CHAPTER XX
THE SUGAR CAMP
An untimely snow storm that was wholly unlooked for by the boys dismayedthem by putting a stop to their practice for the time being. But thesnow, though heavy, did not last long, and began to melt rapidly underthe rays of the sun.
"See how the water is running down those trees," remarked Shiner,looking out of the window one Friday morning.
"That isn't water, boy," said Sparrow. "That's sap. The trees arebursting with it just now."
"By the way, fellows," put in Skeets, "have you ever been to a maplesugar camp when the sap was running?"
Most of them had not and Skeets went on to explain.
"It's the best fun ever," he said; "and now's just the time to see itrunning full blast when the snow is melting and the air is warm. On aday like this the sap comes down in bucketfuls. And you can see just howthey collect it, and how they boil it down until it's a thick syrup, andthe way that hot maple sugar does taste--yum yum!" and here he closedhis eyes in blissful recollection.
"Sounds mighty good to me," said Pee Wee, with whom the memory of Meenaand her breakfast of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup still lingered.
"You can take out the hot sugar in big spoons and let it cool on a panof snow," continued Skeets, drawing out the details as he saw that hisfriends' mouths were watering in anticipation, "and when you get thefirst taste of it you never want to stop eating."
"I wonder if there's a sugar camp anywhere around here," said Pee Weewith great animation.
"I know of one that's about three miles away," said Sparrow. "What doyou say to our making up a party and going out there to-morrow if DocRaymond will let us go out of bounds?"
There was a general chorus of gleeful assent.
"What we ought to do," said Skeets, "is to have a couple of fellows goout there to-day and make arrangements. We want to take up a collectionand fix it up with the farmer's wife to have hot biscuits and otherthings ready for us. I tell you what, fellows, hot biscuits and freshbutter and hot thick maple sugar just out of the boiler--"
"Don't say another word," cried Pee Wee frantically, "or I'll never,never be able to wait till to-morrow."
They took stock of their resources and collected several dollars betweenthem, enough they thought to cover the expense. Bobby and Fred wereappointed as a committee of two to go out to the camp that afternoon sothat everything would be in readiness on the morrow.
Dr. Raymond's permission was readily obtained, and the chums set out ontheir three mile walk. They had no trouble in finding the camp and thefarmer's wife, a bright, cheery person, was very ready to entertain theparty and promised to have an abundant lunch provided for them.
The boys would have dearly liked to inspect the camp, but they hadpromised their chums that they would not do so until all could see ittogether, and they kept loyally to their word.
No finer day could have been selected for that particular outing thanthe one that dawned the next morning. The air was mild and the sunshining brightly. The only drawback was the walking, as the roads werefull of mud in some places and melting slush in others, but as they wereall warmly shod that made little difference.
Pee Wee groaned occasionally as he lagged along in the rear, but theyhad no fear of his dropping out. It would have taken a good deal morethan a three-mile walk to keep Pee Wee away from that sugar camp afterSkeets's description.
"There it is," cried Fred at last, pointing to a big grove of trees inthe rear of a farmhouse.
Pee Wee sniffed the air.
"Seems to me I can smell the sugar cooking from here," he said joyously.
They left the road now, took a short cut across the fields and soonentered the grove of maples.
It was an extensive grove, containing several hundred of the statelytrees. Into each one of these that had reached their full growth a holehad been made, a spigot driven in, and a bright tin pail suspended fromeach spigot. Into these pails the sap was falling with a musical drip sothat a tinkling murmur ran through the grove as though some one weregently touching the strings of a zither.
An old horse attached to a low sled was shambling slowly along throughthe woodland paths, stopping at each tree. The driver would empty thepail into one of several large cans that the sled contained, replace thepail and go on to the next.
"Seems almost a shame to tap those splendid trees," murmured Mouser."It's almost like bleeding them to death."
"Doesn't do them a bit of harm," explained Skeets cheerfully. "Thefarmers take good care not to drain out more sap than the tree canspare."
When the sled had made its round, the boys followed it to the shed wherethe sap was boiled down into sugar. Here they saw an enormous caldronwith a roaring fire underneath. Into this caldron the sap was poured,and here its transformation began. A delicious odor arose that made thenostrils of the boys dilate hungrily.
Every little while, the man who was supervising the boiling drew out ahuge ladleful to see how thick it was getting. At a certain stage heturned to the boys with a grin.
"Each one of you take one of those pans," he directed, pointing to abright row of dairy tins which the housewife had made ready. "Fill themup with snow and pack the snow down hard."
In a twinkling the boys were ready. Then, as each held up his pan, theman poured a big ladle of the hot syrup on the snow. The rich goldenbrown against the whiteness of the snow would have delighted the soul ofan artist. But these lads were not artists, only hungry boys, and theironly concern was to get the sugar cool enough to eat.
Pee Wee in fact burned his lips and tongue by starting too soon, but hesoon forgot a trifle like that, and in a moment more he and the otherswere eating as if they had never tasted anything so good in all theirlives.
"Hot biscuits coming, boys," smiled the farmer. "Better leave someroom."
"Let them come," mumbled Mouser with his mouth full of sugar. "None ofthem will go away again."
And they made good this prophecy when a little later they were calledinto the farmhouse, where a table was spread, heaped high with fluffybiscuits just from the oven. On these the boys spread butter and thenpiled them up with the delicious syrup. There were other things on thetable too, pickles and pies and cakes, but to these the boys paid slightattention. They could have those any day, but to-day maple sugar wasking.
When at length they were through, they all acknowledged to having eatenmore than was good for them.
"We'll have to use a derrick to get Pee Wee on his feet," laughed Bobby.
"And borrow the horse and sled to take him back to school," saidSparrow.
But it was not quite so bad as that, though after they started back theother boys had to moderate their gait in order not to leave Pee Wee toofar behind.
"Hurry up, Pee Wee," admonished Skeets. "You're slow as molasses."
"Slow as maple syrup when it's cooling," amended Sparrow.
"Well, fellows, this has sure been a bully trip," remarked Shiner,summing up the sentiments of all.
"This is the end of a perfect day," Fred chanted gayly, lifting up hisvoice in song.
Bobby Blake on the School Nine; Or, The Champions of the Monatook Lake League Page 20
