The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER X.

  LOOKING TO BIG THINGS AHEAD.

  "Ain't this fine and dandy, though?" remarked Bumpus, as he stood on theshore, after a short session in the water, and rubbed his plump formwith part of the fine sheet Smithy had fetched along, foolishly thinkinghe would need it for sleeping.

  They had splashed, and swam about to their hearts' content, until Thadtiming the bathing period, ordered the last scout from the water.

  There was an absence of the frolicsome spirit so often seen among boyswhen in swimming. Discipline would not allow Step-hen, for instance,slapping a lump of mud upon Bumpus just after he had succeeded in dryinghimself; though possibly he might have enjoyed doing it first-rate;since he still felt that the fat boy was playing a joke on him byconcealing his precious compass upon which he depended to show him theright road, should he ever get astray in the woods.

  Breakfast was an easy meal to get. They just had to boil the coffee, andfry several rashers of bacon for each mess; after which the appointedcooks, tried their hands at making flapjacks; which, be it mentionedhere, are about the same as the common pancake at home, though nevercalled by that ordinary name in camp.

  These were fairly good, though a bit heavy, not quite enough "rising"having been put in the flour. The next time, Thad said, they would carrythe self-raising kind of flour along, when they would be sure of havinglight bread.

  "If there are any left, boys," remarked Thad, "don't forget that we arehonored by the presence of a guest in our camp. He came withoutinvitation, and is kept here perhaps against his will; but all the samewe owe him a heavy debt of gratitude."

  "Yes," spoke up Bumpus, who had not cared very much for the latter endof his breakfast, as he was a light eater, and rather particular,"fussy" Step-hen called it, "which we will proceed to cancel by a heavydose of dough. Give him my share, boys, and welcome. I've got too muchrespect for my poor stomach to cram such prog down into it."

  "Hold on," remarked Giraffe, looking up, hungrily; "perhaps everybodyain't through yet; and Bob, I think those flapjacks you made are simplydelicious."

  "Thanks, suh!" returned the cook of his mess, with a pretended bow; "butI beg to diffah with you; and by the orders of the scout-master I amhanding the balance over to Smithy, from the other mess, who willproceed to feed it to the prisoner. Our scout-master is afraid that ifyou did get sick so early in the outing, he might have to exhaust themedicine chest befo' your appetite returned."

  "Oh! all right, Bob, just as you say; and perhaps I have devoured asmany as I had ought to; but they _were_ good, I don't care what you say.Come again, Bob."

  "Hey! anybody seen my head--" began Step-hen; when Davy interrupted himto bawl:

  "Anybody seen Step's head; he's done gone and lost that, now. Alwayssaid he would have done it long ago, only Nature had it fastened ontight. But the catastrophe has arrived at last. Step's lost his head,fellows; not that it matters much. A liberal reward is hereby offered tothe finder. Apply to Step-hen Bingham."

  "Think you're smart, don't you?" jeered the lean one, as he kept onoverturning all manner of things. "I was only going to ask if any onehad taken my head gear, otherwise known as my campaign hat? Of course Iknow what the answer'll be--nobody's seen a thing of it. It does beatthe Dutch how _my_ things are always going, the funniest way ever. Now Icould declare I hung that hat up on the broken branch of this tree."

  "Well, you've been sitting on it all the time you were eating breakfast;and there it lies, as flat as any pancake that was ever cooked. Nowperhaps you'll learn sometimes just to put things where you c'n find'em," said Bumpus.

  Step-hen turned to shoot an accusing stare at the speaker that made thefat boy writhe, for he knew what was passing in the mind of the other.

  "Didn't, so there!" he snapped, as he turned away; and Step-hen,looking after him, wagged his head as he muttered:

  "Honest Injun now, I really believe he _did_ take it, and the joke'sgone so far he just hates to own up. Oh! all right, Bumpus, I'll get onto your game sooner or later; and then the laugh will be with you, justwait and see."

  It was the purpose of Thad, in the absence of Dr. Philander Hobbs, thereal scout-master of Cranford Troop, to daily put the scouts throughvarious interesting exercises connected with the education of a BoyScout.

  For instance there was the following of a trail in the woods, observingevery little item of interest connected with it, until the properlyeducated scout would be able to actually describe the man who had madethe tracks without ever having seen him, telling his height, whetherthin or stout, even the color of his hair, what sort of shoes he wore,whether new or old, and that he walked with a limp, carried a cane, andmany other interesting facts in connection with the unknown.

  Then there was photography in which two of the Silver Fox Patrol weredeeply interested, so that they kept continually in a fever ofexpectancy regarding the prospects for pictures that would be out of thecommon.

  One of the scouts even went so far as to propose that the boys don theirfancy pajamas in the broad daylight, and hunt up the friendly trees, inwhose branches they had sought refuge when the bear first invaded thecamp; so that a snapshot could be taken that would preserve the eventfor all time.

  Bumpus, however, put his foot down flatly against having anything to dowith such an "idiotic proceeding," as he chose to term it.

  "Huh!" he remarked, disdainfully; "all very fine for you fellows,looking so grand up in your leafy bowers, like a flock of queer parrots;but what about poor me, pinned there on the ground by that pesky oldtent, that wouldn't let me back in? Think I want to be the butt of thejoke? Count me out. I refuse to join in any such silly game."

  Besides there were classes in tying difficult knots, which every scoutin good standing is supposed to know how to do neatly. Then came lessonsin erecting and taking down the tents, so that every fellow might knowjust how to go about making camp, and breaking the same.

  In the water they played the game of landing the big fish, one of theboys allowing a stout line to be fastened to him; and then by swimmingand struggling making it as difficult as possible for the angler to reelhim in.

  Thad knew considerable about first "aid to the injured", because, as hasbeen stated, he had belonged to a patrol before he came to Cranford. Sohe was able to show the others many things about stopping the flow ofblood in case any one happened to be cut with a knife, or an ax, andbandaging the wound afterwards.

  But the drowning person being brought back to life when it seemed nextto hopeless was what interested Allan most of all. He had seen more thana few accidents while up in the woods of Maine, and knew of the veryrough means adopted by the native guides looking to resuscitating aperson who has been in the water until life seems extinct.

  So he eagerly watched the way Thad placed the supposed patient on hischest, and kneeling over him, started pressing down on his back whileothers worked his arms with a regular motion; the whole endeavor beingto imitate breathing, and in this artificial way induce the muscles totake on genuine respiration.

  "That takes with me, I tell you," said Allan, eagerly. "I saw a mandrowned once, and I believe right now his life could have been saved ifonly the guide had known the right way to go about it. I'll never forgetthat lesson, Mr. Scout-Master, never."

  "It's a splendid thing for any boy to know," said Thad, "and might savea chum's life at any time. Because, boys are always falling into thewater, in summer while swimming, and in winter skating. I intend topractice that every day we're here. It's one of those things you maynever want; but in case you do, you want it in a hurry."

  "How about the fire building tests?" demanded Giraffe, eagerly.

  "Yes, that's where Giraffe feels at home. Give him a chance to start ablaze, and you'll make him happy," laughed Step-hen.

  "You know you're as good as licked, before we begin," replied the other,derisively.

  "I'm going to start on that fun right away," returned Thad. "Some of youmay be thinking that we're spending entirely too much time wi
th thesethings; but all the same they go right along with all that a Boy Scouthas got to know. Pretty soon Cranford Troop will be getting its charterfrom the organization headquarters, and I'd like to have a few meritbadges come along with it. That isn't all, either."

  "I reckon I can give a pretty good guess what you mean by shaking yourwise old head that way, Thad, and looking sorter mysterious-like,"declared Davy Jones; who seldom showed the proper amount of respect tothe acting scout-master, that by rights he should.

  "Then tell us all about it, Davy; because we want to know," demandedStep-hen.

  "That's right, and we _must_ know; so start up the music, Davy," saidGiraffe.

  "Why, there's been a whole lot of talk between Thad and Allan here aboutthe new Silver Fox Patrol taking a trip away from home. It's only aquestion of getting the money, and the consent of our parents andguardians. I guess the money part could be taken care of, all right; butwhen it comes to getting permission to really leave Cranford, and godown to the Blue Ridge mountains, that's another thing. It might bedone; but my father is a lawyer, and hard to convince."

  "You're wrong there, Davy," said Thad, with a laugh; "he was theeasiest proposition of the whole lot to fix. There'll be no trouble inthat quarter. What we can do about Smithy's mother is another thing."

  "But why the Blue Ridge mountains; whatever put that notion in yourhead, Thad?" demanded Giraffe, deeply puzzled.

  "I did, suh," announced Bob White, drawing himself up; "you see, I camefrom that section, and I've been telling my chums so much about it thatthey've become wild to make it a visit. And I invited them to drop in onmy old home there, you understand. It would be very nice for me to haveyou all there as my guests; and to tell you the truth, my mother hasbeen telling me that I ought to go down there right soon now onparticular business. If you all could be with me, I should be mightyglad of it. And it might be a splendid thing foh me, I confess."

  "The Blue Ridge!" repeated Bumpus, as if to see just how it sounded."Say, I've read a lot about the Alleghanies, the Big Smokies, and theBlue Ridge mountains down there in North Carolina, where Bob White camefrom; but honest now, I never expected to find myself there, at leastnot till I grew up. The Blue Ridge! Well, if so be you can win my folksover to letting me go along, say, won't I wake up the echoes in them oldmountains with the merry notes of my bugle? But there goes thescout-master to start the fire building, and water boiling test. Comealong boys and see who can beat Giraffe at his pet game!"