we stole that box of yours from off the wharf. Weknew it was yours all the time, too, though I said we didn't. Of coursewe couldn't help knowing. We don't blame you, either, for blowing up thecave--"

  "We didn't intend really to blow it up," interrupted Tom. "That was myidea, to burn up some of the stuff, just to get even, and we were nearlyscared to death when the explosion came off. We thought you were allkilled."

  "Well, I believe you now," said Harvey, "although I didn't before. I cansee just how it happened, too. The fact is, we had some powder andkerosene there, hidden away. That's what caused it. Well, anyway, wedon't blame you for setting the fire, and we shouldn't blame you now, ifyou had meant to blow up the cave, too. We deserved it."

  "We're sorry it happened, anyway," said Bob.

  "Now," added Harvey, "there's another thing, and that's the tent. Ofcourse you knew we took it, although you couldn't prove it. You hadn'tany doubt about it, had you?"

  "Well," replied Tom, "we did kind of think so, although we couldn't besure."

  "Of course you thought so," said Harvey, "because nobody else would havedone it. However, you are going to get the tent back all right."

  "Hooray!" cried Bob.

  "You're not half so glad as I am," exclaimed Harvey. "You bet I'm glad wedidn't harm it. It's safe and sound, and you wouldn't guess where it isin a hundred years. It's up in the old haunted house, stuffed away in thegarret, under the eaves. We didn't dare keep it and we didn't want todestroy it. In fact, we had decided to put it back on the point some day,after we had kept it as long as we wanted to."

  "We'll set it up again this afternoon," cried Tom.

  "No, you won't," answered Harvey, quickly. "We're going to do that foryou, that is, if you will let us. We want to put it up in as good shapeas it was before. We'll feel better about it then, eh, fellows?"

  "That's right," responded Joe Hinman. And the others nodded assent.

  "Now, one thing more," said Harvey. "You saw what we had in the cave.There were some things that belonged to Spencer, and one of the firstthings I do to-day will be to go up there and settle up with him. ThenI'll feel as though I was ready to start fair again.

  "And now if you fellows will sit down and have some breakfast with us,then we'll sail up right after it and get the tent and have it up for youjust as quick as we can. We can't do it any too quick to suit us."

  So Tom and Bob seated themselves with their new-found friends. GeorgeBaker, who had the fry-pan all heated and a big dish of batter mixed,proceeded to fry a mess of flapjacks, while Joe Hinman poured the coffee.All the old enmity had vanished in a night, and they laughed and joked asthey sat about the campfire like friends of long standing.

  Then, when they had finished, and had shaken hands once more all around,and Tom and Bob had departed for the Warren cottage to explain theirstrange absence, and to acquaint the Warrens with the new turn ofaffairs, Harvey and his crew got sail on the _Surprise_ and headed upalongshore for the haunted house.

  "There," cried George Warren, as the boys appeared in sight a littlelater, "didn't I tell you, mother, not to worry about Tom and Bob? Youought to know them by this time. They know how to take care ofthemselves."

  "Well, the next time you go off for all night," exclaimed Mrs. Warren, alittle impatiently for her, "I wish you would let me know about itbeforehand. I don't like to have to worry about you, and I can't help itif you start off in that canoe and don't come back."

  "I don't blame you for not liking it," replied Tom, "and we'll try not doit again. But we really couldn't help this. We met with an adventure."

  "What, you didn't see the _Eagle_, did yo
u?" cried George Warren.

  "No, you're wide of the mark," laughed Tom. "We've given up that hunt forgood. No, we had a different sort of an adventure altogether. Where doyou suppose we slept last night?"

  "With Henry Burns," said young Joe.

  "No."

  "Down on the beach?" said Arthur.

  "No."

  "Give it up," said George.

  "Well, you wouldn't guess in a hundred times trying," said Tom, "so I'lltell you. It was in Jack Harvey's camp."

  "Harvey's camp!" exclaimed the three brothers, in chorus.

  "Yes, sir, Harvey's camp."

  "I didn't know they were off on a cruise," said George. "Oh, I see,you've been getting even, have you? And how about the camp? Is it stillthere? What have you done with that?"

  "It's still down there," laughed Tom. "We didn't do anything to it atall. In fact, the crew were all there, and Harvey, too. We stayed therebecause they invited us. And, what's more, we have just had breakfastwith them all."

  The Warrens stared at Tom in amazement.

  "Had breakfast with Harvey and his crew! Oh, say, you fellows, quitfooling now, and tell us where you have been."

  "Well," said Tom, "listen and we'll tell you the whole story. We've beenhaving our revenge."

  And Tom related the story of the night's adventures.

  Good Mrs. Warren fairly hugged them with delight when they had concluded.

  "That's just splendid," she cried. "That's a splendid revenge. That's thekind that counts for most. But I want to hear Jack Harvey tell the storynow. I know you haven't told half about the rescue. I want to hear himtell how brave you were."

  "He'll exaggerate it," said Bob. "He's our friend, you know, now."

  "Well, I'm glad enough you are all friends," exclaimed Mrs. Warren. "Youmust go and tell Henry Burns."

  When Jack Harvey and his crew had returned from the haunted house, andhad anchored off the point and had brought the tent ashore, they foundassembled there to greet them the entire group of comrades, the Warrenboys, Henry Burns, and Tom and Bob.

  There was a general hand-shaking all around, and then they all set towork to pitch the tent. It didn't take long to do it, either, for Tom andBob had saved the poles that had supported the canvas, and there werehands enough to jump at every rope and bring it taut into place. Andeverybody went at it in such good spirit, and everybody was so pleasedand so willing to lend a hand, that the tent was up in its old placeagain almost as quick as it had come down.

  Then they rushed off in high spirits to the Warren cottage for thecamp-kit and the boxes and the blankets and all the camp equipment, andpacked it down on their shoulders as fast as they had ever done anythingin all their lives.

  And Mrs. Warren did hear the story of the rescue from Jack Harvey's ownlips, and was prouder than ever of her boys' friends, Tom and Bob.

  Then, when everything was shipshape, and Harvey and his crew were aboutto take their departure, he said: "We want all you fellows to come downto-morrow evening and take supper with us, the whole of you. You see,I've just got my allowance from the governor, and he's mighty generous tome, more than I deserve. It comes in just at the right time. You'll besure and come, all of you?"

  "We'll be there," answered Henry Burns.

  "Indeed we will," said young Joe.

  "And remember Joe counts for two when it comes to the supper-table," saidGeorge.

  "We'll have enough," said Harvey.

  "We'll go along with you to your camp," said Tom, "and get our canoe.That is, unless you'd like to use it awhile," he added, slyly.

  "Not much," replied Harvey, with a laugh. "I've had enough canoeing tolast me for a few days. But I'm glad I took that paddle, though, for allthe narrow escape I had. It was the best accident I ever had in all mylife."

  "Canoeing isn't always as easy as it looks," said Bob, as they walkedalong. "By the way, we haven't even asked you how you came to upset. It'sbecause we have had so much else to talk about and think about."

  "Why," said Harvey, "there isn't much to tell. I don't hardly know how ithappened, myself. I went to change my position in the canoe, as I wascramped with kneeling in one position so long. I suppose I lost mybalance a little, but I was overboard so quick I don't know, myself, justhow it did happen. I must have wrenched myself as I went over, for theminute I tried to swim I felt a pain in my side."

  "That's the way with a canoe," said Tom. "It doesn't always tip over.Moreover it just slides out from under one, without even capsizing atall. That's usually when one is kneeling or sitting up on a thwart, andthe centre of gravity is high in it. When one is low down in a canoe itis rare an accident ever happens. We never have had a bad spill inseveral years of canoeing, except when we got caught in the storm thissummer, and that was because a paddle broke."

  They had now reached the camp, and Tom and Bob launched their canoe andpaddled away. They did not return to their own camp, however, but headeddown the island. When they had reached the Narrows they carried acrossinto the other bay, and then started down along the shore at a good clip.They were in search of Harvey's canoe.

  Several miles down they found it, lodged gently on a projecting ledge. Itwas uninjured, beyond a little scraping of paint from the canvas, andthey took it in tow and returned to the Narrows. They carried both canoesacross, and then, when they had paddled up toward Harvey's camp a way,they took his canoe up on shore and left it.

  That night, when Harvey's camp was asleep, they paddled down quietly, gotthe canoe, and towed it out to the yacht _Surprise_. They lifted itaboard and left it there, for Harvey to find in the morning.

  "There's just as much fun in that kind of a joke, after all, if one onlylooks at it that way," said Tom, as they paddled home to bed.

  "My! but it seems good to be back in the old tent once more, eh, Tom?"exclaimed Bob, as they turned in.

  "Good? Good's no name for it," returned his chum. "The Warren cottage isfine, but I like to hear those waves creeping up on the beach as thoughthey were coming clear into the tent. It just puts me to sleep."

  The next moment bore truth to this assertion.

  The next afternoon, as the sun was just sinking down through the treesbeyond Harvey's camp, a band of six boys marched along the shore andthrough the woods, singing as they went. If they had not known every inchof the way as they did know it, a beacon-light on the shore would haveguided them.

  All afternoon Harvey and his crew had worked, making preparations toreceive them. They had gathered wood, lugged water, brought stuff downfrom the village, brought in the lantern from the yacht to aid in theillumination, and had, indeed, laid themselves out to do honour to theirguests.

  Harvey extended a hand to welcome them, one by one, as they came up.

  "That was a fine joke you played on us last night," he said, warmly, asTom and Bob appeared. "If you fellows keep piling it on, you'll have meburied under a debt of gratitude that I never can attempt to pay."

  "Looks as though you had made a good start at it," said Bob, pointing toone of the benches, where a huge supply of food lay heaped.

  "Well," replied Harvey, "just watch Joe now. He's going to give us atreat. If any one knows how to broil a chicken over the coals, it's Joe."

  Joe, thus distinguished, had raked over a bed of glowing coals, theproduct of a heap of ship's timbers, nearly consumed, and was preparingto lay out the aforesaid chickens, split for broiling, upon a big wirebroiler.

  "There's half a dozen of them," said Harvey, "and they're the best thatthe island affords. You needn't be afraid--we didn't confiscate them,either. We're all done with that sort of thing."

  "Don't they smell good!" said young Joe, gleefully.

  Soon they had a great dish of the chickens on the table, flanked by aheaping plate of potatoes, baked in ashes, a pot or two of jelly, severalloaves of bread, and coffee that filled the woods with fragrance.

  Then they fell to and ate like wolves. If young Joe had any the best ofit, it was hard to see,--and nobody cared, anyway, fo
r every one did hislevel best.

  And then, when they had eaten, they sat and sang, roaring away at the topof their lungs, for it was a fair place for noise and no one to bedisturbed; only the fish-hawks high in their nests and the seals away outon the ledges to wonder at the unusual disturbance. Then, as the fireblazed, they told stories of fishing, of hunting, of the search for thestrange yacht, and a hundred other things, more than ever fascinating,heard under the stars, in the shadow of the woods, in the sight and soundof the sea, by the firelight.

  It was a night long to be remembered, although as yet they did not dreamof those events soon to happen, which would be far more memorable, and ofwhich this evening by the camp-fire was but the beginning.