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diff --git a/old/50811-0.txt b/old/50811-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 214135c..0000000 --- a/old/50811-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9651 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of What Happened at Quasi, by -George Cary Eggleston and H. C. Edwards - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: What Happened at Quasi - The Story of a Carolina Cruise - -Author: George Cary Eggleston - H. C. Edwards - -Release Date: December 31, 2015 [EBook #50811] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI *** - - - - -Produced by Giovanni Fini, David Edwards and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI - - THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE - - - - - BOOKS FOR BOYS - - BY - - GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON - - Each Handsomely Illustrated. Price of Each Volume, $1.50 - - - THE LAST OF THE FLATBOATS. A Story of the Mississippi and Its - Interesting Family of Rivers. - - CAMP VENTURE. A Story of the Virginia Mountains. Adventures among the - “Moonshiners.” - - THE BALE MARKED CIRCLE X. A Blockade-Running Adventure. - - JACK SHELBY. A Story of the Indiana Backwoods. - - LONG KNIVES. The Story of How They Won the West. A Tale of George - Rogers Clark’s Expedition. - - WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI. The Story of a Carolina Cruise. A Tale of - Sport and Adventure. - - _For Sale by All Booksellers, or Sent Postpaid on Receipt of Price by - the Publishers_ - - - LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON - -[Illustration: AS TOM TUGGED HARD AT ONE OF THE LARGER ROOTS, THE KEG -SUDDENLY FELL TO PIECES.—_Page 353._] - - - - - WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI - - THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE - - BY - - GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON - - ILLUSTRATED BY H. C. EDWARDS - - [Illustration] - - BOSTON - - LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. - - - - - Published, April, 1911 - - - Copyright, 1911 - BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. - - _All rights reserved_ - - WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI - - - NORWOOD PRESS - BERWICK & SMITH CO. - NORWOOD, MASS. - U. S. A. - - - - - I INSCRIBE THIS STORY WITH AFFECTION TO - - - [Illustration] - - GEORGE DUNN EGGLESTON - - MY GRANDSON, IN THE BELIEF THAT WHEN HE GROWS - OLD ENOUGH HE WILL WANT TO KNOW “WHAT HAPPENED - AT QUASI,” AND WILL READ THE BOOK BY WAY OF - FINDING OUT - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. INTERSTATE CHUMMING 3 - - II. THE STORY OF QUASI 15 - - III. A PROGRAMME SUBJECT TO CIRCUMSTANCES 25 - - IV. TOM FIGHTS IT OUT 30 - - V. A RATHER BAD NIGHT 39 - - VI. A LITTLE SPORT BY THE WAY 54 - - VII. AN ENEMY IN CAMP 67 - - VIII. CAL BEGINS TO DO THINGS 76 - - IX. A FANCY SHOT 89 - - X. TOM’S DISCOVERIES 97 - - XI. PERILOUS SPYING 108 - - XII. TOM’S DARING VENTURE 119 - - XIII. CAL’S EXPERIENCE AS THE PRODIGAL SON 135 - - XIV. CAL RELATES A FABLE 149 - - XV. CAL GATHERS THE MANNA 156 - - XVI. FOG-BOUND 164 - - XVII. THE OBLIGATION OF A GENTLEMAN 174 - - XVIII. FIGHT OR FAIR PLAY 182 - - XIX. WHY LARRY WAS READY FOR BATTLE 191 - - XX. ABOARD THE CUTTER 197 - - XXI. TOM’S SCOUTING SCHEME 204 - - XXII. TOM DISCOVERS THINGS 212 - - XXIII. TOM AND THE MAN WITH THE GAME LEG 222 - - XXIV. THE LAME MAN’S CONFESSION 230 - - XXV. A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS 238 - - XXVI. AN UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION 246 - - XXVII. THE HERMIT OF QUASI 258 - - XXVIII. RUDOLF DUNBAR’S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF 265 - - XXIX. TOM FINDS THINGS 271 - - XXX. DUNBAR TALKS AND SLEEPS 283 - - XXXI. DUNBAR’S STRANGE BEHAVIOR 295 - - XXXII. A RAINY DAY WITH DUNBAR 306 - - XXXIII. A GREAT CATASTROPHE 316 - - XXXIV. MAROONED AT QUASI 331 - - XXXV. AGAIN TOM FINDS SOMETHING 339 - - XXXVI. WHAT THE EARTH GAVE UP 350 - - XXXVII. TOM’S FINAL “FIND” 360 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - As Tom tugged hard at one of the larger - roots, the keg suddenly fell to pieces - (Page 353) _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - Dick, Cal, and Tom searched the man’s clothes 72 - - “In my haste I forgot to conceal my gun” 126 - - “Stand where you are or we’ll shoot” 182 - - “No, ’tain’t no use. I’ve got to take my medicine” 226 - - A minute more, it would have been too late 320 - - - - -WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI - -THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE - - - - -WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI - -THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE - - - - -I - -INTERSTATE CHUMMING - - -IT was hot in Charleston—intensely hot—with not a breath of air -in motion anywhere. The glossy leaves of the magnolia trees in the -grounds that surrounded the Rutledge house drooped despairingly in the -withering, scorching, blistering sunlight of a summer afternoon in the -year 1886. The cocker spaniel in the courtyard panted with tongue out, -between the dips he took at brief intervals in the water-vat provided -for his use. A glance down King Street showed no living creature, man -or beast, astir in Charleston’s busiest thoroughfare. - -In the upper verandah of the Rutledge mansion, four boys, as lightly -dressed as propriety permitted, were doing their best to keep endurably -cool and three of them were succeeding. The fourth was making a -dismal failure of the attempt. He was Richard Wentworth of Boston, -and he naturally knew little of the arts by which the people of hot -climates manage to endure torrid weather with tolerable comfort and -satisfaction. He kept his blood excited by the exertion of violently -fanning himself. While the others sat perfectly still in bamboo chairs, -or lay motionless on joggling boards, Dick Wentworth was constantly -stirring about in search of a cooler place which he did not find. - -Presently he went for the fourth or fifth time to the end of the porch, -where he could see a part of the street by peering through the great -green jalousies or slatted shutters that barred out the fierce sunlight. - -“What do you do that for, Dick?” asked Lawrence Rutledge in a languid -tone and without lifting his head from the head-rest of the joggling -board. - -“What do I do what for?” asked Dick in return. - -“Why run to the end of the verandah every five minutes? What do you -do it for? Don’t you know it’s hot? Don’t you realize that violent -exertion like that is unfit for weather like this? Why, I regard -unnecessary winking as exercise altogether too strenuous at such a -time, and so I don’t open my eyes except in little slits, and I do even -that only when I must. You see, I’m doing my best to keep cool, while -you are stirring about all the time and fretting and fuming in a way -that would set a kettle boiling. Why do you do it?” - -“Oh, I’m only observing, in a strange land,” answered Dick, sinking -into a wicker chair. “I’ll be quiet, now that I have found out the -facts.” - -“What are they, Dick?” asked Tom Garnett, otherwise known to his -companions as “the Virginia delegation,” he being the only Virginian in -the group. “What have you found out?” - -“Only that the cobblestones, with which the street out there is paved, -have been vulcanized, just as dentists treat rubber mouth plates. -Otherwise they would melt.” - -“I’d laugh at that joke, Dick, if I dared risk the exertion,” drawled -Calhoun Rutledge, the fourth boy in the group, and Lawrence Rutledge’s -twin brother. “Ah, there it comes!” he exclaimed, rolling off his -joggling board and busying himself with turning the broad slats of the -jalousies so as to admit the cool sea breeze that had set in with the -turning of the tide. - -Lawrence—or “Larry”—Rutledge did the same, and Tom Garnett slid out -of his bamboo chair, stretched himself and exclaimed: - -“Well, that _is_ a relief!” - -Dick Wentworth sat still, not realizing the sudden change until a stiff -breeze streaming in through the blinds blew straight into his face, -bearing with it a delicious odor from the cape jessamines that grew -thickly about the house. Then he rose and hurried to an open lattice, -quite as if he had expected to discover there some huge bellows or some -gigantic electric fan stirring the air into rapid motion. - -“What has happened?” he asked in astonishment. - -“Nothing, except that the tide has turned,” answered Larry. - -“But the breeze? Where does that come from?” - -“From the sea. It always comes in with the flood-tide, and we’ve been -waiting for it. Pull on your coat or stand out of the draught; the -sudden change might give you a cold.” - -“Then you don’t have to melt for whole days at a time, but get a little -relief like this, now and then?” - -“We don’t melt at all. We don’t suffer half as much from hot weather as -the people of northern cities do—particularly New York.” - -“But why not, if you have to undergo a grilling like this every day?” - -“It doesn’t happen every day, or anything like every day. It never -lasts long and we know how to endure it.” - -“How? I’m anxious to learn. I may be put on the broiler again and I -want to be prepared.” - -“Well, we begin by recognizing facts and meeting them sensibly. It is -always hot here in the sun, during the summer months, and so we don’t -go out into the glare during the torrid hours. From about eleven till -four o’clock nobody thinks of quitting the coolest, shadiest place he -can find, while in northern cities those are the busiest hours of the -day, even when the mercury is in the nineties. We do what we have to -do in the early forenoon and the late afternoon. During the heat and -burden of the day we keep still, avoiding exertion of every kind as we -might shun pestilence or poison. The result is that sun strokes and -heat prostrations are unknown here, while at the north during every hot -spell your newspapers print long columns of the names of persons who -have fallen victims.” - -“Then again,” added Calhoun, “we build for hot weather while you build -to meet arctic blasts. We set our houses separately in large plots of -ground, while you pack yours as close together as possible. We provide -ourselves with broad verandahs and bury ourselves in shade, while you -are planning your heating apparatus and doubling up your window sashes -to keep the cold out.” - -“It distresses me sorely,” broke in Larry, “to interrupt an interesting -discussion to which I have contributed all the wisdom I care to spare, -but the sun is more than half way down the western slope of the -firmament, and if we are to get the dory into the water this afternoon -it is high time for us to be wending our way through Spring Street to -the neighborhood of Gadsden’s Green—so called, I believe, because some -Gadsden of ancient times intended it to become green.” - -The four boys had been classmates for several years in a noted -preparatory school in Virginia. Dick Wentworth had been sent thither -four years before for the sake of his threatened health. He had -quickly grown strong again in the kindly climate of Virginia, but in -the meanwhile he had learned to like his school and his schoolmates, -particularly the two Rutledges and the Virginia boy, Tom Garnett. He -had therefore remained at the school throughout the preparatory course. - -Their school days were at an end now, all of them having passed their -college entrance examinations; but they planned to be classmates still, -all attending the same university at the North. - -They were to spend the rest of the summer vacation together, with the -Charleston home of the Rutledge boys for their base of operations, -while campaigning for sport and adventure far and wide on the coast. - -That accounted for the dory. No boat of that type had ever been seen on -the Carolina coast, but Larry and Cal Rutledge had learned to know its -cruising qualities while on a visit to Dick Wentworth during the summer -before, and this year their father had given them a dory, specially -built to his order at Swampscott and shipped south by a coasting -steamer. - -When she arrived, she had only a priming coat of dirty-looking white -paint upon her, and the boys promptly set to work painting her in a -little boathouse of theirs on the Ashley river side of the city. The -new paint was dry now and the boat was ready to take the water. - -“She’s a beauty and no mistake,” said Cal as the group studied her -lines and examined her rather elaborate lockers and other fittings. - -“Yes, she’s all that,” responded his brother, “and we’ll try her paces -to-morrow morning.” - -“Not if she’s like all the other dories I’ve had anything to do with,” -answered Dick. “She’s been out of water ever since she left her cradle, -and it’ll take some time for her to soak up.” - -“Oh, of course she’ll leak a little, even after a night in the water,” -said Cal, with his peculiar drawl which always made whatever he said -sound about equally like a mocking joke and the profoundest philosophy. -“But who minds getting his feet wet in warm salt water?” - -“Leak a little?” responded Dick; “leak a little? Why, she’ll fill -herself half full within five minutes after we shove her in, and if we -get into her to-morrow morning the other half will follow suit. It’ll -take two days at least to make her seams tight.” - -“Why didn’t the caulkers put more oakum into her seams, then?” queried -Tom, whose acquaintance with boats was very scant. “I should think -they’d jam and cram every seam so full that the boat would be water -tight from the first.” - -“Perhaps they would,” languidly drawled Cal, “if they knew no more -about such things than you do, Tom.” - -“How much do you know, Cal?” sharply asked the other. - -“Oh, not much—not half or a quarter as much as Dick does. But a part -of the little that I know is the fact that when you wet a dry, white -cedar board it swells, and the further fact that when you soak dry -oakum in water, it swells a great deal more. It is my conviction that -if a boat were caulked to water tightness while she was dry and then -put into the water, the swelling would warp and split and twist her -into a very fair imitation of a tall silk hat after a crazy mule has -danced the highland fling upon it.” - -“Oh, I see, of course. But will she be really tight after she swells -up?” - -“As tight as a drum. But we’ll take some oakum along, and a caulking -tool or two, and a pot of white lead, so that if she gets a jolt of any -kind and springs a leak we can haul her out and repair damages. We’ll -take a little pot of paint, too, in one of the lockers.” - -“There’ll be time enough after supper,” interrupted Larry, “to discuss -everything like that, and we must be prompt at supper, too, for you -know father is to leave for the North to-night to meet mother on Cape -Cod and his ship sails at midnight. So get hold of the boat, every -fellow of you, and let’s shove her in.” - -The launching was done within a minute or two, and after that the dory -rocked herself to sleep—that’s what Cal said. - -“She’s certainly a beauty,” said Dick Wentworth. “And of course she’s -better finished and finer every way than any dory I ever saw. You know, -Tom, dories up north are rough fishing boats. This one is finished -like a yacht, and—” - -“Oh, she’s hunky dory,” answered Tom, lapsing into slang. - -“That’s what we’ll name her, then,” drawled Cal. “She’s certainly -‘hunky’ and she’s a dory, and if that doesn’t make her the _Hunkydory_, -I’d very much like to know what s-o-x spells.” - -There was a little laugh all round. As the incoming water floated the -bottom boards, the name of the boat was unanimously adopted, and after -another admiring look at her, the four hurried away to supper. On the -way Dick explained to Tom that a dory is built for sailing or rowing in -rough seas, and running ashore through the surf on shelving beaches. - -“That accounts for the peculiar shape of her narrow, flat bottom, her -heavy overhang at bow and stern, her widely sloping sides, and for the -still odder shape and set of her centre board and rudder. She can come -head-on to a beach, and as she glides up the sloping sand it shuts up -her centre board and lifts her rudder out of its sockets without the -least danger of injuring either. In the water a dory is as nervous as a -schoolgirl in a thunder storm. The least wind pressure on her sails or -the least shifting of her passengers or cargo, sends her heeling over -almost to her beam ends, but she is very hard to capsize, because her -gunwales are so built out that they act as bilge keels.” - -“I’d understand all that a good deal better,” answered Tom, laughing, -“if I had the smallest notion what the words mean. I have a vague idea -that I know what a rudder is, but when you talk of centre boards, -overhangs, gunwales, and bilge keels, you tow me out beyond my depth.” - -“Never mind,” said Cal. “Wait till we get you out on the water, you -land lubber, and then Dick can give you a rudimentary course of -instruction in nautical nomenclature. Just now there is neither time -nor occasion to think about anything but the broiled spring chickens -and plates full of rice that we’re to have for supper, with a casual -reflection upon the okra, the green peas and the sliced tomatoes that -will escort them into our presence.” - -In an aside to Dick Wentworth—but spoken so that all could hear—Tom -said: - -“I don’t believe Cal can help talking that way. I think if he were -drowning he’d put his cries of ‘help’ into elaborate sentences.” - -“Certainly, I should do precisely that,” answered Cal. “Why not? Our -thoughts are the children of our brains, and I think enough of my -brain-children to dress them as well as I can.” - -In part, Cal’s explanation was correct enough. But his habit of -elaborate speech was, in fact, also meant to be mildly humorous. This -was especially so when he deliberately overdressed his brain-children -in ponderous words and stilted phrases. - -They were at the Rutledge mansion by this time, however, and further -chatter was cut off by a negro servant’s announcement that “Supper’s -ready an’ yo’ fathah’s a waitin’.” - - - - -II - -THE STORY OF QUASI - - -MAJOR RUTLEDGE entertained the boys at supper with accounts of his own -experiences along the coast during the war, and incidentally gave them -a good deal of detailed information likely to be useful to them in -their journeyings. But he gave them no instructions and no cautions. He -firmly believed that youths of their age and intelligence ought to know -how to take care of themselves, and that if they did not it was high -time for them to learn in the school of experience. He knew these to be -courageous boys, manly, self-reliant, intelligent, and tactful. He was, -therefore, disposed to leave them to their own devices, trusting to -their wits to meet any emergencies that might arise. - -One bit of assistance of great value he did give them, namely, a -complete set of coast charts, prepared by the government officials at -Washington. - -“You see,” he explained to the two visitors, “this is a very low-lying -coast, interlaced by a tangled network of rivers, creeks, inlets, -bayous, and the like, so that in many places it is difficult even for -persons intimately familiar with its intricacies to find their way. My -boys know the geography of it fairly well, but you’ll find they will -have frequent need to consult the charts. I’ve had them encased in -water-tight tin receptacles.” - -“May I ask a question?” interjected Tom Garnett, as he minutely scanned -one of the charts. - -“Certainly, as many as you like.” - -“What do those little figures mean that are dotted thickly all over the -sheets?” - -“They show the depth of water at every spot, at mean high tide. You’ll -find them useful—particularly in making short cuts. You see, Tom, many -of the narrowest of our creeks are very deep, and many broad bays very -shallow in places. Besides, there are mud banks scattered all about, -some of them under water all the time, others under it only at high -tide. You boys don’t want to get stuck on them, and you won’t, if you -study the figures on your charts closely. By the way, Larry, how much -water does your boat draw?” - -“Three feet, six inches, when loaded, with the centre board down—six -inches, perhaps, when light, with the board up.” - -“There, Tom, you see how easily the chart soundings may save you a -lot of trouble. There may be times when you can save miles of sailing -by laying your course over sunken sandbars if sailing before the wind, -though you couldn’t pass over them at all if sailing on the wind.” - -“But what difference does the way of sailing make? You see, I am very -ignorant, Major Rutledge.” - -“You’ll learn fast enough, because you aren’t afraid to ask questions. -Now to answer your last one; when you sail before the wind you’ll have -no need of your centre board and can draw it up, making your draught -only six or eight inches, while on the wind you must have the centre -board down—my boys will explain that when you’re all afloat—so if -you are sailing with the wind dead astern, or nearly so, it will be -safe enough to lay a course that offers you only two or three feet -of water in its shoalest parts, while if the wind is abeam, or in a -beating direction, you must keep your centre board down and stick to -deeper channels. However, the boys will soon teach you all that on the -journey. They’re better sailors than I am.” - -Then, turning to his own sons, he said: - -“I have arranged with my bank to honor any checks either of you may -draw. So if you have need of more money than you take with you, you’ll -know how to get it. Any planter or merchant down the coast will cash -your checks for you. Now I must say good-bye to all of you, as I have -many things to do before leaving. I wish all of you a very jolly time.” - -With that he quitted the room, but a few minutes later he opened the -door to say: - -“If you get that far down the coast, boys, I wish you would take a look -over Quasi and see that there are no squatters there.” - -When he had gone, Cal said: - -“Wonder if father hopes to win yet in that Quasi matter, after all -these years?” - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” answered Larry. “Anyhow, we’ll go that far -down, if only to gratify his wish.” - -“Is Quasi a town?” asked Dick, whose curiosity was awakened by the -oddity of the name. - -“No. It’s a plantation, and one with a story.” - -Dick asked no more questions, but presently Cal said to his brother: - -“Why don’t you go on, Larry, and tell him all about it? I have always -been taught by my pastors and masters, and most other people I have -ever known, that it is exceedingly bad manners to talk in enigmas -before guests. Besides, there’s no secret about this. Everybody in -South Carolina who ever heard the name Rutledge knows all about Quasi. -Go on and tell the fellows, lest they think our family has a skeleton -in some one or other of its closets, and is cherishing some dark, -mysterious secret.” - -“Why don’t you tell it yourself, Cal? You know the story as well as I -do.” - -“Because, oh my brother, it was your remark that aroused the curiosity -which it is our hospitable duty to satisfy. I do not wish to trespass -upon your privileges or take your obligations upon myself. Go on! There -is harkening all about you. You have your audience and your theme. We -hang upon your lips.” - -“Oh, it isn’t much of a story, but I may as well tell it,” said Larry, -smiling at his brother’s ponderous speech. - -“Quasi is a very large plantation occupying the end of a peninsula. -Except on the mainland side a dozen miles of salt water, mud banks -and marsh islands, separate it from the nearest land. On the mainland -side there is a marsh two or three miles wide and a thousand miles -deep, I think. At any rate, it is utterly impassable—a mere mass of -semi-liquid mud, though it looks solid enough with its growth of tall -salt marsh grass covering its ugliness and hiding its treachery. The -point might as well be an island, so far as possibilities of approach -to it are concerned, and in effect it is an island, or quasi an island. -I suppose some humorous old owner of it had that in mind when he named -it Quasi. - -“It is sea island cotton land of the very finest and richest kind, and -when it was cultivated it was better worth working than a gold mine. -There are large tracts of original timber on it, and as it has been -abandoned and running wild for more than twenty years, even the young -tree growths are large and fine now. - -“That is where the story begins. Quasi belonged to our grandfather -Rutledge. He didn’t live there, but he had the place under thorough -cultivation. When the war broke out my grandfather was one of the few -men in the South who doubted our side’s ability to win, and as no man -could foresee what financial disturbances might occur, he decided to -secure his two daughters—our father’s sisters, who were then young -girls—against all possibility of poverty, by giving Quasi to them in -their own right. ‘Then,’ he thought, ‘they will be comfortably well -off, no matter what happens.’ So he deeded Quasi to them. - -“When the Federals succeeded, early in the war, in seizing upon the sea -island defences, establishing themselves at Beaufort, Hilton Head, and -other places, it was necessary for my grandfather to remove all the -negroes from Quasi, lest they be carried off by the enemy. The place -was therefore abandoned, but my grandfather said that, at any rate, -nobody could carry off the land, and that that would make my aunts -easy in their finances, whenever peace should come again. As he was a -hard-fighting officer, noted for his dare-devil recklessness of danger, -he did not think it likely that he would live to see the end. But he -believed he had made his daughters secure against poverty, and as for -my father, he thought him man enough to take care of himself.” - -“The which he abundantly proved himself to be when the time came,” -interrupted Cal, with a note of pride in his tone. - -“Oh, that was a matter of course,” answered Larry. “It’s a way the -Rutledges have always had. But that is no part of the story I’m -telling. During the last year of the war, when everything was going -against the South, grandfather saw clearly what the result must be, -and he understood the effect it would have upon his fortunes. He was a -well-to-do man—I may even say a wealthy one—but he foresaw that with -the negroes set free and the industries of the South paralyzed for the -time, his estate would be hopelessly insolvent. But like the brave man -that he was, he did not let these things trouble him. Believing that -his daughters were amply provided for, and that my father—who at the -age of twenty-five had fought his way from private to major—could look -out for himself, the grim old warrior went on with his soldierly work -and bothered not at all as to results. - -“In the last months of the war, when the Southern armies were being -broken to pieces, the clerk’s office, in which his deeds of Quasi to my -aunts were recorded, was burned with all its contents. As evidence of -the gift to his daughters nothing remained except his original deeds, -and these might easily be destroyed in the clearly impending collapse -of everything. To put those deeds in some place of safety was now his -most earnest purpose. He took two or three days’ leave of absence, -hurried to Charleston, secured the precious papers and put them in a -place of safety—so safe a place, indeed, that to this day nobody has -ever found them. That was not his fault. For the moment he returned to -his post of command he sat down to write a letter to my aunts, telling -them what he had done and how to find the documents. He had not written -more than twenty lines when the enemy fell upon his command, and during -the fight that ensued, he was shot through the head and instantly -killed. His unfinished letter was sent to my aunts, but it threw no -light upon the hiding place he had selected. - -“When the war ended, a few weeks later, the estate was insolvent, as my -grandfather had foreseen. In the eagerness to get hold of even a little -money to live upon, which was general at that time, my grandfather’s -creditors were ready to sell their claims upon the estate for any price -they could get, and two of the carrion crows called money-lenders -bought up all the outstanding obligations. - -“When they brought suit for the possession of my grandfather’s -property, they included Quasi in their claim. When my father -protested that Quasi belonged to his sisters by deeds of gift -executed years before, he could offer no satisfactory proof of his -contention—nothing, indeed, except the testimony of certain persons -who could swear that the transfer had been a matter of general -understanding, often mentioned in their presence, and other evidence of -a similarly vague character. - -“Of course this was not enough, but my father is a born fighter and -would not give up. He secured delay and set about searching everywhere -for the missing papers. In the meanwhile he was energetically working -to rebuild his own fortunes, and he succeeded. As soon as he had money -of his own to fight with, he employed the shrewdest and ablest lawyers -he could find to keep up the contest in behalf of his sisters. He has -kept that fight up until now, and will keep it up until he wins it or -dies. Of course he has himself amply provided for my aunts, so that it -isn’t the property but a principle he is fighting for. - -“By the way, the shooting ought to be good at Quasi—the place has run -wild for so long and is so inaccessible to casual sportsmen. If the -rest of you agree, we’ll make our way down there with no long stops as -we go. Then we can take our time coming back.” - -The others agreed, and after a little Dick Wentworth, who had remained -silent for a time, turned to Larry, saying: - -“Why did you say it wasn’t much of a story, Larry?” - - - - -III - -A PROGRAMME—SUBJECT TO CIRCUMSTANCES - - -THE _Hunkydory_ was an unusually large boat for a craft of that kind. -She was about twenty-five feet long, very wide amidships—as dories -always are—and capable of carrying a heavy load without much increase -in her draught of water. She was built of white cedar with a stout -oak frame, fastened with copper bolts and rivets, and fitted with -capacious, water-tight lockers at bow and stern, with narrower lockers -running along her sides at the bilge, for use in carrying tools and the -like. - -She carried a broad mainsail and a large jib, and had rowlocks for four -pairs of oars. Sitting on the forward or after rowing thwart, where -she was narrow enough for sculls, one person could row her at a fair -rate of speed, so little resistance did her peculiar shape offer to the -water. With two pairs of oars, or better still, with all the rowlocks -in use, she seemed to offer no resistance at all. - -It was the plan of the boys to depend upon the sails whenever there was -wind enough to make any progress at all, and ply the oars only when a -calm compelled them to do so. - -“We’re in no sort of hurry,” explained Larry, “and it really makes no -difference whether we run one mile an hour or ten. There aren’t any -trains to catch down where we are going.” - -“Just where are we going, Larry,” asked Dick. “We’ve never talked that -over, except in the vaguest way.” - -“Show the boys, Cal,” said Larry, turning to his brother. “You’re -better at coast geography than I am.” - -“Hydrography would be the more accurate word in this case,” slowly -answered Cal, “but it makes no difference.” - -With that he lighted three or four more gas burners, and spread a large -map of the coast upon the table. - -“Now let me invoke your earnest attention, young gentlemen,” he began. -“That’s the way the lecturers always introduce their talks, isn’t -it? You see before you a somewhat detailed map of the coast and its -waterways from Charleston, south to Brunswick, Georgia. It is grossly -inaccurate in some particulars and slightly but annoyingly so in -others! Fortunately your lecturer is possessed of a large and entirely -trustworthy fund of information, the garnerings, as it were, of -prolonged and repeated personal observation. He will be able to correct -the errors of the cartographer as he proceeds. - -“We will take the Rutledge boathouse on the Ashley River near the foot -of Spring Street as our point of departure, if you please. _Enteuthen -exelauni_—pardon the lapse into Xenophontic Greek—I mean thence we -shall sail across the Ashley to the mouth of Wappoo Creek which, as you -see by the map, extends from Charleston Harbor to Stono Inlet or river, -separating James Island from the main. Thence we shall proceed up -Stono River, past John’s Island, and having thus disposed of James and -John—familiar characters in that well-remembered work of fiction, the -First Reader—we shall enter the so called North Edisto River, which -is, in fact, an inlet or estuary, and sail up until we reach the point -where the real Edisto River empties itself. Thence we shall proceed -down the inlet known as South Edisto River round Edisto Island, and, -by a little detour into the outside sea, pass into St. Helena Sound. -From that point on we shall have a tangled network of big and little -waterways to choose among, and we’ll run up and down as many of them -as tempt us with the promise of sport or adventure. We shall pass our -nights ashore, and most of our days also, for that matter. Wherever we -camp we will remain as long as we like. That is the programme. Like -the prices in a grocer’s catalogue and the schedules of a railway, it -is ‘subject to change without notice.’ That is to say, accident and -unforeseen circumstances may interfere with it at any time.” - -“Yes, and we may ourselves change it,” said Larry. “Indeed, I propose -one change in it to start with.” - -“What is it?” asked the others in chorus. - -“Simply that we sail down the harbor first to give Dick and Tom a -glimpse of the points of interest there. We’ll load the boat first and -then, when we’ve made the circuit of the bay, we needn’t come back to -the boat house, but can go on down Wappoo cut.” - -The plan commended itself and was adopted, and as soon as the -_Hunkydory’s_ seams were sufficiently soaked the boat was put in -readiness. There was not much cargo to be carried, as the boys intended -to depend mainly upon their guns and fishing tackle for food supplies. -A side of bacon, a water-tight firkin of rice, a box of salt, another -of coffee, a tin coffee-pot, and a few other cooking utensils were -about all. The tools and lanterns were snuggled into the places -prepared for them, an abundance of rope was bestowed, and the guns, -ammunition and fishing tackle completed the outfit. Each member of the -little company carried a large, well-stocked, damp-proof box of matches -in his pocket, and each had a large clasp knife. There were no forks or -plates, but the boat herself was well supplied with agate iron drinking -cups. - -It was well after dark when the loading was finished and the boat in -readiness to begin her voyage. It was planned to set sail at sunrise, -and so the crew went early to the joggling boards for a night’s rest in -the breezy veranda. - -“We’ll start if there’s a wind,” said Cal. - -“We’ll start anyhow, wind or no wind,” answered Larry. - -“Of course we will,” said Cal. “But you used the term ‘set sail.’ I -object to it as an attempt to describe or characterize the process of -making a start with the oars.” - -“Be quiet, Cal, will you?” interjected Dick. “I was just falling into a -doze when you punched me in the ribs with that criticism.” - - - - -IV - -TOM FIGHTS IT OUT - - -FORTUNATELY there was a breeze, rather light but sufficient, when the -sun rose next morning. The _Hunkydory_ was cast off and, with Cal at -the tiller, her sails filled, she heeled over and “slid on her side,” -as Tom described it, out of the Ashley River and on down the harbor -where the wind was so much fresher that all the ship’s company had to -brace themselves up against the windward gunwale, making live ballast -of themselves. - -The course was a frequently changing one, because the Rutledge boys -wanted their guests to pass near all the points of interest, and also -because they wanted Dick Wentworth, who was the most expert sailor -in the company, to study the boat’s sailing peculiarities. To that -end Dick went to the helm as soon as the wind freshened, and while -following in a general way the sight-seeing course suggested by the -Rutledges, he made many brief departures from it in order to test this -or that peculiarity of the boat, for, as Larry explained to Tom, -“Every sailing craft has ways of her own, and you want to know what -they are.” - -After an hour of experiment, Dick said: - -“We’ll have to get some sand bags somewhere. We need more ballast, -especially around the mast. As she is, she shakes her head too much and -is inclined to slew off to leeward.” - -“Let me take the tiller, then, and we’ll get what we need,” answered -Larry, going to the helm. - -“Where?” - -“At Fort Sumter. I know the officer in command there—in fact, he’s an -intimate friend of our family,—and he’ll provide us with what we need. -How much do you think?” - -“About three hundred pounds—in fifty pound bags for distribution. Two -hundred might do, but three hundred won’t be too much, I think, and if -it is we can empty out the surplus.” - -“How on earth can you tell a thing like that by mere guess work, Dick?” -queried Tom in astonishment. - -“It isn’t mere guess work,” said Dick. “In fact, it isn’t guess work at -all.” - -“What is it, then?” - -“Experience and observation. You see, I’ve sailed many dories, -Tom, and I’ve studied the behavior of boats under mighty good sea -schoolmasters—the Gloucester fishermen—and so with a little feeling -of a boat in a wind I can judge pretty accurately what she needs in the -way of ballast, just as anybody who has sailed a boat much, can judge -how much wind to take and how much to spill.” - -“I’d like to learn something about sailing if I could,” said Tom. - -“You can and you shall,” broke in Cal. “Dick will teach you on this -trip, and Larry and I will act as his subordinate instructors, so that -before we get back from our wanderings you shall know how to handle a -boat as well as we do; that is to say, if you don’t manage to send us -all to Davy Jones during your apprenticeship. There’s a chance of that, -but we’ll take the risk.” - -“Yes, and there’s no better time to begin than right now,” said Dick. -“That’s a ticklish landing Larry is about to make at Fort Sumter. Watch -it closely and see just how he does it. Making a landing is the most -difficult and dangerous thing one has to do in sailing.” - -“Yes,” said Cal; “it’s like leaving off when you find you’re talking -too much. It’s hard to do.” - -The little company tarried at the fort only long enough for the -soldiers to make and fill six canvas sand bags. When they were afloat -again and Dick had tested the bestowal of the ballast, he suggested -that Tom should take his first lesson at the tiller. Sitting close -beside him, the more expert youth directed him minutely until, after -perhaps an hour of instruction, during which Dick so chose his courses -as to give the novice both windward work and running to do, Tom could -really make a fair showing in handling the sails and the rudder. He -was still a trifle clumsy at the work and often somewhat unready and -uncertain in his movements, but Dick pronounced him an apt scholar, and -predicted his quick success in learning the art. - -They were nearing the mouth of the harbor when Dick deemed it best -to suspend the lesson and handle the boat himself. The wind had -freshened still further, and a lumpy sea was coming in over the bar, -so that while there was no danger to a boat properly handled, a little -clumsiness might easily work mischief. - -The boys were delighted with the behavior of the craft and were -gleefully commenting on it when Larry observed that Tom, instead of -bracing himself against the gunwale, was sitting limply on the bottom, -with a face as white as the newly made sail. - -“I say, boys, Tom’s seasick,” he called out. “We’d better put about -and run in under the lee of Morris Island.” - -“No, don’t,” answered Tom, feebly. “I’m not going to be a spoil-sport, -and I’ll fight this thing out. If I could only throw up my boots, I’d -be all right. I’m sure it’s my boots that sit so heavily on my stomach.” - -“Good for you, Tom,” said Larry, “but we’ll run into stiller waters -anyhow. We don’t want you to suffer. If you were rid of this, I’d—” - -He hesitated, and didn’t finish his sentence. - -“What is it you’d do if I weren’t playing the baby this way?” - -“Oh, it’s all right.” - -“No, it isn’t,” protested Tom, feeling his seasickness less because of -his determination to contest the point. “What is it you’d do? You shall -do it anyhow. If you don’t, I’ll jump overboard. I tell you I’m no -spoil-sport and I’m no whining baby to be coddled either. Tell me what -you had in mind.” - -“Oh, it was only a sudden thought, and probably a foolish one. I was -seized with an insane desire to give the _Hunkydory_ a fair chance to -show what stuff she’s made of by running outside down the coast to the -mouth of Stono Inlet, instead of going back and making our way through -Wappoo creek.” - -“Do it! Do it!” cried Tom, dragging himself up to his former posture. -“If you don’t do it I’ll quit the expedition and go home to be put into -pinafores again.” - -“You’re a brick, Tom, and you shan’t be humiliated. We’ll make the -outside trip. It won’t take very long, and maybe you’ll get over the -worst of your sickness when we get outside.” - -“If I don’t I’ll just grin and bear it,” answered Tom resolutely. - -As the boat cleared the harbor and headed south, the sea grew much -calmer, though the breeze continued as before. It was the choking of -the channel that had made the water so “lumpy” at the harbor’s mouth. -Tom was the first to observe the relief, and before the dory slipped -into the calm waters of Stono Inlet he had only a trifling nausea to -remind him of his suffering. - -“This is the fulfillment of prophecy number one,” he said to Cal, while -they were yet outside. - -“What is?” - -“Why this way of getting into Stono Inlet. You said our programme was -likely to be ‘changed without notice,’ and this is the first change. -You know it’s nearly always so. People very rarely carry out their -plans exactly.” - -“I suppose not,” interrupted Larry as the Stono entrance was made, -“but I’ve a plan in mind that we’ll carry out just as I’ve made it, and -that not very long hence, either.” - -“What is it, Larry?” - -“Why to pick out a fit place for landing, go ashore, build a fire, and -have supper. Does it occur to you that we had breakfast at daylight and -that we’ve not had a bite to eat since, though it is nearly sunset?” - -As he spoke, a bend of the shore line cut off what little breeze there -was, the sail flapped and the dory moved only with the tide. - -“Lower away the sail,” he called to Cal and Dick, at the same time -hauling the boom inboard. “We must use the oars in making a landing, -and I see the place. We’ll camp for the night on the bluff just ahead.” - -“Bluff?” asked Tom, scanning the shore. “I don’t see any bluff.” - -“Why there—straight ahead, and not five hundred yards away.” - -“Do you call that a bluff? Why, it isn’t three feet higher than the -low-lying land all around it.” - -“After you’ve been a month on this coast,” said Cal, pulling at an oar, -“you’ll learn that after all, terms are purely relative as expressions -of human thought. We call that a bluff because it fronts the water -and is three feet higher than the general lay of the land. There -aren’t many places down here that can boast so great a superiority to -their surroundings. An elevation of ten feet we’d call high. It is all -comparative.” - -“Well, my appetite isn’t comparative, at any rate,” said Tom. “It’s -both positive and superlative.” - -“The usual sequel to an attack of seasickness, and I assure you—” - -Cal never finished his assurance, whatever it was, for at that moment -the boat made her landing, and Larry, who acted as commander of the -expedition, quickly had everybody at work. The boat was to be secured -so that the rise and fall of the tide would do her no harm; wood was to -be gathered, a fire built and coffee made. - -“And I am going out to see if I can’t get a few squirrels for supper, -while you fellows get some oysters and catch a few crabs if you can. -Oh, no, that’s too slow work. Take the cast net, Cal, and get a gallon -or so of shrimps, in case I don’t find any squirrels.” - -“I can save you some trouble and disappointment on that score,” said -Cal, “by telling you now that you’ll get no squirrels and no game of -any other kind, unless perhaps you sprain your ankle or something and -get a game leg.” - -“But why not? How do you know?” - -“We’re too close to Charleston. The pot-hunters haven’t left so much as -a ground squirrel in these woods. I have been all over them and so I -know. Better take the cartridges out of your gun and try for some fish. -The tide’s right and you’ve an hour to do it in.” - -Larry accepted the suggestion, and rowing the dory to a promising spot, -secured a dozen whiting within half the time at disposal. - -Supper was eaten with that keen enjoyment which only a camping meal -ever gives, and with a crackling fire to stir enthusiasm, the boys -sat for hours telling stories and listening to Dick’s account of his -fishing trips along the northern shores, and his one summer’s camping -in the Maine woods. - - - - -V - -A RATHER BAD NIGHT - - -DURING the next two or three days the expedition worked its way through -the tangled maze of big and little waterways, stopping only at night, -in order that they might the sooner reach a point where game was -plentiful. - -At last Cal, who knew more about the matter than any one else in the -party, pointed out a vast forest-covered region that lay ahead, with a -broad stretch of water between. - -“We’ll camp there for a day or two,” he said, “and get something -besides sea food to eat. There are deer there and wild turkeys, and -game birds, while squirrels and the like literally abound. I’ve hunted -there for a week at a time. It’s only about six miles from here, and -there’s a good breeze. We can easily make the run before night.” - -Tom, who had by that time learned to handle the boat fairly well for a -novice, was at the tiller, and the others, a trifle too confident of -his skill perhaps, were paying scant attention to what he was doing. -The stretch of water they had to cross was generally deep, as the chart -showed, but there were a few shoals and mud banks to be avoided. While -the boys were eagerly listening to Cal’s description of the hunting -grounds ahead, the boat was speeding rapidly, with the sail trimmed -nearly flat, when there came a sudden flaw in the wind and Tom, in his -nervous anxiety to meet the difficulty managed to put the helm the -wrong way. A second later the dory was pushing her way through mud and -submerged marsh grass. Tom’s error had driven her, head on, upon one of -the grass covered mud banks. - -Dick was instantly at work. Without waiting to haul the boom inboard, -he let go the throat and peak halyards, and the sails ran down while -the outer end of the boom buried itself in the mud. - -“Now haul in the boom,” he said. - -“Why didn’t you wait and do that first?” asked Tom, who was half out of -his wits with chagrin over his blunder. - -“Because, with the centre board up, if we’d hauled it in against the -wind the boat would have rolled over and we should all have been -floundering.” - -“But the centre board was down,” answered Tom. - -“Look at it,” said Cal. “Doubtless it was down when we struck, but as -we slid up into the grass it was shut up like a jackknife.” - -“Stop talking,” commanded Larry, “and get to the oars. It’s now or -never. If we don’t get clear of this within five minutes we’ll have -to lie here all night. The tide is just past full flood and the depth -will grow less every minute. Now then! All together and back her out of -this!” - -With all their might the four boys backed with the oars, but the boat -refused to move. Dick shifted the ballast a little and they made -another effort, with no result except that Tom, in his well-nigh insane -eagerness to repair the damage done, managed to break an oar. - -“It’s no use, fellows,” said Larry. “You might as well ship your oars. -We’re stuck for all night and must make the best of the situation.” - -“Can’t we get out and push her off?” asked Tom in desperation. - -“No. We’ve no bottom to stand on. The mud is too soft.” - -“That’s one disadvantage in a dory,” said Dick, settling himself on a -thwart. “If we had a keel under us, we could have worked her free with -the oars.” - -“If, yes, and perhaps,” broke in Cal, who was disposed to be cheerfully -philosophical under all circumstances. “What’s the use in iffing, -yessing and perhapsing? We’re unfortunate in being stuck on a mud bank -for the night, but stuck we are and there’s an end of that. We can’t -make the matter better by wishing, or regretting, or bemoaning our -fate, or making ourselves miserable in any other of the many ways that -evil ingenuity has devised for the needless chastisement of the spirit. -Let us ‘look forward not back, up and not down, out and not in,’ as -Dr. Hale puts it. Instead of thinking how much happier we might be if -we were spinning along over the water, let us think how much happier -we _shall_ be when we get out of this and set sail again. By the way, -what have we on board that we can eat before the shades of night begin -falling fast?” - -“Well, if you will ‘look forward,’ as you’ve advised us all to do,” -said Dick Wentworth, “by which I mean if you will explore the forward -locker, you’ll find there a ten-pound can of sea biscuit, and half a -dozen gnarled and twisted bologna sausages of the imported variety, -warranted to keep in any climate and entirely capable of putting a -strain upon the digestion of an ostrich accustomed to dine on tenpenny -nails and the fragments of broken beer bottles.” - -“Where on earth did they come from?” asked Larry. “I superintended the -lading of the boat—” - -“Yes, I know you did, and I watched you. I observed that you had made -no provision for shipwreck and so I surreptitiously purchased and -bestowed these provisions myself. The old tars at Gloucester deeply -impressed it upon my mind that it is never safe to venture upon salt -water without a reserve supply of imperishable provisions to fall back -upon in case of accidents like this.” - -“This isn’t an accident,” said Tom, who had been silent for an unusual -time; “it isn’t an accident; it’s the result of my stupidity and -nothing else, and I can never—” - -“Now stop that, Tom!” commanded Cal; “stop it quick, or you’ll meet -with the accident of being chucked overboard. This was a mishap that -might occur to anyone, and if there was any fault in the case every -one of us is as much to blame as you are. You don’t profess to be an -expert sailor, and we know it. We ought some of us to have helped you -by observing things. Now quit blaming yourself, quit worrying and get -to work chewing bologna.” - -“Thank you, Cal,” was all that Tom could say in reply, and all set to -work on what Dick called their “frugal meal,” adding: - -“That phrase used to fool me. I found it in Sunday School books, where -some Scotch cotter and his interesting family sat down to eat scones or -porridge, and I thought it suggestive of something particularly good to -eat. Having the chronically unsatisfied appetite of a growing boy, the -thing made me hungry.” - -“This bologna isn’t a bit bad after you’ve chewed enough of the dry out -of it to get the taste,” said Larry, cutting off several slices of the -smoke-hardened sausage. - -“No,” said Dick, “it isn’t bad; but I judge from results that the -Dutchman who made it had rather an exalted opinion of garlic as a -flavoring.” - -“Yes,” Cal answered, speaking slowly after his habit, “the thing -is thoroughly impregnated with the flavor and odor of the _allium -sativum_, and I was just revolving—” - -“What’s that, Cal?” asked Larry, interrupting. - -“What’s what?” - -“Why, _allium_ something or other—the thing you mentioned.” - -“Oh, you mean _allium sativum_? Why, that is the botanical name of the -cultivated garlic plant, you ignoramus.” - -“Well, how did you come to know that? You never studied botany.” - -“No, of course not. I’ll put myself to the trouble of explaining a -matter which would be obvious enough to you if you gave it proper -thought. I found the term in the dictionary a month or so ago when you -and I had some discussion as to the relationship between the garlic -and the onion. I may have been positive in such assertions as I found -it necessary to make in maintaining my side of the argument; doubtless -I was so; but I was not sufficiently confident of the soundness of -my views to make an open appeal to the dictionary. I consulted it -secretly, surreptitiously, meaning to fling it at your head if I found -that it sustained my contentions. As I found that it was strongly -prejudiced on your side, I refrained from dragging it into the -discussion. But I learned from it that garlic is _allium sativum_, and -I made up my mind to floor you with that morsel of erudition at the -first opportunity. This is it.” - -“This is what?” - -“Why, the first opportunity, to be sure. I’m glad it came now instead -of at some other time.” - -“Why, Cal?” - -“Why because we have about eleven hours of tedious waiting time -before us and must get rid of it in the best way we can. I’ve managed -to wear away several minutes of it by talking cheerful nonsense and -spreading it out over as many words as I could. I’ve noticed that -chatter helps mightily to pass away a tedious waiting time, and I’m -profoundly convinced that the very worst thing one can do in a case -like ours is to stretch the time out by grumbling and fretting. If ever -I’m sentenced to be hanged, I shall pass my last night pouring forth -drivelling idiocy, just by way of getting through what I suppose must -be rather a trying time to a condemned man.” - -“By the way, Cal, you were just beginning to say something else when -Larry interrupted you to ask about the Latin name of garlic. You -said you were ‘just revolving.’ As you paused without any downward -inflection, and as you certainly were not turning around, I suppose you -meant you were just revolving something or other in your mind.” - -“Your sagacity was not at fault, Tom, but my memory is. I was revolving -something in my mind, some nonsense I suppose, but what it was, I am -wholly unable to remember. Never mind; I’ll think of a hundred other -equally foolish things to say between now and midnight, and by that -time we’ll all be asleep, I suppose.” - -It was entirely dark now, and Dick Wentworth lighted a lantern and -hoisted it as an anchor light. - -“What’s the use, Dick, away out here?” asked one of the others. - -“There may be no use in it,” replied Dick, “but a good seaman never -asks himself that question. He just does what the rules of navigation -require, and carries a clear conscience. If a ship has to stop in mid -ocean to repair her machinery even on the calmest and brightest of days -when the whole horizon is clear, the captain orders the three discs set -that mean ‘ship not under control.’ So we’ll let our anchor light do -its duty whether there is need of it or not.” - -“That’s right in principle,” said Larry, “and after all it makes no -difference as that lantern hasn’t more than a spoonful of oil in it. -But most accidents, as they are called—” - -Larry was not permitted to say what happened to “most accidents,” for -as he spoke Tom called out: - -“Hello! it’s raining!” - -“Yes—sprinkling,” answered Larry, holding out his hand to feel the -drops, “but it’ll be pouring in five minutes. We must hurry into our -oilskins. There! the anchor light has burned out and we must fumble in -the dark.” - -With that he opened a receptacle and hurriedly dragged the yellow, -oil-stiffened garments out, saying as he did so: - -“It’s too dark to see which is whose, but we’re all about of a size and -they don’t cut slickers to a very nice fit. So help yourselves and put -’em on as quickly as you can, for it’s beginning to pour down.” - -The boys felt about in the dark until presently Cal called out: - -“I say, fellows, I want to do some trading. I’ve got hold of three -pairs of trousers and two squams, but no coat. Who wants to swap a coat -for two pairs of trousers and a sou’wester?” - -The exchanges were soon made and the waterproof garments donned, but -not before everybody had got pretty wet, for the rain was coming -down in torrents now, such as are never seen except in tropical or -subtropical regions. - -The hurried performance served to divert the boys’ minds and cheer -their spirits for a while, but when the “slickers” were on and closely -fastened up, there was nothing to do but sit down again in the dismal -night and wait for the time to wear away. - -“Now this is just what we needed,” said Cal, as soon as the others -began to grow silent and moody. - -“What, the rain?” - -“Yes. It helps to occupy the mind. It gives us something to think -about. It is a thing of interest. By adding to our wretchedness, it -teaches us the lesson that—” - -“Oh, we don’t want any lessons, Cal; school’s out,” said Dick. “What I -want to know is whether you ever saw so heavy a rain before. I never -did. Why, there are no longer any drops—nothing but steady streams. -Did you ever see anything like it?” - -“Often, and worse,” Larry answered. “This is only an ordinary summer -rain for this coast.” - -“Well now, I understand—” - -“Permit me to interrupt,” broke in Cal, “long enough to suggest that -the water in this boat is now half way between my ankles and my knees, -and I doubt the propriety of suffering it to rise any higher. Suppose -you pass the pump, Dick.” - -Dick handed the pump to his companion, who was not long in clearing the -boat of the water. Then Tom took it and fitfully renewed the pumping -from time to time, by way of keeping her clear. After, perhaps, an -hour, the rain slackened to a drizzle far more depressing to the -spirits than the heavy downpour had been. The worst of the matter was -that the night was an intensely warm one, and the oilskin clothing -in which the boys were closely encased, was oppressive almost beyond -endurance. Presently Dick began unbuttoning his. - -“What are you doing, Dick? “Tom asked as he heard the rustle. - -“Opening the cerements that encase my person,” Dick answered. - -“But what for?” - -“Why, to keep from getting too wet. In these things the sweat that -flows through my skin is distinctly more dampening than the drizzling -rain.” - -“I’d smile at that,” said Cal, “if it were worth while, as it isn’t. -We’re in the situation Charles Lamb pityingly imagined all mankind to -have been during the ages before candles were invented. If we crack a -joke after nightfall we must feel of our neighbor’s cheek to see if he -is smiling.” - -The desire for sleep was strong upon all the company, and one by one -they settled themselves in the least uncomfortable positions possible -under the circumstances, and became silent in the hope of catching at -least a cat nap now and then. There was very little to be done in that -way, for the moment one part of the body was adjusted so that nothing -hurt it, a thwart or a rib, or the edge of the rail, or something else -would begin “digging holes,” as Larry said, in some other part. - -Cal was the first to give up the attempt to sleep. After suffering as -much torture as he thought he was called upon to endure he undoubled -himself and sat upright. The rest soon followed his example, and Cal -thought it best to set conversation going again. - -“After all,” he said meditatively, “this is precisely what we came to -seek.” - -“What? The wretchedness of this night? I confess I am unable to take -that view of it,” answered Larry almost irritatedly. - -“That is simply because your sunny temper is enshrouded in the murky -gloom of the night, and your customary ardor dampened by the drizzle. -You are not philosophical. You shouldn’t suffer external things to -disturb your spiritual calm. It does you much harm and no manner of -good. Besides, it is obvious that you judged and condemned my thought -without analyzing it.” - -“How is that, Cal? Tell us about it,” said Dick. “Your prosing may put -us to sleep in spite of the angularity and intrusive impertinence of -everything we try to rest ourselves upon. Do your own analyzing and let -us have the benefit of it.” - -“Oh, it’s simple enough. I indulged in the reflection that this sort -of thing is precisely what we set out on this expedition to find, -and it is so, if you’ll only think of it. We came in search of two -things—adventure and game. Surely this mud-bank experience is an -adventure, and I’m doing my best to persuade you fellows to be ‘game’ -in its endurance.” - -“That finishes us,” said Dick. “A pun is discouraging at all times; a -poor, weak-kneed, anæmic pun like that is simply disheartening, and -coming at a time of despondency like this, it reduces every fibre of -character to a pulp. I feel that under its influence my back bone has -been converted into guava jelly.” - -“Your speech betrayeth you, Dick. I never heard you sling English more -vigorously than now. And you have regained your cheerfulness too, and -your capacity to take interest. Upon my word, I’ll think up another pun -and hurl it at you if it is to have any such effect as that.” - -“While you’re doing it,” said Larry, “I’m going to get myself out of -the sweatbox I’ve been in all night. You may or may not have observed -it, but the rain has ceased, and the tide has turned and if I may be -permitted to quote Shakespeare, ‘The glow-worm shows the matin to be -near.’ In modern phrase, day is breaking, and within about two hours -the _Hunkydory_ will be afloat again.” - -With the relief of doffing the oppressive oilskins, and the rapidly -coming daylight, the spirits of the little company revived, and it was -almost a jolly mood in which they made their second meal on hard ship -biscuit and still harder smoked bolognas. - - - - -VI - -A LITTLE SPORT BY THE WAY - - -THE day had just asserted itself when Larry, looking out upon the broad -waters of a sound that lay between the dory and the point at which the -dory would have been if she had not gone aground, rather gleefully said: - -“We’ll be out of our trouble sooner than we hoped. The _Hunkydory_ will -float well before the full flood.” - -“Why do you think so, Larry?” asked Tom, who had not yet recovered -from his depression and was still blaming himself for the mishap and -doubting the possibility of an escape that morning. - -“I don’t think it; I know,” answered Larry, beginning to shift ballast -in a way that would make backing off the mud bank easier. - -“But how do you know?” - -“Because there’s a high wind outside and it’s blowing on shore. Look at -the white caps out there where the water is open to the sea. We’re in -a sort of pocket here, and feel nothing more than a stiff breeze, but -it’s blowing great guns outside, and when that happens on an incoming -tide the water rises a good deal higher than usual. We’ll float before -the tide is at the full.” - -“In my judgment we’re afloat now,” said Dick, who had been scrutinizing -the water just around them. “We’re resting on the marsh grass, that’s -all.” - -“So we are,” said Cal, after scanning things a bit. “Let’s get to the -oars!” - -“Better wait for five or ten minutes,” objected Dick. “We might foul -the rudder in backing off. Then we’d be in worse trouble than we were -before.” - -“That’s so, Dick,” answered Cal, restraining his impatience and falling -at once into his peculiarly deliberate utterance. “That is certainly -so, and I have been pleased to observe, Dick, that many things you say -are so.” - -“Thank you for the compliment, Cal, and for what it implies to the -contrary.” - -“Pray don’t mention it. Take a look over the bow instead and see how -she lies now.” - -In spite of their banter, that last ten minutes of waiting seemed -tediously long, especially to Tom, who wanted to feel the boat gliding -through the water again before forgiving himself for having run her -aground. At last the bow caught the force of the incoming flood, and -without help from anybody the dory lifted herself out of the grass and -drifted clear of the mud bank. - -The centre board was quickly lowered, the sails hoisted, the burgee -run up to the masthead, and, as the _Hunkydory_ heeled over and began -plowing through the water with a swish, her crew set up a shout of glee -that told of young hearts glad again. - -A kindly, gentle thought occurred to Dick Wentworth at that moment. It -was that by way of reassuring Tom and showing him that their confidence -in him was in no way shaken, they should call him to the helm at once. -Dick signalled his suggestion to Larry, by nodding and pointing to Tom, -whose eyes were turned away. Larry was quick to understand. - -“I say, Tom,” he called out, “come to the tiller and finish your job. -It’s still your turn to navigate the craft.” - -Tom hesitated for a second, but only for a second. Perhaps he -understood the kindly, generous meaning of the summons. However that -might be, he promptly responded, and taking the helm from Larry’s hand, -said, “Thank you, Larry—and all of you.” - -That was all he said; indeed, it was all that he could say just then. - -Suspecting something of the sort and dreading every manifestation of -emotion, as boys so often do, Larry quickly diverted all minds by -calling out: - -“See there! Look! There’s a school of skipjacks breaking water dead -ahead. Let’s have some fun trolling for them. We haven’t any appointed -hours and we’re in no hurry, and trolling for skipjacks is prime sport.” - -“What are they, anyhow?” asked Dick, who had become a good deal -interested in the strange varieties of fish he had seen for the first -time on the southern coast. - -“Why, fish, of course. Did you think they were humming birds?” - -“Well, I don’t know that I should have been greatly astonished if I had -found them to be something of that kind. Since you introduced me to -flying fish the other day, I’m prepared for anything. But what I wanted -to know was what sort of fish the skipjacks are.” - -“Oh, that was it? Well, they’re what you call bluefish up north, I -believe. They are variously named along the coast—bluefish, jack -mackerel, horse mackerel, skipfish, skipjacks, and by some other names, -I believe, and they’re about as good fish to eat as any that swims in -salt water, by whatever name you call them.” - -“Yes, I’ve eaten them as bluefish,” answered Dick. “They’re considered -a great dainty in Boston and up north generally.” - -“They’re all that,” answered Larry, “and catching them is great sport -besides, as you’ll agree after you’ve had an hour or so of it. We must -have some bait first. Tom, run her in toward the mouth of the slough -you see on her starboard bow about a mile away. See it? There, where -the palmetto trees stand. That’s it. She’s heading straight at the -point I mean. Run her in there and bring her head into the wind. Then -we’ll find a good place and beach her, and I’ll go ashore with the cast -net and get a supply of shrimps.” - -“Is it a wallflower or a widow you’re talking about, Larry?” languidly -asked Cal, while his brother was getting the cast net out and arranging -it for use. - -“What do you mean, Cal? Some pestilent nonsense, I’ll be bound.” - -“Not at all,” drawled Cal. “I was chivalrously concerned for the -unattached and unattended female of whom you’ve been speaking. You’ve -mentioned her six times, and always without an escort.” - -“Oh, I see,” answered Larry, who was always quick to catch Cal’s rather -obscure jests. “Well, by the pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her,’ I meant the good -ship _Hunkydory_. She is now nearing the shore and if you don’t busy -yourself arranging trolling lines and have them ready by the time I -get back on board of her with a supply of shrimps, I’ll see to it that -you’re in no fit condition to get off another feeble-minded joke like -that for hours to come. There, Tom, give her just a capful of wind and -run her gently up that little scrap of sandy beach. No, no, don’t haul -your sheet so far—ease it off a bit, or she’ll run too far up the -shore. There! That’s better. The moment her nose touches let the sheet -run free. Good! Dick himself couldn’t have done that better.” - -With that he sprang ashore, and with the heavily leaded cast net over -his arm and a galvanized iron bait pail in his hand, hurried along -the bank to the mouth of the slough, where he knew there would be -multitudes of shrimps gathered for purposes of feeding. After three -or four casts of the net he spread it, folded, over the top of his -bait bucket to keep the shrimps he had caught from jumping out. Within -fifteen minutes after leaping ashore he was back on board again with a -bucket full of the bait he wanted. - -“Now, then,” he said to Dick and Tom, “Cal will show you how to do the -thing. I’ll sail the boat back and forth through the schools, spilling -wind so as to keep speed down. Oh, it’s great sport.” - -“Well, you shall have your share of it then,” said Dick, carefully -coiling his line. “After I’ve tried it a little, and seen what sort of -sailing it needs, I’ll relieve you at the tiller and you shall take my -line.” - -“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” said Cal with a slower drawl than -usual by way of giving emphasis to his words. “Not if I see you first. -After Larry has run us through the school two or three times, missing -it more than half the time, I’ll take the tiller myself and give you a -real chance to hook a fish or two.” - -Dick knew Cal well enough to understand that he was in earnest and that -there would be no use in protesting or arguing the matter. Besides -that, he hooked a big fish just at that moment, and was jerked nearly -off his feet. The strength of the pull astonished him for a moment. He -had never encountered a fish of any kind that could tug like that, and -for the moment he forgot that the dory was doing most of the pulling. -In the meanwhile he had lost his fish by holding his line too firmly -and dragging the hook out of its mouth. - -“That’s your first lesson,” said Cal, as deliberately as if there had -been no exciting sport on hand, and with like deliberation letting his -own line slip slowly through his tightened fingers. “You must do it as -I am doing it now,” he continued. “You see, I have a fish at the other -end of my line and I want to bring him aboard. So instead of holding -as hard as a check post, I yield a little to the exigencies of the -situation, letting the line slip with difficulty through my fingers at -first and long enough to transmit the momentum of the boat to the fish. -Then, having got his finny excellency well started in the way he should -go, I encourage persistency in well doing on his part by drawing in -line. Never mind your own line now. We’ve run through the school and -Larry is heaving-to to let Tom and me land our fish. You observe that -Tom has so far profited by his close study of my performance that—yes, -he has landed the first fish, and here comes mine into the boat. You -can set her going again, Larry; I won’t drag a line this time, but -devote all my abilities to the instruction of Dick.” - -On the next dash and the next no fish were hooked. Then, as the boat -sailed through the school again, Dick landed two beauties, and Tom one. - -“That ends it for to-day,” said Larry, laying the boat’s course toward -the heavily wooded mainland at the point where Cal had suggested a stay -of several days for shooting. - -“But why not make one more try?” eagerly asked Tom, whose enthusiasm in -the sport was thoroughly aroused; “haven’t we time enough?” - -“Yes,” said Larry, “but we have fish enough also. The catch will last -us as long as we can keep the fish fresh, which isn’t very long in this -climate, and we never catch more fish or kill more game than we can -dispose of. It is unsportsmanlike to do that, and it is wanton cruelty -besides.” - -“That’s sound, and sensible, and sportsmanlike,” said Dick, -approvingly. “And besides, we really haven’t any time to spare if we’re -going to stop on the island yonder for dinner, as we agreed, and—” - -“And as at least one appetite aboard the _Hunkydory_ insists that we -shall,” interrupted Cal. “It’s after three o’clock now.” - -“So say we all of us,” sang Tom to the familiar after-dinner tune, and -Larry shifted the course so as to head for an island nearly a mile -away. - -There a hasty dinner was cooked and eaten, but hasty as it was, it -occupied more time in preparation than had been reckoned upon, so that -it was fully five o’clock when the dory was again cast off. - -In the meanwhile the wind had sunk to a mere zephyr, scarcely -sufficient to give the heavy boat steerage way, and, late in the day, -as it was, the sun shone with a sweltering fervor that caused the boys -to look forward with dread to the prospect of having to resort to the -oars. - -That time came quickly, and the sails, now useless in the hot, still -air, were reluctantly lowered. - -A stretch of water, more than half a dozen miles in width, lay before -them, and the tide was strong against them. But they pluckily plied the -oars and the heavy boat slowly but surely overcame the distance. - -They had found no fresh water on the island, and there was very little -in the water kegs when they left it for their far-away destination. The -hard work of rowing against the tide in a hot atmosphere, made them all -thirsty, so that long before they reached their chosen landing place, -the last drop of the water was gone, with at least two more hours of -rowing in prospect. - -“There’s a spring where I propose to land,” said Cal, by way of -reassuring his companions. “As I remember it, the water’s a bit -brackish, but it is drinkable at any rate.” - -“Are you sure you can find the spot in the dark, Cal?” asked Larry, -with some anxiety in his voice. “For it’ll be pitch dark before we get -there.” - -“Oh, yes, I can find it,” his brother answered. - -“There’s a deep indentation in the coast there—an inlet, in fact, -which runs several miles up through the woods. We’ll run in toward the -shore presently and skirt along till we come to the mouth of the creek. -I’ll find it easily enough.” - -But in spite of his assurances, the boys, now severely suffering with -thirst, had doubts, and to make sure, they approached the shore and -insisted that Cal should place himself on the bow, where he could see -the land as the boat skirted it. - -This left three of them to handle four oars. One of them used a pair, -in the stern rowlocks, where the width of the boat was not too great -for sculls, while the other two plied each an oar amidships. - -In their impatience, and tortured by thirst as they were, the three -oarsmen put their backs into the rowing and maintained a stroke that -sent the boat along at a greater speed than she had ever before made -with the oars alone. Still it seemed to them that their progress was -insufferably slow. - -Presently Cal called to them: “Port—more to port—steady! there! we’re -in the creek and have only to round one bend of it. Starboard! Steady! -Way enough.” - -A moment later the dory slid easily up a little sloping beach and -rested there. - -“Where’s your spring, Cal?” the whole company cried in chorus, leaping -ashore. - -“This way—here it is.” - -The spring was a small pool, badly choked, but the boys threw -themselves down and drank of it greedily. It was not until their thirst -was considerably quenched that they began to observe how brackish the -water was. When the matter was mentioned at last, Cal dismissed it with -one of his profound discourses. - -“I’ve drunk better water than that, I’ll admit; but I never drank any -water that I enjoyed more.” Then he added: - -“You fellows are ungrateful, illogical, unfair, altogether -unreasonable. That water is so good that you never found out its -badness till after it had done you a better service than any other -water in the world ever did. Yet now you ungratefully revile its lately -discovered badness, while omitting to remember its previously enjoyed -and surpassing goodness. I am so ashamed of you that I’m going to -start a fire and get supper going. I for one want some coffee, and it -is going to be made of water from that spring, too. Those who object to -brackish coffee will simply have to go without.” - - - - -VII - -AN ENEMY IN CAMP - - -NO sooner was the camp fire started than Cal went to the boat and -brought away a piece of tarpaulin, used to protect things against rain. -With this and a lighted lantern he started off through the thicket -toward the mouth of the little estuary, leaving Dick to make coffee and -fry fish, while Larry mixed a paste of corn meal, water and a little -salt, which he meant presently to spread into thin sheets and bake in -the hot embers, as soon as the fire should burn down sufficiently to -make a bed of coals. - -As Cal was setting out, Tom, who had no particular duty to do at the -moment, asked: - -“Where are you off to, Cal?” - -“Come along with me and see,” Cal responded without answering the -direct question. “I may need your help. Suppose you bring the big bait -bucket with you. Empty the shrimps somewhere. They’re all too dead to -eat, but we may need ’em for bait.” - -Tom accepted the invitation and the two were quickly beyond the bend -in the creek and well out of sight of the camp. As they neared the -open water, Cal stopped, held the lantern high above his head, and -looked about him as if in search of something. Presently he lowered the -lantern, cried out, “Ah, there it is,” and strode on rapidly through -the dense undergrowth. - -Tom had no time to ask questions. He had enough to do to follow his -long-legged companion. - -After a brief struggle with vines and undergrowths of every kind, -the pair came out upon a little sandy beach with a large oyster bank -behind it, and Tom had no further need to ask questions, for Cal spread -the tarpaulin out flat upon the sands, and both boys began gathering -oysters, not from the solid bank where thousands of them had their -shells tightly welded together, but from the water’s edge, and even -from the water itself wherever it did not exceed a foot or so in depth. -Cal explained that these submerged oysters, being nearly all the time -under salt water, and growing singly, or nearly so, were far fatter and -better than those in the bank or near its foot. - -It did not take long to gather quite as many of the fat bivalves as the -two could conveniently carry in the tarpaulin and the bait pail, and as -Cal was tying up the corners of the cloth Tom began scrutinizing the -sandy beach at a point which the ordinary tides did not reach. As he -did so he observed a queer depression in the sand and asked Cal to come -and see what it meant. - -After a single glance at it, Cal exclaimed gleefully: - -“Good for you, Tom. This is the luckiest find yet.” - -With that he placed the lantern in a favorable position, emptied the -bait pail, hurriedly knelt down, and with his hands began digging away -the sand. - -“But what is it, Cal? What are you digging for?” - -“I’ll show you in half a minute,” said the other, continuing to dig -diligently. Less than the half minute later he began drawing out of the -sand a multitude of snow-white eggs about the size of a walnut. As Tom -looked on in open-mouthed wonder, he thought there must be no end to -the supply. - -“What are they, Cal?” the boy asked. - -“Turtle’s eggs, and there’s a bait bucket full of them. You’ve made the -luckiest find of all, Tom,” he said again in congratulation. - -“Are they good to eat?” - -“Good to eat? Is anything you ever tasted good to eat? Why, Tom, -they’re about the rarest delicacy known to civilized man. In Charleston -they sell at fabulous prices, when there happen to be any there to -sell. Now we must hurry back to the fire, for the ash cakes must be -about done and the coffee made.” - -After a moment or two of silence, Tom asked: - -“Why did you think there was an oyster bank down there, Cal?” - -“I noticed it as we came into the creek and I took pains to remember -its location. But here we are. See, fellows, what Tom has found! Now -bring on your coffee and your ash cakes and your fish, and we’ll feast -like a company of Homer’s warriors. It won’t take long to boil the eggs -in salt water—ten minutes is the allotted time, I believe, in the -case of turtle’s eggs, and during that time we can be eating the other -things and filling up with fire-opened oysters.” - -With that he threw three or four oysters upon the coals, removing them -as soon as they opened and swallowing them from the shell. The others -followed his example. - -Of course it really was an excellent supper the boys were eating out -there under the stars, but sharp-set hunger made it seem even better -than it was, and the contrast between it and the supper of bologna -sausages and hardtack of the night before, added greatly to the zest -of their feasting. They rejoiced, too, in being free, out there in -the woodlands, with no dismal rain to depress their spirits and no -restraint of any kind upon their liberty. - -But they were all very tired after their sleepless night before and -their hard-working day, and without argument or discussion, one by one -of them stretched himself before the fire not long after supper, and -fell asleep. Cal remained awake longer than the rest, though he, too, -was lying flat upon his back, ready to welcome sleep as soon as it -should come to his eyelids. - -Before it came he was moved by jealousy or mischief to disturb the -others with an admonition. - -“You fellows are recklessly trifling with your health, every one of -you, and it is my duty to warn you of the consequences. In allowing -so brief a time to elapse between the consumption of food in generous -quantities, and your retirement to your couches, you are inviting -indigestion, courting bad dreams and recklessly risking the permanent -organic and functional impairment of your constitutions—to say nothing -of your by-laws, orders of business, rules of procedure and other -things that should be equally precious to you.” - -“_Will_ you shut up, Cal?” muttered Dick, half awake. Tom remained -unconscious and Larry responded only with a snore. - -Presently even Cal’s wakefulness yielded, his thoughts wandered, and he -fell into a sound slumber. - -The woodlands were as still as woodlands at night ever are; the stars -shone brilliantly in a perfectly clear sky; the brush wood fire died -down to a mass of glowing coals and gray ashes, and still the weary -ship’s company slept on without waking or even moving. - -Then something happened, and Larry, who was always alert, even in his -sleep, suddenly sat up, at the same time silently grasping the gun -that lay by his side. He was sure he had heard a noise in his sleep, -but now that he was wide awake, everything seemed profoundly still. -Nevertheless he waited and watched. Then suddenly he brought his gun to -his shoulder, and in sharp, ringing tones cried out: - -“Drop that!” - -Instantly all the boys were standing with their guns in hand, not -knowing what had happened, but ready to meet whatever might come. A -second or two later Larry, still sitting and aiming his gun over his -bent knees, called out again: - -“Drop that, I say! Drop it instantly or I’ll shoot. I’ve got a bead on -you. Now throw up your hands! Quick, and no fooling.” - -[Illustration: DICK, CAL, AND TOM SEARCHED THE MAN’S CLOTHES. -_Page 73._] - -As he gave this command he rose and slowly advanced toward the dory, -keeping his gun levelled from his shoulder. - -It was difficult to see anything, until Tom thought to throw a bunch -of dry brush upon the coals. As it blazed up the boys saw the man whom -Larry had held up. He was standing by the boat, his back toward them -and his hands, held up in obedience to Larry’s command. - -“Now, boys, see what shooting irons he has about him,” directed Larry, -who stood with the muzzle of his shotgun less than three feet away from -the prisoner. - -Dick, Cal and Tom searched the man’s clothes, but found no weapons -of any sort there. Tom was thoughtful enough to search his -long-legged leather boots, and from each of them he presently drew a -murderous-looking army revolver. Without saying a word, the boy sprung -the pistols open and emptied them of their cartridges, which he tossed -into the creek. - -“Now you may let your hands down,” said Larry, at the same time -lowering his piece, but continuing to hold it with both barrels at full -cock. - -“Cal, take care of that box of cartridges I made him drop, and take a -lantern and look the boat over. He may have done some damage before -trying to steal our ammunition.” - -Up to this time the intruder, a huge man of evil countenance, had -spoken no word. Now he suddenly took the initiative. - -“Who are you fellers, anyhow, and what are you a-doing here?” he asked. - -“Curiously enough,” responded Cal, “those are precisely the questions -I was going to ask you. Suppose you answer first. Who are you and what -are you doing here?” - -“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” the intruder replied, -truculently. - -“Perhaps you’d better reconsider that,” said Cal. “You’re a prisoner, -you know, caught in the act of stealing our ammunition, and we are -armed. We can chuck you into our boat and take you to a magistrate, who -will provide you with jail accommodations for a while. Give an account -of yourself. What did you come to our camp for?” - -“I come,” he replied with somewhat less assurance in his tone, “to find -out who you fellers was, and what you’re a-doin’ here where you don’t -belong, and to give you fair warnin’ to git away from here jest as -quick as you know how. Ef you don’t, it’ll be a good deal the worse for -you.” - -“We’ll do nothing of the kind,” broke in Larry. “We’re on land that -belongs to Mr. Hayward, a friend of ours, and we’re going to stay here -as long as we like.” - -“You’ll do it at your own resk, then. You’ve got me hard and fast, but -they’s others besides me.” - -“Now listen to me,” said Larry, rising and speaking sharply. “We’ve -got you hard and fast, as you say, and we could take you to jail or we -could hold you as a hostage, if you know what that means; but we’ll do -neither. We’re not afraid of you or the ‘others’ you mentioned. We are -going to turn you loose and dare you to do your worst. We’ve a right to -be where we are, and we’re going to stay here till we’re ready to go. -We’re armed, and we know how to shoot. But there’ll be no holding up -of hands the next time any of you invade our camp, and there’ll be no -challenging. It’ll be quick triggers. Now go! We expect to stay here -for three or four days. Go!” - -The man moved off through the woods, with a peculiar limp in his left -leg, turning about when at a little distance, and shouting: - -“It’ll be the worse for you! I’ve give you fair warnin’.” - - - - -VIII - -CAL BEGINS TO DO THINGS - - -“WONDER what it all means,” said Tom, when the man had limped away -through the undergrowth and out of hearing. - -“It means, for one thing,” said Cal, “that we’re practically in a state -of siege here. We must all be on the alert and never all sleep at once.” - -“Yes,” said Larry, “and that isn’t enough. We must guard ourselves -against surprise by day as well as by night. As soon as it grows light -enough in the morning I’ll explore our surroundings and see what may -best be done. It is now a trifle after four o’clock, and we shan’t go -to sleep again. Why not have breakfast and make a long day of it. I -want to get some game, for one thing. I wonder if that fellow’s gang, -whoever they are, have cleaned all the wild things out of these woods.” - -“You can rest easy as to that,” said Cal. “We’ll have something fit -to eat for dinner to-day, and I’ll have it here in time to cook it -properly for that meal. What I am wondering about is who those fellows -are, and what they are doing around here, and why they don’t want us -around.” - -“Then you believe what that fellow said?” asked Dick. “You believe in -the existence of those others’ with whose vengeance he threatened us?” - -“Yes, of course.” - -“Well, I don’t. There may be another man down here with that one, -fishing or hunting, but I don’t believe in the presence of a company of -them.” - -“But why not, Dick?” - -“Simply because it is unlikely. On its face it seems to me more likely -that, as we had caught that fellow stealing, he invented the formidable -and vengeful force theory just to scare us into letting him go. What -would there be for such a band as he suggests to do down here in these -lonely woods? What is there here to attract such a band?” - -“I am not prepared to answer those questions,” said Cal. “I can’t -imagine what a gang of that sort could be doing here, or why they are -here, or anything about it. But it is my firm conviction that we have -need to keep cartridges in our guns and about our persons.” - -“Oh, that’s of course,” answered Dick; “though if there is any such -gang and they don’t attack us early this morning, we needn’t look for -them before night, so we’ll have plenty of time for getting a good -supply of game.” - -“All right,” said Cal. “And by way of making sure, as it’s coming on -daylight now, I’ll go and get that turkey gobbler I was speaking of. -I’ll be back to breakfast.” - -With that Cal started off, gun in hand, leaving the rest to wonder. - -“How can he be so confident of finding game?” Dick asked, with a note -of incredulity in his voice. - -“I don’t know,” answered Larry, “but it’s nine chances in ten that -he’ll do it. He’s the wiliest hunter I ever knew, and with all his -chatter, he never says a thing of that kind without meaning it; -especially he never gives a positive promise unless he is confident of -his ability to fulfill it. So I expect to see him back here before we -have breakfast ready, with a turkey gobbler slung over his shoulders.” - -“Why ‘gobbler,’ Larry?” Dick asked, looking up from the mortar in which -he was pounding the coffee. - -“How do you mean, Dick?” - -“Why, it wasn’t just a turkey that Cal promised us, but specifically a -gobbler, and now when you speak of it you also assume that the bird he -is to kill will be of the male sex. Why may it not be a turkey hen?” - -“Why, he wouldn’t think of shooting a turkey hen at this time of year. -They’re bringing up their chicks now and they won’t be fit to eat for a -month yet. So if he brings any turkey with him it’ll be a bearded old -gobbler as fat as butter.” - -At that moment a shot was heard at some distance. The next instant -there was another, after which all was still. - -“I say, Larry, I don’t like that,” said Tom uneasily. - -“Don’t like what?” - -“Why, those two shots in quick succession. Maybe Cal has met some of -that gang and they’ve shot him. Hadn’t we better go to his assistance?” - -“You may go if you are uneasy, Tom,” answered Larry; “but it isn’t at -all necessary I think. Cal knows how to take care of himself.” - -“But how do you account for the two shots in such quick succession?” - -“By the fact that Cal usually hunts with cartridges in both barrels of -his gun just as other people do. He may have missed at the first fire. -In that case he would take a second shot if he could get it.” - -Tom was somewhat reassured by this suggestion, but he was not entirely -free from anxiety until ten minutes later when he heard the crackling -of dry branches under Cal’s big boots. A moment afterwards Cal himself -appeared, with two huge gobblers slung over his neck. - -“So you got one with each barrel,” quietly commented Larry, feeling of -the birds to test their fatness. - -“Yes, of course. That’s what I fired twice for. Did you imagine I’d -shoot the second barrel just for fun? By the way, isn’t breakfast -nearly ready? I’m pretty sharp set in this crisp morning air.” - -“I must say, Cal,” said Dick, as the little company sat on the ground -to eat their breakfast, “you’re the very coolest hand I ever saw. -Why, if I had shot two big gobblers out of one flock of turkeys I’d -be tiring the rest of you with minute descriptions—more or less -inaccurate, perhaps—of just how I did it, and just how I felt while -doing it, and just how the turkeys behaved, and all the rest of it.” - -“What’s the use?” asked Cal between sips of coffee. “The facts are -simple enough. We wanted some turkeys and I went out to get them. I -knew where they were roosting and I got there before time for them to -quit the roost. I shot one from the limb on which he had passed the -night. The others flew, of course, and I shot one of them on the wing. -That’s absolutely all there is to tell. I like to get my game when I -go for it but I never could see the use of holding a coroner’s inquest -over it.” - -“What puzzles me,” said Tom, “is how on earth you knew just where those -turkeys were roosting. Did you just guess it?” - -“No, of course not. If I had, I shouldn’t have been so ready to promise -you a gobbler as I was.” - -“Then how did you know?” - -“I saw the roost last night.” - -“When, and how?” - -“When you and I were out after the oysters. Do you remember that just -before we came out of the woods and upon the beach, I stopped and held -up the lantern and looked all around?” - -“Yes, but you were looking for the oyster bed and you found it.” - -“I was looking for the oyster bed, of course. But I was looking for -anything else there might be to see, too. I always do that. When I was -at the bow last night looking for the mouth of this creek I saw the -oyster bed, and marked its locality in my mind. In the same way, when -I was looking for the oyster bed with the lantern above my head, I saw -the turkey-roost and carefully made mental note of its surroundings -so that I might go straight to it this morning. Is there any other -gentleman in the company who would like to ask me questions with a view -to the satisfaction of his curiosity or the improvement of his mind?” - -“I for one would like to ask you what else you saw this morning while -you were out after the turkeys,” answered Tom. “Apparently you never -look for one thing without finding some others of equal or superior -importance. Did you do anything of that sort this morning?” - -“Yes, I think so. I made two observations, in fact, and both of them -seem to me to possess a certain measure of interest.” - -Cal paused in his speech at this point and proceeded to eat his -breakfast quite as if the others had not been waiting for him to go on -with whatever it was that he had to tell. - -“You’re the most provoking fellow I ever saw, Cal,” said Tom, -impatiently. “When you have nothing to say that is in the least worth -saying, you grind out words like a water mill, till you bury yourself -and the rest of us in the chaffy nonsense. But when you have something -to tell that we’re all eager to hear, you shut up like a clam at low -tide. Go on, can’t you?” - -“I have always heard,” replied Cal, in leisurely fashion, as if his -only purpose had been to prevent the conversation from flagging, “that -one of the most necessary arts of the orator is that of getting his -audience into a condition of anxious waiting for his words before he -really says the thing they want to hear. I cannot myself claim the -title of orator, but I’m practicing and—” - -“_Will_ you stop that nonsense, Cal, and tell us what you have in mind? -If not we’ll duck you in the creek.” - -It was Larry who uttered this threat. - -“I’ve had worse things than that happen to me,” answered Cal, -imperturbably. “The morning is sunny and the sea water on this coast -closely approximates tepidity. By the way, Dick, our higher water -temperature seems to mar the edibility of some fish that are deemed -good at the North. There’s what you call the weak fish—” - -He stopped suddenly, for the reason that Dick had approached him from -behind, seized his shoulders and toppled him over upon the ground. - -“Now tell us what we’re waiting to hear!” Dick commanded, still holding -his comrade down upon his back. - -“My mouth’s full of sand,” Cal managed to say; “let me up and I’ll make -a clean breast of it, on honor.” - -Dick loosed his hold, and as soon as Cal had rinsed his mouth, he -redeemed his promise. - -“Well, the first thing I discovered was that there’s a promising young -deer at present haunting this neck of the woods, and we’re all going -out to involve it in controversy with us to-day, and then shoot it as -its just due for defying us in such impudent fashion.” - -“Venison!” exclaimed Tom enthusiastically; “how my mouth waters for a -taste of its juiciness! But how do you know about it, Cal?” - -“It isn’t venison yet,” slowly answered the other. “You are much too -hasty in jumping at conclusions. That deer will not be venison until -we find it and convert it into meat of that justly esteemed sort. Now -to answer your question; I discovered its tracks and followed them far -enough to know whither it was wending its way and about where to look -for it when you fellows quit your ceaseless talking and are ready for -the chase. There’s no great hurry, however, as the tracks were made -this morning and—” - -“How do you know that?” interrupted Tom. - -“I smelt them.” - -“But how? I don’t understand.” - -“It oughtn’t to be difficult for even you, Tom, to make out that if I -smelt the tracks, I employed my nose for that purpose. I usually smell -things in just that way.” - -“Oh, pshaw, you know what I mean. I didn’t imagine any creature but a -well-trained hound could discover a scent in a deer’s track.” - -“Obviously your imagination is in need of a reinforcement of facts -then. I’ll furnish them. In the middle of a deer’s foot there is a -little spot that bears an odor sweeter than that of attar of roses -and quite as pronounced. For that reason many young ladies, and some -who are not so young perhaps, like to keep a deer’s foot among their -daintiest lingerie. Now, when a deer puts his foot down it spreads -sufficiently to bring that perfumed spot in contact with the earth -and the track is delicately perfumed. When the odor is pronounced it -indicates that the track is newly made. - -“Now that I have fully answered your intruded, if not intrusive -question, Tom, perhaps I may be permitted to finish the sentence you -interrupted.” - -“Certainly, go on. Really, Cal, I didn’t mean—” - -“I know you didn’t. I was saying that there is no need of haste in -going after that deer, because the tracks were made this morning, -and the marshy thicket toward which the deer was making his way is -sufficiently rich in succulent grasses and juicy young cane to occupy -his mind for the entire day, and several days. A little later we’ll cut -off his retreat on the land side of the point, and if we don’t get him -the fault will be with our inexpertness with our guns.” - -“That’s all right, Cal,” broke in Larry, “and I’m glad you’ve marked -down the deer; but just now I must be off to plan our defense. You’ve -taken so long to tell us about your first discovery that I can’t wait -to hear about the second.” - -“Oh, yes, you can,” replied Cal. “It will save you a lot of trouble, -and I can tell it in about half a dozen words.” - -“Go ahead and tell it, then.” - -“It is simply that I have solved the whole problem of defense.” - -“How? Tell us about it!” - -“Why, just above our camp—up the creek a few hundred yards, there’s -a big gum tree, with an easily accessible crotch, comfortable to sit -in, from which the one playing sentinel can see everything we want to -see. He can look clear across this point and half a mile or more up -the creek, and by turning his head he can see the camp itself and the -_Hunkydory_ and even the soiled spots on your coats. All we’ve got to -do is to keep a sentinel in that gum tree, and nobody can approach our -camp unseen, whether he comes by land or by water. Come on and I’ll -show you.” - -The whole company followed Cal, and after a minute inspection found the -lookout to be quite as satisfactory as he had represented it to be. But -Tom, who had made up his mind to acquire Cal’s habit of observation, -noticed some things about the place that aroused his curiosity. He -said nothing about them at the time, but resolved to read the riddle -of their meaning if he could. To that end he asked to be the first to -serve as sentinel. - -“All right,” said Larry. “You can stay here till we’re ready to go -after that deer. Then I’ll take your place.” - -“But why?” - -“Oh, so that you may have your share in the deer hunt.” - -“You needn’t either of you bother about that,” said Cal. “Our camp can -be seen all the way to the cane brake where the deer is browsing, and -also from one of the points at which a man must stand with his gun -when we drive the deer. So we shan’t need any other sentinel and we’ll -all go. With all of us together over there we’ll be ready to repel any -attack on ourselves, and if anybody invades the camp we’ll swoop down -upon him and exterminate him.” - -There was a good deal to be done at the camp before going after the -deer. The turkeys were to be picked and dressed and one of them to be -roasted. Some fishing was to be done and it was necessary to put up -some sort of bush shelter for use in case of rain. So, leaving Tom as -sentinel, the other boys went back to the anchorage, and Tom began his -scrutiny of the things he had observed. - -As a last injunction Larry said: “You can come in to dinner, Tom, when -I whistle through my fingers. If there’s nobody in sight then, we can -risk the dinner hour without a sentry.” - - - - -IX - -A FANCY SHOT - - -THE things that had attracted Tom’s attention were so trifling in -themselves that only a person alertly observing would have noticed them -at all. Yet Tom thought they might have significance, and he was bent -upon finding out what that significance was. - -First of all, he had observed that a little blind trail seemed to lead -westward from the tree, and in no other direction, as if it had been -made by someone who visited the tree and then returned by the way he -had come, going no farther in any direction. The trail was so blind -that Tom could not be sure it was a trail at all. If so, it had been -traversed very infrequently, and at rather long intervals. If it had -been the only suggestive thing seen, the boy would probably not have -given it a thought. But he observed also that the bark of the gum tree -was a trifle scarred at two points, suggesting that some one with heavy -boots on had recently climbed it. - -As soon as the other boys had gone back to camp, Tom set to work to -make a closer inspection of his surroundings. He climbed the tree to -the crotch and looked about him. There was nothing there, but from that -height he could trace the little trail through the bushes for perhaps -fifty or a hundred yards. He satisfied himself in that way that it was -really a trail, made by the passage of some living thing, man or beast, -through the dense undergrowth. - -“I’ll follow that trail after a while,” he resolved, “but I’ll say -nothing about it now. I might be laughed at for my pains. Not that I -mind that, of course. We fellows are well used to being laughed at -among ourselves. But when I say anything about this, I want to have -something to tell that is worth telling. After all, it may be only the -path of a deer or of one of the queer little wild horses—tackeys, they -call them—that live in the swamps. Or a wild hog may have made it. I -don’t know, and I’m not going to talk about the thing till I can talk -to some purpose.” - -As he wriggled around in the crotch, he dropped his knife from his -pocket. - -“That’s a reminder,” he reflected, “that people sometimes drop things -when they don’t intend to. If anybody else has been roosting up here -he may have dropped things, too. I’ll recover my knife and then I’ll -search around the tree.” - -He was on the ground now, and having replaced his knife he began a -minute search of the space for ten or twenty feet around the tree. It -was thickly carpeted with the densely-growing vegetation that is always -quick to take possession of every unoccupied inch of ground in the far -southern swamps and woodlands. Searching such a space for small objects -was almost a hopeless task, and finding nothing, Tom was on the point -of giving up the attempt, when he trod upon something. Examining it, -he found it to be an old corncob pipe with a short cane stem. It was -blackened by long smoking, and that side of it which had lain next to -the ground had begun to decay. But there was half-burned tobacco in it -still. - -From all these facts Tom thought it likely that the pipe, while still -alight, had been dropped from the tree, and that its owner had failed -to find it upon his descent. - -“That means that somebody was using this tree for a lookout a good -while ago. I can’t imagine why or wherefore, but I mean to find out if -I can. Just now I hear Larry’s whistle calling me to dinner. I wonder -how he manages to make that shrill shrieking noise by putting two -fingers into his mouth and blowing between them. I must get him to -teach me the trick.” - -It was decided at dinner that the deer hunt should occur as soon as -that meal was finished. - -“The deer will be lying down, chewing the cud, at this time of day,” -explained Larry to his two guests, who had never shared a deer hunt, -“and so we shan’t disturb him in placing ourselves. What’s the nature -of the ground, Cal? Can three of us cover it while the fourth drives?” - -“We must,” Cal answered. “It may give some one of us a very long shot, -but with nitro-powder cartridges these modern guns of ours will pitch -buckshot a long way. The marsh in which the deer is feeding is on a -sort of peninsula which is surrounded by water except on one side. That -land side is a rather narrow neck, narrow enough for three guns to -cover it, I think, if the guns are well handled. Fortunately the marsh -itself is small. If it weren’t we might drive all day, as we have no -dogs, without routing the deer out. As it is, I think I can start him, -and I’ll do the driving after I post you three at the three best points -of observation.” - -“How do you ‘drive,’ as you call it, Cal?” Dick asked. - -“Well, if we had dogs and horses, as we always do in a regular deer -hunt, the man appointed to drive would ride around to the farther side -of the swamp, and put the dogs into it. The dogs would scatter out -into an irregular line and zigzag to one side and the other in search -of the quarry. In that way they would advance till they found the deer -and set him running toward the line of men on the posts. Every one of -these would be intently looking and listening till the deer should come -running at top speed in an effort to dash past his enemies and escape. -The man on the post nearest where he breaks through is expected to -bring him down with a quick shot aimed at his side, just behind the -shoulder.” - -“But what if he misses?” - -“In that case the deer has won the game. As we have no dogs and there -are only four of us, I mean to post you three at the points I find best -suited, and then I’ll play hounds myself. I’ll go round to the farther -side of the little swamp, invade it as noisily as I can, whooping and -hallooing in the hope of getting the deer up. If I do, he’ll make a -dash to get out of the swamp, and if no one of you manages to shoot -him in the act, we’ll have none of that juicy venison that you, Tom, -thought you had almost in your mouth when I first told you that the -deer was here. Now let us be off. We’re burning daylight. Load with -buckshot cartridges.” - -When the neck of the little peninsula was reached, Cal bade his -comrades wait at the point from which their camp could be seen, while -he should go over the ground and pick out the places to be occupied as -posts. - -On his return he placed the others each at the point he had chosen for -him, taking care that Tom and Dick should have the places near which -the quarry was most likely to make his effort to break through. - -“Now, you must keep perfectly still,” he admonished the two -inexperienced ones, “and keep both eyes and three ears, if you have so -many, wide open. You may see the deer without hearing him, or you may -hear him tearing through the bushes before you see him. That will give -you notice of his coming, but don’t let him fool you. He may not come -straight on from the spot at which you hear him. If he catches sight, -sound or smell of you, he’ll veer off in some other direction. So if -you hear him coming don’t move a muscle except those of your eyes. - -“Now I’m off to drive. If I can, I’ll get him up and away. After that -everything will depend upon you.” - -It was nearly half an hour before the boys heard Cal’s shoutings in the -distance, but slowly coming nearer. After that, in the eager watching -and waiting, the seconds seemed minutes, and the minutes dragged -themselves out into what seemed hours. - -At last, however, Dick heard the deer breaking through bushes just -ahead of him. In another second the frightened creature burst into view -and Dick fired, missing the game, which instantly changed its course -and ran away toward its left, with the speed of the wind. Dick, in his -excited disappointment, fired his second barrel at a hopelessly long -range. - -Almost immediately he heard a shot from Tom’s gun, and after that -all was still. Cal struggled out of the swamp, while Larry and Dick -made their way toward Tom’s post, “to hear,” Cal said, “just what -excuses the novices have invented on the spur of the moment by way of -accounting for their bad marksmanship.” - -“I have none to offer,” said Dick, manfully. “I missed my shot, that’s -all.” - -“How is it with you, Tom? What plea have you to offer?” - -“None whatever,” answered Tom. “Yonder lies the deer by the side of the -fallen tree. He was taking a flying leap over it when I shot him—on -the wing, as it were.” - -The congratulations that followed this complete surprise may be -imagined. Cal fairly “wreaked himself upon expression” in sounding his -praises of Tom’s superb marksmanship, and better still, his coolness -and calmness under circumstances, as Cal phrased it, “that might have -disturbed the equipoise of an Egyptian mummy’s nerve centres.” - -Tom took all this congratulation and extravagance of praise modestly -and with as little show of emotion as he had manifested while making -his difficult shot. - -Perhaps this was even more to his credit than the other. For this was -the first time Tom Garnett had ever seen a deer hunt, or a live deer, -either, for that matter. - - - - -X - -TOM’S DISCOVERIES - - -AS no attack had been made upon the camp the boys gradually relaxed -the vigilance of their guard duty; but they still maintained a sentry -at the lookout tree at night and made occasional visits of observation -during the day, going to the tree sufficiently often to avoid being -taken by surprise. - -“And what if they should attack us in daytime?” argued Dick. “We’d be -here, armed and ready for them.” - -There was fishing to be done, and a game of chess or backgammon was -usually in progress. Moreover, like any other company of bright youths -accustomed to think, they had enough to talk about, many things to -explain to each other, many stories to tell, and many questions -to discuss. Thus the daytime sentry duty was reduced to nearly no -activity, except upon Tom’s part. He was apparently fond of going to -the lookout and remaining there sometimes for hours at a time. - -The others did not know why he should care for that as for an -amusement. Tom did, but he said nothing. Tom was finding out something -that the others knew nothing about. - -On the next morning but one after the deer hunt he had climbed to -the crotch of the tree to make a further study of the trail he had -discovered. After a little while he decided to climb farther up the -tree, in order to secure a better view. - -From that loftier perch he saw something at a distance that deeply -interested him. It was a sort of hovel, so buried in undergrowth that -it would have been scarcely visible at all except to one looking from a -high place as he was. - -But what interested him most was that presently he saw the lame -intruder of two nights before come out of the hovel and limp down -toward the shore, where, as Tom easily made out, there was a small, -crooked little cove running into the woods, not from the creek, but -from the broader water outside. - -Tom lost sight of the man when he reached the cove, and so did not make -out what he was doing there, but after a time he saw him limp away -again and go back to the neighborhood of the hovel, which, however, he -did not enter or approach very nearly. - -He loitered around for awhile, like one who must remain where he is, -but who has nothing to do there during an indefinitely long and tedious -waiting time. At last he stretched himself out on a log in the shadow -of the trees, as if to pass away the time in sleep. - -Tom’s curiosity was by this time master of him. Having seen so much, -he was eager to see more. Accordingly he clambered down the tree, and, -with gun in hand, set out to follow the blind trail. - -He moved silently from the first, and very cautiously toward the end of -his half-mile journey. He was careful not to tread upon any of the dry -sticks that might make a noise in breaking, and to permit no bush to -swish as he let it go. - -At last he reached the neighborhood of the hovel, and, securing a -good hiding place in the dense undergrowth, minutely studied his -surroundings. The lame man lay still on his log and apparently asleep, -until after awhile the sun’s changing position brought his face into -the strong glare. Then he rose lazily, rubbing his eyes as if the sleep -were not yet out of them. Rising at last, with muttered maledictions -upon the heat, he limped over to a clump of palmetes and from among -them lifted a stone jug, from which he took a prolonged draught. - -“That’s the stuff to brace a man up!” he muttered as he replaced the -jug in its hiding place. - -Tom observed that there were nowhere any traces of a camp fire, present -or past, a fact that puzzled him at first, for obviously the man lived -there in the thicket, or at least remained there for prolonged periods -at a time, and, as Tom reflected, “he must eat.” - -The man himself solved the riddle for him presently by going to another -of his hiding places and bringing thence a great handful of coarse ship -biscuit and a huge piece of cold pickled beef of the kind that sailors -call “salt-horse,” which he proceeded to devour. - -“Obviously,” reflected Tom, “his food, such as it is, is brought to -him here already cooked. He makes no fire, probably because he fears -its light by night or the smoke of it by day might reveal his presence -here. But why does he stay here? What is he here for? Who are they -who bring him food, and when or how often do they come, and for what -purpose? It’s a Chinese puzzle, but I mean to work it out.” - -Having made his observation of the place as minute as he could Tom -silently crept away, not walking in the trail, but through the bushes -near enough to let him see it and follow its winding course. He did -this lest by walking too often in the trail he should leave signs of -its recent use. - -When he reached the lookout tree, to his surprise he found his three -comrades there. - -“Hello! What are you fellows doing here?” he asked, breaking out of -the bushes and thus giving the first sign his comrades had had of his -approach, for even to the end of his little journey he had been at -pains to travel in absolute silence as an Indian on the war path does. - -“Why, Tom, where have you been?” was the first greeting the others gave -him. - -“We’ve been dreadfully uneasy about you,” Larry explained, “and when I -whistled through my fingers to call you to dinner and you didn’t come, -we hurried out here to look for you. Where _have_ you been and what -have you been doing?” - -“I say, Larry, that reminds me that I want you to teach me the trick of -whistling through my fingers in that way. Will you?” - -“I’ll teach you some things that are easier to learn than that,” -answered his companion, “if you try any more of Cal’s tricks of beating -round the bush. Why don’t you tell us where you’ve been and why, and -all the rest of it? Don’t you understand that we’ve been on tenterhooks -of anxiety about you for an hour?” - -“Well, as I’m here, safe and sound, there is no further need of -anxiety, and as for your curiosity to hear what I have to tell, I’ll -relieve that while we’re at dinner. Come on! I’m hungry and I reckon -the rest of you are, too. Anyhow, what I’ve got to tell you is well -worth hearing, and I shall not tell you a word till we sit down on our -haunches and begin to enjoy again the flavor of that venison, broiled -on the live coals. You haven’t cooked it yet, have you?” - -“No. We got the chops ready for the fire, and then I whistled for you, -so that we might all have them fresh from the coals. As you didn’t -come, we got uneasy and went to look for you. So come on and we’ll have -a late dinner and sharp appetites.” - -No sooner were the juicy venison chops taken from the fire and served -upon a piece of bark that did duty as a platter than the demand for the -story of Tom’s morning adventure became clamorous. - -With a chop in one hand and half an ash cake in the other, Tom told all -that he had done and seen, giving the details as the reader already -knows them. Then, after finishing the meal and washing his hands, face -and head in the salt water of the creek, he set forth the conclusions -and conjectures he had formed. - -“In the first place,” he said, “I am certain that our late visitor—he -with the game leg—is the only person anywhere around. We are in no -danger of an attack, either by night or by day, until his comrades, -whoever they may be, come here and join him. We have no need of doing -sentry duty out there at the gum tree, except to keep a sufficient -lookout to make sure that we know when they do come. In my opinion that -will be at night sometime.” - -“Why do you think so, Tom?” - -“Simply because it is evident that they don’t come here for any good -or lawful purpose. If that lame fellow with the whisky jug is a fair -sample of the crew, they are the sort that prefer darkness to light -because their deeds are evil.” - -“Who do you think they are, Tom?” asked Cal, “and what, in your -opinion, are they up to?” - -“I don’t know, but I mean to find out.” - -“How, Tom?” - -“By watching, and, if I don’t find out sooner, by being within sight -when they do come. I’m going to reconnoiter the place again to-night to -see what that fellow does down there. Perhaps I may make out something -from that. At any rate, it’s worth trying.” - -“Why shouldn’t we all go with you?” Dick asked eagerly. “Then if by any -accident that evil-visaged person with the lame leg should discover -you, we’ll be there in force enough to handle him and the situation. -I’ve heard that one of your southern generals during the Civil War once -said that strategy is ‘getting there first with the most men.’ Why -shouldn’t we practice strategy?” - -“Why, of course, I counted on that,” Tom answered. “I knew all you -fellows would want to go, and I reckon that’s our best plan. Anyhow, -we’ll try it.” - -“Now,” said Cal, “I have something to report which I regard as of -some little importance, particularly as it means that the _Hunkydory_ -will have to leave this port pretty soon—probably within the next -forty-eight hours, and possibly sooner.” - -“Why, what’s the matter, Cal?” asked all the others together. - -“Only that our spring is rapidly drying up, and as there is no other -fresh water supply within reach, we shall simply be obliged to quit -these parts as soon as we can get ourselves in shape to risk it.” - -“To risk what?” - -“Why, putting off in a boat on salt water. We can’t do that without -some fresh water on board. I’ve already begun the filling of the kegs -by thimblefuls. It promises to be a slow process, as the spring seems -unable to yield more than a gill or so at a time.” - -“But, Cal,” interrupted Tom, “we can get all the water we want by -digging a little anywhere around here. It doesn’t lie three feet below -the surface.” - -“Neither does the fever,” answered Cal. - -“How do you mean?” - -“Why, I mean that the milky-looking water you find by digging a few -feet into the soil of these low-lying lands is poisonous. It is surface -water, an exudation from the mass of decaying vegetable matter that -constitutes the soil of the swamps. To drink it is to issue a pressing -invitation to fever, dysentery and other dangerous and deadly diseases, -to take up their permanent residence in our intestinal tracts.” - -“But why isn’t the water of our spring just as bad?” - -“Because it isn’t surface water at all, but spring water that comes -from a source very different from that of the swamp soil. You have -perhaps observed that the bottom of our spring is composed of clean, -white sand, through which the water rises. That sand was brought up by -that water from strata that lie far below the soil.” - -“What makes it brackish, then?” - -“It is brackish because a certain measure of sea water from the creek -there sipes into it. The sea water is filtered through the sand, -losing most of its salt in the process. You’ve noticed, perhaps, that -the spring water is more brackish at high than at low tide. That’s -because—” - -“Oh, I see all that now. I hadn’t thought of it before. But really, -Cal, it seems rather hard that we must sail away from here just when -we’ve run up against something mysterious and interesting. Now, doesn’t -it?” - -“Let me remind you,” answered Cal in his most elaborate manner of -mock-serious speaking, “that I am in nowise called upon to assume -responsibility for the vagaries of a casually encountered spring. I -did not bring up that spring. I had no part in its early education or -training. Presumably it is even my superior in age and experience. In -any case, I feel myself powerless to control or even to influence its -behavior. Moreover, I feel as keen a disappointment as you can in the -fact that we shall have to abandon our search for knowledge of the -purposes of our neighbor with the game leg. But it is not certain that -we shall have to sail away with that inquiry unfinished. It will take -a considerable time to fill our water kegs, and in the meanwhile we may -penetrate the mystery sooner than we expect. Anyhow, we’ll see what we -shall see to-night.” - - - - -XI - -PERILOUS SPYING - - -AT Dick’s suggestion the boys cut a number of larger logs than usual -and placed them on their camp fire that evening before setting out on -their expedition. - -“It will avert suspicion of what we are at,” Dick said in explanation -of his proposal. “So long as the camp fire burns up brightly nobody -seeing it from a distance will doubt that we are here. It isn’t much -trouble, anyhow.” - -The night proved to be an unusually dark one, with an overcast sky, -threatening rain, and on the chance of that Cal rigged up the largest -tarpaulin the company owned and so arranged it as to conduct all -the water that might fall upon it into the bait pail and such other -receptacles as would hold it. “If it rains hard,” he explained, “we’ll -catch enough water before morning to fill both the kegs.” - -Going to the big gum tree, Tom climbed to the top of it to see if -he could discover anything the little company might want to know. -After a careful scrutiny of the landscape to the west he came down -again, reporting that everything was quiet “in the region of our late -visitor’s country seat.” - -Then the party set out on their exploring expedition. Tom, acting as -guide, followed the little blind trail, while the rest made their way -through the undergrowth on either side, keeping near enough to the -trail to hear even a whispered warning or direction if Tom should have -need to give any such. - -Slowly, carefully, and in profound silence, they made their way to the -point from which Tom had watched the place during the day. Then, as had -been arranged in advance, the four stretched out their little line, so -as to see the place from different points of view. - -At first there was not much to see, and on so dark a night even that -little could be seen only indistinctly and with difficulty. The “man -with the game leg,” as the boys called him, was moving about the place -in a leisurely fashion, but what he was doing none of the investigating -party could make out in the darkness, though they had crept very close -to the camp and were watching intently. - -At last their watching and waiting were rewarded by a happening which -interested them, though they did not understand it. The man with the -game leg went into the hovel Tom had seen, and after remaining there -for a considerable time, came out again. As he did so the boys were -easily able to make out that he carried a dark lantern in his hand. It -was carefully closed, but there were little leaks of light from its -fastenings, as there always are from such contrivances when they are of -the common, cheap variety as this one obviously was. - -Carrying it in his hand and still closed, the man limped off down the -trail that led toward the cove. - -No sooner had he got well clear of the camp than the four watchers -began scrambling up the trees nearest to them for the sake of a better -view. There was nobody to hear them, but under the impulse of that -caution which their presence in such a place required of them, they -were careful to climb as silently as possible. - -Very dimly, but with certainty, they could see the glow of the closed -dark lantern and in that way trace the man carrying it throughout his -brief journey. - -When at last he reached the mouth of the cove where the view opened out -toward the broad inlet, he opened his lamp for a brief second, holding -it so that its gleam should show down the inlet to his right. A moment -later he flashed it again, this time straight across the broad inlet. -Presently he opened it for the third time, sending the flash up the -inlet. - -The whole proceeding did not occupy half a minute, and after that all -remained in darkness except that the boys could still locate the dark -lantern by the dim halo of light that surrounded it. - -For half an hour or more there were no further developments. The man -with the game leg seemed to be sitting still, waiting for time to pass -or for something to happen. At last he opened the lamp again, sending -its flash down the inlet as before. Then he showed his gleam straight -out upon the water. - -This time the boys in the tree tops saw a brief answering gleam from -the open water half a mile or more from shore. - -It was safe for the boys to speak now, and Tom thought it best for all -of them to come down out of the trees before the man with the game -leg, who had started slowly back toward the camp, should reach their -neighborhood. - -“Come down off your roosts, fellows,” he directed, “and secrete -yourselves well in the bushes. The ‘others’ are coming to-night, sure -enough. Be careful to hide yourselves so that a flash from that dark -lantern won’t search you out. By the way, after they come and we see -all we can, we must get out of here. I can’t speak then, but notice -when you see me moving away, and follow my example. Now, no more -talking, even in a whisper.” - -The man with the game leg did not return immediately, as Tom had -expected. Instead, he made his way up the bank of the cove and around -its bend, to a point only two or three hundred yards away. Obviously -that was to be the landing place, hidden as it was by the bend and the -dense forest growth from all possible observation on the part of boats -in the sound outside. The man with the game leg had gone to the mouth -of the cove only to send his signals to his companions outside. Now -that they had been seen and answered, he had gone to the landing-place, -there to await their coming. - -Fortunately for the purposes of the boys, the landing was in full view -from their hiding place, and after the man with the game leg had gone -thither they had only that one point to watch while they waited. - -The wait was a long one, and perhaps it seemed longer because a -drizzling rain had set in, soaking them to the skin. After a long time, -however, the man with the game leg turned his dark lantern and flashed -it once down the cove. - -By its light the watchers made out three large boats slowly moving up -the cove, apparently with carefully muffled oars, as their strokes -could not be heard even at the short distance that now separated them -from their destination. As they approached the landing with obvious -care, there were frequent flashes from the dark lanterns that all of -them seemed to be carrying, and by these flashes Tom and his companions -saw that the boats were piled high with freight of some kind, so -bestowed as to occupy every inch of space except what was necessary for -the use of the men at the oars. Of these there were only two in each -boat, each plying a single oar, while a third, perched upon a freight -pile at the stern, was steering. Thus there were nine men in the three -boats, who, with the man on shore, constituted a rather formidable -company for four boys to face if they should decide to attack the -_Hunkydory’s_ camp, as the man with the game leg had threatened. - -Whence the boats had come, Tom could not in any wise guess, and of -course he could not discuss the matter with his comrades while hiding -there in the bushes under a life-and-death necessity of keeping -perfectly silent. Two things he was sure of: the boats could not have -come very far, with only two oarsmen to each of them, and they could -not have traversed any but smooth waters, with their freight piled high -above their gunwales, as it was. - -As soon as the boats were landed, the men began unloading them and -carrying their freight to the camp, which was evidently to be its -hiding place for a time at least. In the main it seemed to consist of -light boxes or packages, many of them bound together into single large -bundles which one man could carry. There were also some kegs, which -seemed pretty heavy, as the men carried them on their shoulders. But -it was difficult to make out anything more definite than this, as the -darkness was dispelled infrequently by flashes from a dark lantern, and -then only for a fraction of a second at a time. - -When the greater part of the freight had been brought to the camp the -man who seemed to be in authority over the rest set some of them to -work bestowing it in the hovels, of which there appeared to be several, -each securely hidden in the thick undergrowth so that a person casually -passing that way would never have suspected their existence. Even -while this work was in progress the man in charge permitted as little -show of light as possible. When all was done a hamper of provisions was -brought from one of the boats, together with a demijohn, and the whole -crew assembled around the midnight spread, eating and drinking in the -dark, except when now and then it became necessary to permit a little -show of light for a moment. - -At first they feasted in silence, too, but after awhile the liquor they -were drinking seemed to go to their heads and they quarreled among -themselves a good deal. Some of them wandered about now and then as if -searching the bushes jealously. - -It was clearly time for the boys to leave the place and they watched -and listened for Tom’s beginning of the retreat. At last they heard -him moving and, assuming that he had begun the withdrawal, they all -cautiously crept away to the rear. As each was following a separate -trail there was no word spoken among them until Larry, Dick and Cal -came out of the bushes and joined each other at the gum tree. - -“But where is Tom?” one of them asked. - -Nobody knew. Nobody had seen or known anything about him since his -first stirring of the bushes had set the retreat in motion. They had -all heard a commotion in what they called “the scoundrels’ camp,” with -sounds as of angry quarreling and fighting; but they had heard nothing -of Tom. - -The boys were in consternation. - -“Do you suppose those scoundrels can have caught him?” asked Dick, with -horror in his tones. - -“I don’t know,” Larry answered through his set teeth. “But there’s only -one thing to do.” - -“Only one thing,” answered Dick. “We must go to his assistance, and if -they have him prisoner we must rescue him or all die trying. I for one -will never come back alive unless we bring him with us.” - -“That’s of course,” said Cal, who for once spoke crisply, wasting no -words. “Wait a second, Larry! How many cartridges have you—each of -you?” - -When they answered, Cal said: - -“Here, take six more apiece. You may need ’em.” - -As he spoke he took the extra cartridges from his pockets and hurriedly -distributed them. It was Cal’s rule in hunting never to be without -abundant ammunition. - -“Now then, Larry,” he said, when the others had pocketed the -cartridges, “give your orders; you’re the captain.” - -“All right! Come on at a run, but don’t trip and fall. There’s no time -to lose.” - -Down the trail they went, not at a run, for running was impossible in -such a tangle of vines and bushes, but at as fast a trot as they could -manage. Suddenly there was a collision. Larry had met Tom “head on,” -as he afterwards said. Tom was making his way as fast as he could to -the gum tree, knowing that his friends would be in terror when they -missed him, while they were hurrying to his rescue. In the darkness and -the heavy downpour of rain he and Larry had failed to see or hear each -other till they came into actual collision. - -“Where on earth have you been, Tom?” - -“Why did you fellows retreat before the time?” - -These were questions instantly exchanged. - -“Why, you gave the signal, Tom. You began moving off and we followed as -agreed.” - -“I understand now,” Tom answered, resuming the journey, “but it was -a mistake of signal. Come on out of here. Let’s go to camp and talk -it all over there. I’ve found out all about this thing and it’s -interesting.” - -“What does it mean? Tell us!” - -“Not here in the downpour. We’ll go to camp first and get under the -shelter and put on some dry clothes. My teeth are chattering and I -don’t care to imitate them. Come on!” - - - - -XII - -TOM’S DARING VENTURE - - -TOM’S teeth were indeed chattering when the company reached their camp. -He was chilled “clear through,” he said, and his companions were very -uneasy. They feared, and not without reason, that he had contracted -a swamp fever, which always begins with a chill. To avoid that, the -Rutledge boys, who knew the coast and its dangers, had carefully kept -on or very near the salt water, and had chosen for their camp a spot -where there were no live oaks, no gray moss and no black sand. Still -Tom might have caught a fever. - -Cal piled wood on the fire with a lavish hand, so that an abundance of -heat might be reflected into their dry bush shelter, the open side of -which faced the fire, and Dick busied himself searching out dry clothes -from the lockers, while Larry helped Tom to strip himself as speedily -as possible. - -“Now run and jump into the creek,” he directed, as soon as the last of -Tom’s clothes were off. “The salt water is luke-warm or even warmer -than that. I’ll wring out your clothes while your bath is warming you, -and when you come out we’ll give you a rub down that would stimulate -circulation in a bronze statue. Hurry into the water, and don’t hurry -out too soon.” - -By the time Tom had been rubbed down and had got into dry clothes, he -declared himself to be “as warm as a toast, as hungry as a schoolgirl, -and ready to stand a rigid examination as to the character and purposes -of our scoundrel friends down there.” - -“Good!” exclaimed Larry. “That’s proof positive that you haven’t caught -the fever. I was afraid you might.” - -“Fever? Why, I was as cold as the Arctic circle—but then perhaps you -keep your fevers on ice down here and serve ’em cold. You have so many -queer ways that nothing surprises me.” - -Larry explained, and Tom laughed at him for his pains, for of course -Tom knew what he had meant. - -It was well past midnight, and the others shared Tom’s hunger in full -measure, so they were not greatly disappointed when, in response to -their eager demands for the story he had to tell, he answered: - -“I’ll tell you all about it when we get something to eat. Till then my -loquacity will closely resemble that of a clam.” - -One of the party had killed some fat black squirrels during the -preceding day, and as these were already “dressed for the banquet,” -in Dick’s phrase, they were spread upon a mass of coals, and within a -brief while the meal—supper or breakfast, or post-midnight luncheon, -or whatever else it might be called—was ready to receive their -attention. - -“Now, Tom, tell us!” demanded Larry, when their hunger was partially -appeased. - -“Wait a minute,” interposed Dick. “Isn’t this rather risky?” - -“What?” - -“Why, sitting here on our haunches, rejoicing in the genial warmth -of the fire—over-genial, I should call it, as it’s blistering my -knees—and having no sentry out to see that the scoundrels don’t pounce -down on us by surprise.” - -“There’s no more risk in it,” answered Tom, confidently, “than in -wearing socks, or playing dominoes, or trying to trace out the features -of the man in the moon.” - -“But why not, Tom?” - -“Because the scoundrels down there are all dead—dead drunk, I -mean—and they have all they can do just now in sleeping it off.” - -“Are you sure of that?” - -“Yes, entirely sure. You saw how they were drinking—half a pint of -rum at a dose, repeated every five minutes. Well, they kept that up -as long as they could find the way to their mouths. They had emptied -the demijohn before you fellows left, and not being satisfied, they -got out a keg of the fiery stuff, had a rough and tumble fight over -some question relating to it, beat each others’ faces into something -very much like Hamburger steaks, and then decided to let the keg -arbitrate the dispute. Four or five of them had been arbitrated into -a comatose state before I left, another was trying to sing something -about ‘Melinda,’ setting forth that he had ‘seen her at the windah,’ -and was prepared to give his hat and boots if he could ‘only have been -dah.’ The rest were drunkenly silent as they sat there by an open dark -lantern which they had forgotten to close, I suppose, and drinking rum -from tin cups whenever they could remember to do so. They will give -nobody any trouble to-night.” - -“But, Tom,” interposed Dick, “how do you know it was rum they were -drinking?” - -“Now, see here,” said Tom, “I’d like to know who’s telling this story. -If I’m the one the rest of you had better let me tell it in my own way. -I was going to begin at the beginning and tell it straight through, but -your intrusive questions have switched me off the track. Now listen, -and I’ll tell you all I know and how I know it, and what I think of it, -and what I think you think of it, and all the rest of it.” - -“Go ahead, Tom!” said Cal; “I’ll keep the peace for you; you’ll bear me -witness that I haven’t spoken a word since you began. Go on!” - -“All right,” said Tom. “I thought you were about to give us a -disquisition when you began to say that, but you didn’t, so I’ll -forgive you. Well, you see when you fellows heard me moving out -there in the thicket and thought I was instituting a retreat, I was -only changing my base, as the military men say. I had seen something -that aroused my curiosity, and my curiosity is like a baby after -midnight—if you once rouse it, you simply can’t coax it to go to sleep -again.” - -“What was it you had seen, Tom?” Larry began. - -“Silence!” commanded Cal. “Tom has the floor.” - -“Oh, I beg pardon—” Larry began apologetically. - -“No, don’t do even that. Go on, Tom.” - -“I will as soon as you two twin brothers cease your quarreling. As -I was saying, I had seen something that aroused my curiosity. As I -was peering through the bushes, looking toward the main body of the -roisterers, I saw the limping one slip away from the general company -and sneak off. He went very cautiously through the undergrowth to the -hovel nearest me and entered it, closing the door after him. I could -see a little pencil of light streaming out through a crack, so I knew -he had opened his lamp in there. After a little fumbling he came out -again, but he was so drunk he forgot to take his lamp with him, as I -discovered by the continued streaming out of that little pencil of -light. - -“That was what aroused my curiosity. I wanted to know what was in that -hovel, and as the lame gentleman with the ‘load’ on had obligingly -left his lamp there for my accommodation, I resolved to embrace the -opportunity offered. I moved cautiously upon the enemy’s works. That -is to say, I crept forward toward the hovel. That’s what you fellows -mistook for the signal to retreat. - -“Now I am convinced that our temporary neighbors, the scoundrels, -are disposed to be in all ways obliging. At any rate they had -considerately placed the door of the hovel so that it fronted my side -of the structure and not theirs. Thus, when I opened the door the light -from the burning lamp did not shine toward them and thus give the alarm. - -“I entered the place and rather minutely examined its contents.” - -“What was in there?” asked Cal, forgetting in his eagerness that he had -himself undertaken to prevent the interruption of Tom’s narrative by -questions from any source. - -“I’ll tell you about that when I come to it. Story first, Cal. - -“I had just finished my inspection when I heard footsteps of rather -uncertain purpose passing round the hovel toward the door, which of -course I had closed behind me. As there is only one door to that -hovel and it has no windows by which ‘lovers might enter or burglars -elope’—that’s wrong end first but it’s no matter—I realized that -there was no time to lose. I hurriedly settled down behind a pile of -cigar boxes—” - -“Their plunder is cigars, then?” asked Dick, forgetting. - -“I did not say so,” Tom answered teasingly. “I made no mention of -cigars, so far as I can remember. I spoke only of cigar boxes. They -might be filled with anything, you know. At any rate your interruption -has spoiled the most thrilling part of my narrative, which must now be -continued prosaically and without the dramatic fire and fervor I had -planned to put into it. - -“My concealment was hasty and at best very imperfect. In my haste -I forgot to conceal my gun, which stuck up a foot or two above the -barrier of boxes that imperfectly hid my person. Fortunately, however, -the lame gentleman was too blind drunk even to see double and, as he -made no mention of the matter, I refrained from alluding to it. - -“Apparently he had entered the hovel with a single purpose, namely, to -close his lantern and take it away. With what I cannot help regarding -as praiseworthy persistence, he carried out that purpose, giving heed -to nothing else. He omitted even to close the door after him, and as -the place was without heating apparatus of any kind—except rum for -internal combustion—I took my leave as soon as I felt confident that -the lame gentleman had either rejoined his comrades or had fallen -into dreamless slumber on his way to do so. My next adventure was the -head-on collision with Larry in the trail.” - -[Illustration: “IN MY HASTE I FORGOT TO CONCEAL MY GUN.” -_Page 126._] - -Tom paused, took another bite at the squirrel’s leg he had been eating -between sentences, and it seemed necessary to set him going again by -means of questions. - -“Why don’t you go on, Tom? You haven’t told us yet what you found in -the hut.” - -“I’m thirsty,” answered the boy. “Speaking is dry work, as you know, if -you ever read Hawthorn’s ‘A Rill from the Town Pump!’ Have we enough -water in the spring, Cal, for me to waste it in slaking my thirst?” - -“We’ve caught all our things full, I reckon. I’ll see.” - -When Cal returned he brought with him a small supply of rain water. - -“What made you so long about it, Cal?” asked Larry. “We’re all waiting -for you.” - -“So I see,” answered Cal. “I make all required apologies for having -kept this distinguished company waiting while I attended to some -matters that are even more vitally interesting to all of us than is -Tom’s promised inventory of the things discovered by him in the tents -of the wicked, if I may so designate a slab hovel in a cane brake.” - -“What have you been doing, Cal? And why didn’t you call the rest of -us to help you?” asked Dick, whose New England conscience was apt to -scourge his spirit if he thought he had been doing less than his share -of whatever there was to do. - -“I’ll reply to your questions in inverse order,” Cal replied. “I did -not call for help because I did not need help. In what I had to do one -person was as good as a dozen. I may have been a trifle slow about -it, but that is chiefly because water won’t run through a hole faster -than nature intended it to do. As for your other question, I’ve been -engaged in a job of water-supply engineering. All the receptacles I -set to catch water were nearly full, and as it still rains—a fact -that you may have observed for yourselves—I thought it best to empty -their contents into the water kegs and set them to catch more. As -nobody thought to bring a funnel along, I have had to resort to simpler -methods, and I have found that it is by no means easy to pour water -from a four-gallon bait pail into a one-inch bung hole without spilling -it. For the rest, Captain Larry, I beg to report that one of our water -kegs is now full and the other perhaps one-third full. I hope to catch -enough more water before the rain ceases to finish filling that keg and -to serve all camp purposes during the few hours that we shall probably -remain here.” - -“Why, I should think we might stay as long as we like, now,” said Tom; -“this rain must have filled up our spring.” - -“It has, and it has spoiled it for use for many days to come.” - -“But how?” persisted Tom. - -“Let me remind you, Tom, that we are all eagerly waiting for you to -tell us some things that are distinctly more interesting to us than -the condition and prospects of a swamp spring can be when we’ve enough -water for our present and immediate future need. Go on with your story.” - -“Oh, the story is finished,” Tom replied, “but you want to hear about -the contents of the hovel. They consist in part of little kegs—three -or five gallon kegs, I should think—of Santa Cruz Rum. At least that’s -what I made out the letters branded on them to mean. These kegs are -lying on the ground in rows that impressed me as far more orderly than -the scoundrels themselves ever think of being. I should say there are -fifteen or twenty of the kegs in that hovel. - -“The rest of the stuff consists of cigars in boxes, and the boxes are -carefully tied together in parcels—thirty boxes to the parcel. That’s -the way we all saw them carry them up from their boats.” - -“Where on earth can they have got all that rum and all those cigars, -anyhow? And what do they bring them away down here in the woods for, I -wonder?” speculated Dick. “What’s your guess, Tom?” - -“Pirates,” answered Tom; “and those things are their plunder.” - -“Curious sort of pirates,” said Cal, scoffingly. “Unlike any pirates -I ever heard of. Why, Tom, did you ever hear of pirates contenting -themselves with taking the rum and cigars they found on the ships they -overhauled? You’ve got to guess two or three times more if you’re going -to guess right.” - -“Well, what do you think they are?” asked Tom, a trifle disappointed to -find his theory bowled over so easily. - -“Smugglers,” answered Cal. “And I don’t just think it either—I know.” - -“But, Cal,” interrupted Larry, “smugglers must bring their goods from -foreign ports, and we all know enough about boats to know that those -flat-bottomed tubs of theirs wouldn’t live five minutes in a little -blow on blue water.” - -“No, nor five seconds either, and those precious rascals know all that -quite as well as we do. For that reason, among others, they refrain -from risking their valuable lives by venturing upon blue water.” - -“Then how do they carry on their traffic?” - -“I have often remonstrated with you, Larry, for your neglect to read -the newspapers. But for that you might have been as well informed on -this and other subjects as I am. About a month ago I read in a New York -newspaper that fell in my way a somewhat detailed account of the way in -which certain kinds of smuggling is carried on along the Atlantic and -Gulf coasts wherever the conditions are favorable, and the conditions -are nowhere so favorable as right here on this South Carolina coast, -where deep, but often very narrow and crooked, inlets and creeks open -from the broader waters of the sounds directly into densely wooded -regions that are often wholly unpeopled for many miles in every -direction. - -“This is the way they do it: Schooners and other small sea-going craft -load at West Indian ports and take out clearance papers for New York or -Halifax or some other big port which can be best reached by skirting -this coast. Under pretense of stress of weather, or shortness of water -or provisions, they put into some harbor of refuge like that sound out -there. They make no effort to land anything, and if questioned by the -revenue officers they can show perfectly regular papers. Then when -opportunity offers, their shore gangs—like the one over there—slip -out in the darkness, take on full loads of freight, and land it in some -secluded spot like the one down there, and the schooner sails away to -her destination.” - -“But how do they get their goods from the woods to market?” Tom asked. - -“By wagons, I suppose, and a little at a time. That doesn’t concern us -very deeply. What does concern us, is that we’ve got to get away from -here as soon as this rain stops. The clouds seem to be breaking, by the -way, and the wind has shifted to the northwest,” said Cal, stepping -out of the shelter to observe the weather. “It will clear pretty early -in the morning, I think, and in the meantime I for one want to get a -little sleep.” - -“But what’s the hurry, Cal?” asked Tom. “Why can’t we stay here a day -or two longer? I’d like to see what the smugglers do when they come to.” - -“There are several reasons for getting away at once,” answered Cal. -“For one thing, we’re running short of some necessary supplies and must -go to Beaufort to replenish our stores. Then there’s the question of -water supply. After I finish filling the kegs we’ll have barely enough -left to get through the day on.” - -“But how has the rain put the spring out of commission, Cal?” asked -Tom. “You promised to explain that.” - -“By filling it full of surface water. It will be a week or more before -the water there is fit to drink, at least as a steady diet.” - -“There’s a much better reason than that,” said Larry. - -“What is it?” - -“Why, we must hurry to put ourselves in communication with the -authorities, so that they can come down on that place before the -scoundrels get away, or get their plunder away.” - -“Yes,” said Tom, who was reluctant to leave the place and give up the -adventure, “I suppose we ought to do that.” - -“Ought to? Why, we simply must. Every decent citizen owes it as a duty -to give notice of crime when he discovers it, and to aid the officers -of the law in stopping it. Civilized life would come to an end if -men generally refused to support the authorities in their efforts to -enforce the law. We’ve discovered a den of thieves, engaged in robbing -the Government—that is to say, robbing all of us. So we’ll get away -from here just as early in the morning as we can. Now let’s get some -sleep.” - -It was easy to say, “Let’s get some sleep,” but not easy to get it -in the excited condition of mind that had come upon every member of -the little party. But, by keeping silence and lying still, the weary -fellows did manage to sleep a little after awhile, and it was the sun -shining full in their faces that at last aroused them to a busy day. - - - - -XIII - -CAL’S EXPERIENCE AS THE PRODIGAL SON - - -BREAKFAST next morning was not a very satisfactory meal. There was -plenty of fish and game, of course, but there was little else. The -coffee supply had been used up, but the boys regarded that as a matter -of no consequence. - -“Coffee is a mere luxury anyhow,” Dick said, “and we can go without it -as well as not. It isn’t like being without bread or substitutes for -bread. If we had some sweet potatoes now, or some rice—” - -“The which we haven’t,” interrupted Cal. “No more can we get any here. -As for corn meal, we have enough for one more ash cake, but it is full -of weevil and, therefore, when we consume it we shall be eating the -bread of bitterness in an entirely literal sense. For quinine biscuit -would taste like cookies as compared with weevely corn bread. You were -wise in your generation, Dick, when you surreptitiously placed that -tin of ship biscuit on board, but your imagination lacked breadth and -comprehensiveness. It was not commensurate with our appetites, and so -the ship bread is all consumed and would have been if you’d brought -a barrel of it on board instead of that little tin box full. You -neglected that, however, and we must endure the consequences as best we -may.” - -“For the present, yes,” said Larry; “but not for long. We must make all -the haste we can till we get to Beaufort and stock up again.” - -“I know a trick worth two of that,” Cal said apart to Dick, but he did -not explain himself. Dick had found out, however, that Cal’s knowledge -of the region round about them and of the tortuous waterways that -interlaced the coast in every direction was singularly minute and -accurate. It was not until that morning, however, that Cal explained -to him how he had come to be so well versed in the geography and -hydrography of the region. It had been decided by Captain Larry that -before leaving their present camp that day the company should cook -enough food to last for a day or two, so that they might not have -to waste any time hunting or fishing while making as quick a trip -to Beaufort as they could. As there was very little game left after -breakfast, Cal and Dick set out with their guns to secure a supply -of squirrels and whatever else they could find, while Larry and Tom -should load the boat and catch some fish. - -During this little shooting expedition some small manifestation of -Cal’s minute information prompted a question from Dick. - -“How on earth, Cal, can you remember every little detail like that? And -how did you learn so much about things around here, anyhow?” - -“I got that part of my education,” Cal answered, “partly by being a -very good boy and partly by being a very bad one. I’m inclined to -think the bad-boy influence contributed even more than the good-boy -experience to my store of information. As for remembering things, -that is a habit of mind easily cultivated, though the great majority -of people neglect it. It consists mainly in careful observation. When -people tell you they don’t remember things they have seen, or remember -them only vaguely, it usually means that they did not observe the -things seen. For example, I remembered where that spring of ours was -when we were all parched with thirst, and I knew how to go to it in -the dark. That was simply because when I first saw that spring and -quenched a very lively thirst there, I decided to remember it and its -surroundings in case I should ever have occasion to find it again. -So I looked carefully at everything round about from every point of -view. I observed that the spring lay just beyond the first bend of the -creek and that there was a cluster of big cypress trees very near it. -I noticed that the mouth of the creek lay between a little stretch of -beach on one side and a dense cane thicket on the other. In short, I -carefully observed all the bearings, and having done that, of course I -could never forget how to find the spring.” - -“Do you always do that sort of thing when you think you may want to -find a place again?” - -“Yes, of course. Indeed, I do it anyhow, whether there is any occasion -or not. For example, when I was visiting you in Boston last year -I noticed that there was a little dent in the silver cap over the -speaking tube in the dining-room, as if somebody had hit it a little -blow. The dent was triangular, I remember.” - -“That’s because the thing I hit it with had a triangular face, for I -made that dent when I was a little fellow with a curious-looking tool -that a repairer of old furniture had in use there. It’s curious that -you should have noticed the dent, as it is very small and your back was -toward it as you sat at table.” - -“Yes, but not as I entered the room. It was then that I saw it.” - -“Then that sort of close observation is a habit of mind with you?” - -“Yes. I suppose it is partly natural and partly cultivated. I don’t -know.” - -The two had come by this time to that part of the woods that Tom had -named the “squirrel pasture,” and they were soon busy with their -guns. But as they walked back toward the camp, loaded with black and -gray squirrels, Dick came back to the subject, which seemed deeply to -interest him. - -“I wonder, Cal,” he said, “if you would mind telling me about those two -epochs in your young life—the good-boy and the bad-boy periods?” - -Cal laughed, half under his breath. - -“It isn’t much to tell,” he replied; “but if you’re interested I’ll -tell you about it. You see the old families down here are a good -deal mixed up in their relationships, just as the old families in -Massachusetts are, because of frequent intermarriages. The Rutledges -and the Calhouns, and the Hugers, and the Huguenins, and Barnwells, and -Haywards, and the rest, are all more or less related to each other. -Indeed, there is such a tangle of relationships that I long ago gave up -trying to work out the puzzle. It is enough for you to know that the -particular Mr. Hayward who owns all this wild land around here and -half a dozen plantations besides is my kinsman—my mother’s uncle, I -believe. Anyhow, from my earliest childhood there was never anything -that I liked so well as visiting at Uncle Hayward’s. Perfect candor -compels me to say that I was not particularly fond of Uncle Hayward or -of any member of the family, for that matter. Uncle Hayward used to -take me for long rides on a marsh tackey by way of entertaining me in -the way he thought I liked best, and I resented that whenever I wanted -to do something else instead. He is one of the best and kindliest men -alive and I am very fond of him now, but when I was a little fellow -I thought he interfered with my own plans too much, and so I made up -my mind that I didn’t like him. As for the ladies of the family, I -detested them because they were always combing my hair and ‘dressing me -up’ when I didn’t want to be dressed up. - -“Nevertheless, nothing delighted me like a prolonged visit at Uncle -Hayward’s. That was because I particularly appreciated an intimate -association with Sam. Sam was a black boy—or young man, rather—who -seemed to me to be the most delightfully accomplished person I had -ever known. He could roll his eyes up until only the white below the -iris was visible. He could stand on his head, walk on his hands, turn -handsprings, and disjoint himself in the most astonishing fashion -imaginable. He could move his scalp and wiggle his ears. His gifts and -accomplishments in such ways as these seemed to me without limit. - -“As Uncle Hayward could never keep Sam out of the woods, he made up his -mind to assign him to duty in the woods as a sort of ranger. There was -plenty for Sam to do there, for besides all these vast tracts of wild -land, Uncle Hayward had a deer park consisting of many thousand acres -of woodland under a single fence. To watch for fires, to keep poachers -out, to catch and tame half a dozen marsh tackeys every now and then, -and a score of similar duties were assigned to Sam. - -“When I was a little fellow my customary reward for being a -particularly ‘good boy’ for a season was permission to go into the -woods with Sam and live like a wild creature for weeks at a time. In -that way, and under Sam’s tuition, I learned much about these regions -and about the waterways, for Sam seemed always to know where a boat -of some kind lay hidden, and he and I became tireless navigators and -explorers. - -“That, in brief, is the history of the ‘good-boy’ epoch. The story of -the other is a trifle more dramatic, perhaps. It occurred three or -four years ago when Larry and I were planning to go to Virginia to -prepare for college. I was fourteen or fifteen years old then and I had -continued to spend a part of every year down here in the woods with -Sam for guide, servant, and hunting factotum. At the time I speak of I -had some rather ‘lame ducks’ in my studies. The fact is, I had idled a -good deal, while Larry had mastered all the tasks set him. Accordingly, -when my father and mother went North that year—they go every summer on -account of mother’s health—Larry went up country to visit some of our -relatives there, while I decided to stay at home and work with a tutor -whom my father had hired for me. - -“He and I lived alone in the house with only the servants, and I -found him to be in many ways disagreeable. He was an Englishman, -for one thing, and at that period of my life I had not yet got -over the detestation of Englishmen which the school histories and -revolutionary legends had instilled into my mind. He was brusque and -even unmannerly at times, judged by the standards of courtesy that we -Carolinians accept. More important than all else, he and I entertained -irreconcilable views as to our relations with each other. He thought he -was employed to be my master, while I held that he was hired only as my -tutor. This led to some friction, but we managed to get on together -for a time until I found that the difference of opinion between him -and me extended to other things than our personal relations. He seemed -to think himself not only my master but master of the house also in -my father’s absence. He did not know how to treat the servants. He -gave them orders in a harsh, peremptory way to which house servants in -Carolina are not accustomed. His manner with them was rather that of -an ox-driver toward his cattle than that of a gentleman dealing with -well-mannered and well-meaning servants. - -“This grated on me, and I suppose I have a pretty well-defined temper -when occasion arouses it. The Rutledges generally have. At any rate -I one day remonstrated with the tutor on the subject, intending the -remonstrance to be all there was of the incident, but he answered me -in that tone of a master which I more and more resented. High words -followed, from which he learned my opinion of his character and manners -much more definitely than I had cared to express it before. - -“At last he threatened me with a flogging, and picked up a cane with -which to administer it. I was mad all over and clear through by that -time. I had never had a flogging and I certainly would not submit to -one at his hands. But my anger had passed beyond expression in words -by that time. I did not feel the flush of it—I felt deathly pale -instead. I was no longer hot; on the contrary I was never cooler in -my life. I did not threaten my antagonist or give him warning as he -advanced toward me with the cane uplifted. I simply selected a certain -plank in the floor which I made up my mind should be his Rubicon. I -stood perfectly still, waiting for him to cross it. - -“Presently he stepped across the line I had fixed upon. The instant he -did so I sprang upon him, delivering my blows so fast and furiously -that in two or three seconds he went down in a heap. He claimed to be -an expert boxer, and I suppose he was, but my attack was so sudden and -so unexpected that his science seemed to have no chance. At any rate, -he was so nearly ‘knocked out’ that he had no disposition to renew the -contest. He went to his room, washed himself, packed his trunk, leaving -it to be called for later, and left the house. - -“Before leaving he wrote me a curt note, saying that he would -immediately get a warrant for my arrest on a charge of assault and -battery. - -“That rather staggered me. I wouldn’t have given one inch in fear of -that man. No power on earth could have made me run away from him or -apologize to him or in any other way flinch from anything he might -do to me. But I had a terrifying misconception of the law and its -processes. I was only a fifteen-year-old boy, you know, and I knew -nothing whatever of legal proceedings; or rather, I knew just enough -about them to mislead my mind. I knew that a warrant meant arrest, and -as I lay abed worrying that night I convinced myself that if I should -be arrested when my father was not in Charleston to furnish bail for -me, I must lie in a loathsome jail until his return, forbidden to -communicate with anybody and compelled to live on a diet of bread and -water. - -“I saw no way out except to keep out of reach of that warrant till my -father’s return, and the only secure way of doing that, I thought, -was to run away and live down here in the woods. So after lying awake -all night I got up at daybreak, got one of the servants to give -me breakfast and put up a luncheon for me. Then I took a little, -flat-bottomed skiff that I owned and made my way down here. I had -some money with me, but I did not dare go to any town, or village, or -country store, to buy anything lest the man with the warrant should -find out where I was. I learned where all the little negro settlements -were, however, and there I bought sweet potatoes and the like as I -needed them. I had my shotgun and fish lines with me, of course, and -so I had no difficulty in feeding myself. For amusement I wandered -about in every direction by land and water, and in that way greatly -improved my education in coast country geography. - -“After a while I found myself running short of ammunition, and I didn’t -know how to procure a fresh supply. I was afraid to go to Beaufort, or -up to Grahamville, or Coosawhatchie, or anywhere else where there were -stores, and besides that I was in no fit condition to go anywhere. I -had forgotten to bring any clothes with me and what I had on were worn -literally to rags. - -“Fortunately I had got acquainted with a negro boy who often brought me -vegetables and fruit and sold them to me for low prices. I suppose now -that he stole them, although that didn’t occur to me then. - -“One day I hit upon the plan of sending him to Beaufort for ammunition. -He expressed doubt that anybody there would sell it to him, and I -shared the doubt. But it was my only chance, so I gave him some money -and sent him. He was gone for two days, during which I fired my last -cartridge at a deer and missed him. I had begun to think the negro -boy had simply pocketed the money and disappeared, never to return -again, but I consoled myself with the thought that there were plenty of -fish and oysters to be had, and that I could buy sweet potatoes and -vegetables. - -“That night the negro boy returned, bringing me rather more ammunition -than I had sent for, and when I questioned him about the matter his -reply was that that was what the storekeeper had given him for the -money. Later, however, he confessed to me that finding nobody willing -to sell cartridges to him, he had simply stolen them and, being -prepared to bring me the goods I had sent for, he thought the money -he had saved in that way justly belonged to him. He had squandered it -for candy and in satisfaction of such other desires as possessed him. -Of course I paid the merchant afterwards, and equally of course it was -impossible to collect the amount from the boy. - -“All that is an episode. One day by some chance I encountered Sam in my -wanderings, and he told me people were looking for me—that my father -had heard of my disappearance and had hurried back to Charleston. - -“I went to Beaufort, bought some sort of clothes, and like the other -prodigal son, returned to my father. But he utterly failed to play his -part according to the story. Instead of falling on my neck, he laughed -at the clothes I wore. Instead of killing the fatted calf, he told me -to take a bath and put on something fit to wear. All that evening I -heard him chuckling under his breath as I related my experiences in -answer to his questions. Finally he said to me: - -“‘You’ll do, Cal. I’ll never feel uneasy about you again. You know how -to take care of yourself.’ - -“There, Dick, you’ve heard the whole story, both of my righteousness -and of my wickedness.” - -“And a mighty interesting story it has been to me,” Dick replied. -“Thank you for telling it.” - - - - -XIV - -CAL RELATES A FABLE - - -THE _Hunkydory_ was completely loaded when Cal and Dick returned, and -there was nothing further to do except cook the fish and game, so that -there might be no need to stop anywhere to get dinner. - -There was a fairly stiff breeze blowing when the anchors were weighed, -but sailing was impracticable until the boat should be well out of the -narrow creek, so all hands went to the oars. - -When the land was cleared, Larry ordered that the oars be stowed -in their fastenings and the sails raised. Without discussion or -arrangement of any kind, Cal went to the helm. It seemed the proper -thing to do in view of his superior knowledge of the surroundings, but -Cal was not thinking of that. He had a plan and purpose of his own to -carry out, though he said nothing about the matter. - -There was quite an hour of sailing necessary before the course could -be laid in the direction of the waterway that led toward Beaufort, and -when the time came for heading in that direction, Cal laid quite a -different course, heading for a shore that lay several miles away. - -Larry was dozing in the forepeak and did not at first observe on what -course his brother was sailing. When at last he did notice it, he -assumed that something in the direction of the wind made Cal’s course -desirable, but after a glance at the sails he changed his mind. - -“Why are you heading in that direction, Cal?” he asked, looking about -him. “Your course will take us several miles out of our way. Head her -toward the point of land over there where the palmettos are.” - -Cal made no change and he waited a full minute before he answered. When -he did so it was in his most languid drawl. - -“Larry,” he said, quite as if he had not heard a word that his brother -had uttered, “there was a schooner sailing down the Hudson River one -day. The captain of that craft was a Dutchman of phlegmatic temperament -and extreme obstinacy. The mate was a Yankee, noted for his alert -readiness of resource. The schooner was loaded with brick. The captain -was loaded with beer. The mate wasn’t loaded at all. It was the -captain’s business to steer and manage things in the after half of the -ship. It was the function of the mate to manage things forward. But -when the mate saw that the schooner’s course was carrying her straight -upon the rocks, he went aft and remonstrated with the captain. For -reply the captain said: - -“‘Mate, you go forward and run your end of the schooner and leave me to -run my end.’ - -“The mate went forward and ordered the anchor heaved overboard. Then -going aft again, he said: - -“‘Captain, I have anchored my end of the schooner; you can do what you -please with your end.’” - -Cal ceased, as if he had finished speaking. The others laughed at the -story, and Larry said: - -“What’s the moral of that yarn, Cal?” - -“_Haec fabula docet_,” replied Cal, “that _I’m_ sailing the _Hunkydory_ -just now; that I know where we are going and why.” - -“Would you mind telling us, then?” demanded Larry. - -“Not in the least. We are heading for the shore, on our lee; as for -why, there are several reasons: One is that the tide will turn pretty -soon, and when it does it will run out of the creek you want me to -enter as fast as it does out of the Bay of Fundy. Another is, that -the wind is falling and we shall have to take to the oars presently. -Another is, that I am persuaded it will be easier rowing across the -small current out here than against a tide that rushes out of the -creek like a mill tail. There are other and controlling reasons, but -I have already given you as many as your intellectual digestion can -assimilate. The rest will keep till we’re comfortably ashore. There, -that’s the last puff of the wind.” - -With that he hauled the boom inboard, let go the halyards and left the -rudder-bar. - -“It is now after three o’clock,” he said, while the others were -unstepping the mast, “and the distance is about three miles or a trifle -less. Rowing easily we shall have time after we get there to settle -ourselves comfortably before nightfall.” - -“I suppose you’re right, of course,” Larry answered, “but it means -several more meals on meat and fish alone.” - -“Better not cross that bridge till you come to it, Larry. You see we -might find manna over there, or some bread-fruit trees newly imported -from Tahiti—who knows?” - -The others shared Larry’s regret as to the food prospect, but they all -recognized Cal’s superior knowledge of conditions as a controlling -consideration; so all rowed on in silence. - -When at last they reached the neighborhood of the shore, Cal began -scrutinizing it closely as if searching for the landing place he had -selected in his mind. He was in fact looking for the very narrow and -cane-hidden entrance to a land-locked bay that he remembered very well. -Presently he turned into it and shot the boat through a channel that -one might have passed a dozen times without seeing it. It wound about -among the dense growths for a little way and then opened out into a -considerable little bay. - -Here Cal directed the landing, but instead of arranging to anchor the -boat a little way from shore he put on all speed with the oars and ran -her hard and fast upon a gently sloping beach. - -“What’s that for, Cal?” asked Dick, whose nautical instincts were -offended by the manœuvre. - -“To save trouble,” Cal answered. “You see this is a considerable little -bay, and the entrance to it is so very narrow that before much of a -flood tide can run into the broad basin the time comes for it to turn -and run out again, so there is never a rise and fall of more than six -or eight inches in here. The boat will lie comfortably where she is so -long as we choose to stay here. We can reach her without much if any -wading, and we can shove her off into deep water whenever we like.” - -“Is there a spring about here?” asked Tom, whose concern about water -supply had become specially active. - -“No, but we can make one in fifteen minutes.” - -Then selecting a sort of depression in the sandy beach about sixty -yards from the water’s edge, Cal said: - -“We have only to scoop out a basin in the sand here—about three feet -deep as I reckon it, and we’ll have all the water we want.” - -“But will it be good water?” - -“Perfectly good. You see, Tom, this beach is composed of clean white -sand. The water in the bay sipes through it at a uniform level, and -we’ve only to dig down to that level in order to get at it.” - -“But won’t it be salt water?” - -“Slightly brackish, perhaps, or possibly not at all so. You see before -reaching this point it is filtered through sixty or seventy yards of -closely packed sand, which takes up all the salt and would take up all -other impurities if there were any, as there are not. Suppose you dig -for the water, Tom, while the other fellows make camp and pick up wood. -It’s very easy digging and it won’t take long. I’m going off a little -way to see what there is to see—and to look for the manna I spoke of a -while ago.” - -So saying, Cal took up his gun and set out inland. It was more than -an hour before he returned and the dusk was falling. But to the -astonishment of the others a string of young negroes followed close -upon his heels, all carrying burdens of some sort, mostly poised upon -their heads. - - - - -XV - -CAL GATHERS THE MANNA - - -WHEN Cal appeared at the head of his dusky little caravan the others -advanced to meet him and bombard him with a rapid fire of questions -as to where he had been, and what the negro boys were carrying, and -where he had discovered the source of supply, and whatever else their -curiosity suggested. - -Instead of replying at once he asked. - -“Did you find the water, Tom?” - -“Yes, easily, and it isn’t brackish at all.” - -“That’s excellent, and now let us eat, drink and be merry. I couldn’t -give you that injunction till I learned that we had the water for the -drinking part.” - -Without waiting for him to finish his sentence the others busied -themselves in examining what the negroes had brought. As they did so, -Cal catalogued the supplies orally with comments: - -“That bag contains a half bushel of rice—enough to serve us as -a breadstuff for a long time to come, as we require only three -teacupfuls—measured by guess—for a meal; the bag by the side of it is -badly out at elbows and knees, but it holds a fine supply of new sweet -potatoes which will help the endurance of the rice. What’s that? Oh, -that’s a little okra, and the red-turbaned old darky woman who sold -it to me carefully explained how to cook the mucilaginous vegetable. -As she delivered her instructions in the language of the Upper Congo, -I cannot say that my conception of the way in which okra should be -prepared for the table is especially clear, but we’ll find some way out -of that difficulty. Yes, the big bag on the right contains a few dozen -ears of green corn, and the one next to it is full of well-ripened -tomatoes, smooth of surface, shapely of contour and tempting to -the appetite. Finally, we have here half a dozen cantaloupes, or -‘mush millions,’ as the colored youth who supplied them called his -merchandise. Now scamper, you little vagabonds. I’ve paid you once for -toting the things and it is a matter of principle with me never to pay -twice for a single service.” - -“Where on earth, Cal, did you find all these things?” asked Larry, the -others looking the same question out of their eyes as it were. - -“I found them in the garden patches where they were grown,” he replied. -“That’s what I went out to do. They are the ‘manna,’ the finding of -which somewhere in this neighborhood I foreshadowed in answer to your -querulous predictions of an exclusively meat diet for some days to -come.” - -As he spoke, Cal was throwing sweet potatoes into the fire and covering -them with red-hot ashes with glowing coals on top. - -“You’re a most unsatisfactory fellow, Cal,” said Dick. “Why don’t you -tell us where you got the provender and how you happened to find so -rich a source of supply. Anybody else would be eager to talk about such -an exploit.” - -“I’ll tell you,” Cal answered, “as soon as I get the potato roast -properly going. I’m hungry. Suppose you cut some cantaloupes for us to -eat while the potatoes are cooking.” - -Not until he had half a melon in hand did Cal begin. - -“There’s one of the finest rice plantations on all this coast about -a mile above here. Or rather, the plantation house is there. As for -the plantation itself, we’re sitting on it now. It belongs to Colonel -Huguenin, and of course the house is closed in summer.” - -“Why?” interrupted Dick, whose thirst for information concerning -southern customs was insatiable. - -“Do you really want me to interrupt my story of ‘How Cal Went Foraging’ -in order to answer your interjected inquiry? If I must talk it’s all -one to me what I talk about. So make your choice.” - -“Go on and tell us of the foraging. The other thing can wait.” - -“Well, then; I happened to know of this plantation. I’ve bivouacked -on the shores of this bay before, and when I turned the _Hunkydory’s_ -nose in this direction I was impelled by an intelligent purpose. I had -alluring visions of the things I could buy from the negroes up there at -the quarters.” - -“Why didn’t you tell us then instead of getting off all that rigmarole -about rowing against the tide and the rest of it?” asked Larry, not -with irritation, but with a laugh, for the cantaloupe he was eating and -the smell of the sweet potatoes roasting in the ashes had put him and -the others into an entirely peaceful and contented frame of mind. - -“I never like to raise hopes,” answered Cal, “that I cannot certainly -fulfill. Performance is better than promises—as much better as the -supper we are about to eat is better than a printed bill of fare. -Wonder how the potatoes are coming on?” - -With that he dug one of the yams out of the ashes, examined it, and put -it back, saying: - -“Five or six minutes more will do the business. I picked out the -smallest ones on purpose to hurry supper. Let’s set the table. Tom, if -your kettle of water is boiling, suppose you shuck some corn and plunge -it in it. It must boil from five to six minutes—just long enough to -get it thoroughly hot through. If it boils longer the sweetness all -goes out of it. Dick, won’t you wash some of the tomatoes while Larry -and I arrange the dishes?” - -Arranging the dishes consisted in cutting a number of broad palmete -leaves, some to hold the supplies of food and others to serve as plates. - -“I’m sorry I cannot offer you young gentlemen some fresh butter for -your corn and potatoes,” said Cal, as they sat down to supper, “but to -be perfectly candid with you, our cows seem to have deserted us and we -haven’t churned for several days past. After all, the corn and potatoes -will be very palatable with a little salt sprinkled upon them, and we -have plenty of salt. Don’t hesitate to help yourselves freely to it.” - -“To my mind,” said Dick, “this is as good a supper as I ever ate.” - -“That’s because of our sharp appetites,” answered Larry. “We’re hungry -enough to relish anything.” - -“Appetite helps, of course,” said Dick, thoughtfully; “but so does -contrast. An hour ago we had all made up our minds to content ourselves -for many meals to come with the exclusive diet of fish and game, which -has been our lot for many meals past. To find ourselves eating a supper -like this instead is like waking from a bad dream and finding it only a -nightmare.” - -“It would be better still not to have the nightmare,” answered Cal, -speaking more seriously than he usually did. “When you have a nightmare -it is usually your own fault, and pessimism is always so. You fellows -were pessimistic over the prospect of a supper you could not enjoy. As -you have a supper that you can enjoy, the suffering you inflicted upon -yourselves was wholly needless.” - -“Yes, I know,” interposed Tom; “but we couldn’t know that you were -going to get all these good things for us.” - -“No, of course not. But if you hadn’t allowed your pessimistic -forebodings to make you unhappy, you needn’t have been unhappy at -all. If things had turned out as you expected you’d have been unhappy -twice—once in lamenting your lot and once in suffering it. As it -is, you’ve been needlessly unhappy once and unexpectedly happy once, -instead of being happy all the while. I tell you optimism is the only -true philosophy.” - -“I suppose it is,” Dick admitted, “but it leads to disappointment very -often.” - -“Of course. But in that case you suffer the ill, whatever it is, only -once; while the pessimist suffers it both before it befalls and when it -comes. That involves a sheer waste of the power of endurance.” - -Larry had forgotten to eat while his brother delivered this little -discourse, for he had never heard Cal talk in so serious a fashion. -Indeed, he had come to think of his brother as a trifler who could -never be persuaded to seriousness. - -“Where on earth did you get that thought, Cal?” he asked, when Cal -ceased to speak. - -“It is perfectly sound, isn’t it?” was the boy’s reply. - -“I think it is. But where did you get it?” - -“If it is sound, it doesn’t matter where I got it, or how. But to -satisfy your curiosity, I’ll tell you that I thought it out down here -in the woods when I was a runaway. I was so often in trouble as to what -was going to happen, and it so often happened that it didn’t happen -after all, that I got to wondering one day what was the use of worrying -about things that might never happen. I was alone in the woods, you -know, and I had plenty of time to think. So little by little I thought -out the optimistic philosophy and adopted it as the rule of my life. -Of course I could not formulate it then as I do now. I didn’t know -what the words ‘optimism’ and ‘pessimism’ meant, but my mind got a -good grasp upon the ideas underlying them. There! My sermon is done. -I have only to announce that there will be no more preaching at this -camp-meeting. I’m going to take a look at your well, Tom, and if the -water is as good as you say, I’m going to empty the rain water out of -the kegs and refill them. Rain water, you know, goes bad a good deal -sooner than other water—especially sand-filtered water.” - -“I reckon Cal is right, Dick,” said Tom, when their companion was out -of earshot. - -“Yes, of course he is, but did you ever stub your toe? It’s a little -bit hard to be optimistic on occasions like that.” - -“I reckon that’s hardly what Cal meant—” - -“Of course it isn’t. I was jesting.” - - - - -XVI - -FOG BOUND - - -THE boys were not tired that evening, and after their abundant supper -they sat late talking and telling stories and “just being happy,” Dick -said. The day had been a torrid one, but in the evening there was a -chill in the air which made a crackling camp-fire welcome. When at last -they grew sleepy they simply rolled themselves in their blankets and -lay down upon the sand and under the stars. They had built no shelter, -as it was not their purpose to remain where they were except for a -single night. - -It was not long after daylight when Tom, shivering, sprang up, saying: - -“I’m cold—hello! What’s this? Fog?” - -“Yes,” said Larry, “a visitor from the gulf stream. And it is almost -thick enough to cut, too. What shall we do?” - -“Do? Why, make the best of it and be happy, of course,” answered Cal, -piling wood upon the embers to set the camp-fire going again. “The -first step in that direction is to get your blood circulating. Stir -around. Bring a bucket of water and set the kettle to boil—that is -to say, if you can open a trail through this fog and find the water -hole without falling into it. Whew! but this is a marrow-searching -atmosphere.” - -The fog was indeed so dense that nothing could be seen at more than -twenty paces away, while the damp, penetrating chill set all teeth -chattering and kept them at it until rapid exercise set pulses going -again. Then came breakfast to “confirm the cure,” Dick suggested, and -the little company was comfortable again. That is to say, all of them -but Larry. He was obviously uneasy in his mind, so much so that he had -little relish for his breakfast. - -“What’s the matter, Larry,” asked Tom, presently; “aren’t you warm yet?” - -“Oh, yes, I’m warm enough, but there isn’t a breath of air stirring, -and this fog may last all day. What do you think, Cal?” - -“I think that very likely. I’ve seen fogs like this that lasted two or -three days.” - -“How on earth are we to get to Beaufort while it lasts?” - -The question revealed the nature of Larry’s trouble. - -“Why, of course we can’t do anything of the kind,” Cal answered. “We -should get lost in the fog and go butting into mud banks and unexpected -shoals. No. Till this fog clears away we can’t think of leaving the -altogether agreeable shore upon which a kindly fate has cast us. But -we can be happy while we stay, unless we make ourselves unhappy by -worrying. I know what is troubling you, Larry, and it’s nonsense to -worry about it. I often think I wouldn’t carry your conscience about -with me for thirty cents a month.” - -“But, Cal, you see it is our duty to notify the revenue officers of our -discovery before those smugglers get away.” - -“It may relieve your mind,” Cal answered in his usual roundabout -fashion, “to reflect that they can’t get away. If they were still -there when this fog came in from the sea, they will stay there till it -clears away again. So we are really losing no time. In addition to that -consolation, you should take comfort to yourself in the thought that -even if the revenue officers were in possession of the information we -have, they could do nothing till the fog lifts. So far as I know, at -least, they can see no farther through fog than other people can, and -shoals and mud banks are unlikely to respect their authority by keeping -out of the way of such craft as they may navigate.” - -Suddenly Cal put aside his playful manner of speech, and became -thoroughly earnest. - -“Think a minute, Larry. We have absolutely no official duty to do in -this matter. We are doing our best as good citizens to notify the -authorities. At present we can’t do it. There’s an end of that. We -have a pleasant bivouac here, with plenty of food and more where it -came from. Why shouldn’t we make the best of things and be happy? Why -should you go brooding around, making the rest of us miserable? I tell -you it’s nonsense. Cheer up, and give the rest of us a chance to enjoy -ourselves.” - -“You are right, Cal,” Larry answered; “and I won’t spoil sport. I -didn’t mean to, and my worrying was foolish. By the way, what shall we -do to pass the time to-day?” - -“Well, for one thing, we ought to put up a shelter. A fog like this is -very apt to end in soaking rain, and if it does that to-night, we’ll -sleep more comfortably under a roof of palmete leaves than out in the -open. However, there’s no hurry about that, and you can let Dick wallop -you at chess for an hour or so while Tom and I go foraging. You see -I’ve thought of a good many things that I ought to have bought last -night, but didn’t. Do you want to go along, Tom?” - -Tom did, and as they started away, Cal called back: - -“I say, Larry, suppose you put on a kettle of rice to boil for dinner -when the time comes. I think I’ll bring back something to eat with it.” - -Then walking on with Tom by his side, he fell into his customary -drawling, half-frivolous mode of speech. Tom had expressed his pleasure -in the prospect of rice for dinner—rice cooked in the Carolina way, a -dish he had never tasted before his present visit began. - -“Yes,” answered Cal, “I was tenderly and affectionately thinking of you -when I suggested the dish. And I had it in mind to make the occasion -memorable in another way. I remember very vividly how greatly—I will -not say greedily—you enjoyed the combination of rice and broiled -spring chicken while we were in Charleston. I remember that at first -you seemed disposed to scorn the rice under the mistaken impression -that rice must always be the pasty, mush-like mess that they made of it -at school. I remember how when I insisted upon filling your plate with -it you contemplated it with surprise, and, contemplating, tasted the -dainty result of proper cooking. After that all was plain sailing. I -had only to place half a broiled chicken upon the rice foundation in -your plate—half a chicken at a time I mean—and observe the gustatory -delight with which you devoted yourself to our favorite Carolina dish.” - -“Oh, well, your Carolina way of cooking it makes rice good even when -you have no chicken to go with it. If the fog would thin itself down a -bit—” - -“Which it won’t do in time for you to kill the squirrels you were -thinking of as a possible substitute for chicken. Perish the thought. -It is utterly unworthy. You and I are out after spring chickens, Tom.” - -“Good! Do you think we can find any?” - -“With the aid of the currency of our country as an excitant of the -negro imagination, we can.” - -“You saw chickens at the negro quarters last night, then?” - -“No, I did not. But I observed a large pan on a shelf in front of one -of the cabins, and with more curiosity than politeness I stood up on my -tiptoes and looked into it. Tom, that pan was more than half full of -chicken feed, and it was fresh at that. Knowing the habits of persons -of the colored persuasion, I am entirely certain that no one of them -would have taken the trouble to prepare that chicken feed unless he -was the happy possessor of chickens. I’m going to call upon the dusky -proprietor of that pan this morning.” - -“That’s another case of noticing, Cal, and another proof of its value. -We are likely to have broiled spring chickens for dinner to-day just -because you observed that pan of chicken feed. What else did you notice -up there? I ask solely out of curiosity.” - -“There wasn’t much else to observe. I saw some fig bushes but they’ve -been stripped. Otherwise we should have had some figs for breakfast -this morning. Just now I observe that the fog is manifesting a decided -tendency to resolve itself into rain, and if it does, that we must -satisfy Larry’s conscience by getting away from our present camp this -afternoon—or as soon as the fog is sufficiently cleared away. So you -and I must hurry on if we’re to have those broiled chickens.” - -As results proved, Cal was mistaken in his reckoning of the time -necessary to dissipate the fog. It was merely taking the form of what -is known as a “Scotch mist,” which does not form itself into rain drops -and fall, but collects in drops upon whatever it touches, saturating -clothing even more speedily than actual rain does and making all but -the sunniest dispositions uncomfortable. - -But even a Scotch mist condition served to thin the fog a little, -though by no means enough to make navigation possible. Larry watched -conditions anxiously, as Cal expected him to do, and his first question -when Cal and Tom returned with their chickens revealed his state of -mind. - -“What do you think of it, Cal?” he asked. - -“Of what? If you refer to the moon, I am satisfied in my own mind—” - -“Pshaw! You know what I mean. Do be serious for once and tell me what -you think of the prospect?” - -“Conscience bothering you again?” - -“Yes. We must get away from here to-day if possible—and as soon as -possible.” - -“Can’t you give us time to have dinner and cook some extra food for -consumption when we get hopelessly lost out there in the fog banks that -are still rolling in from the sea?” - -“Oh, of course we can’t leave here till the fog clears away. But do you -think it ever will clear away?” - -“It always has,” answered Cal, determined to laugh his brother out of -his brooding if he could not reason him out of it. “In such experience -as I have had with fogs I never yet encountered one that didn’t -ultimately disappear, did you?” - -“But what do you think of the prospect?” persisted Larry. - -“I can see so little of it through the fog,” Cal provokingly replied, -“that I am really unable to form an intelligent opinion of it. What I -do see is that you haven’t begun to make our shelter yet. In my opinion -it would be well to do so, if only to keep the chess board dry while -a game is in progress. Moreover, I have an interesting book or two -wrapped up in my oilskins, and if we are doomed to remain here over -night—” - -“You don’t think then that—” - -“Frankly, Larry, I don’t know anything about it. Neither do you, and -neither does anybody else. We’re in a very wet fog bank. We’ve got -to stay where we are till the weather changes. Don’t you think our -wisest course is to make ourselves as comfortable and keep ourselves as -cheerful as we can while it lasts.” - -“Yes, of course, but it’s pretty hard you know to—” - -“Not half as hard as chopping wood and ‘toting’ it in from the woods -over there, and that is what Tom and I are going to do after dinner as -our contribution to the general comfort. You’ll find yourself feeling -a great deal better if you busy yourself making a really comfortable -shelter while we’re at the other job. It may come on to rain torrents -this afternoon, and of course we won’t leave here in the boat if it -does.” - -“That will do, Cal. I’m convinced, and I’m a trifle ashamed of myself -besides. I promise not to worry any more. I decree that we shall not -leave port in a rain storm, and unless the weather conditions become -favorable before four o’clock this afternoon we’ll not leave here any -how until to-morrow.” - - - - -XVII - -THE OBLIGATION OF A GENTLEMAN - - -THE fog held throughout the day, changing to a deluge of rain about -nightfall, but Cal and Tom had provided an abundance of firewood, the -palmete shelter was waterproof, the long gray moss with which it was -carpeted was soft to loll upon, and the book from which they read -aloud by turns proved to be an amusing one. Larry kept his promise and -indulged in no further impatience. - -When morning came the rain was still coming down in torrents, and it -was unanimously agreed that no attempt should be made to quit the place -until it should cease. - -“An open rowboat in a heavy rain is about the wettest place -imaginable,” Dick said, and the experience of the rest had been such as -to confirm the judgment. - -When at last a brisk westerly wind began to tear the clouds to pieces, -all agreed that Larry’s patience had fairly earned its reward, and all -hands worked hard to get as early a start as possible. It was two -o’clock in fact when they finally set sail, with Cal again at the helm -because he knew of a narrow but navigable passage which would enable -them to avoid the heavy ebb tide of the channel that Larry had selected -two days before. The tide would not begin to ebb for two or three hours -to come, and by taking this short cut Cal hoped to reach broad waters -before that time. - -He did so in fact, but upon running out of the little creek he was -disappointed to find that a shift had given him a headwind to contend -with. There was nothing for it but to beat to windward, and the breeze -was so light that their progress was slow. Cal made the best of -conditions as he found them, according to his custom, but about sunset -the tide turned against him, and worse than that, the wind went down -with the sun, leaving not a breath to fill the sails. - -Then Cal asked for orders. - -“What is your wish, Captain Larry?” he asked. “Shall we take to the -oars and push on against the tide, or land for the night? Without a -favoring wind we can’t possibly make Beaufort to-night.” - -“What do the rest of you say?” asked Larry, in some perplexity. - -“Never mind what anybody else says,” broke in Cal, before the others -could answer. “This isn’t a debating club or an advisory council of -ancients, or anything else of the kind. We’re a ship’s company and you -are the captain; so give your orders.” - -“Very well, we’ll run ashore. Do you know of a suitable place, Cal?” - -“No, not from personal experience in these parts, but I’ve been -watching the coast-line over there to starboard, and I think I make out -the mouth of a small creek or inlet. The chart doesn’t show it very -distinctly, but it roughly indicates a number of small indentations in -the land, and the soundings given for all that shore seem satisfactory.” - -“To the oars then,” said Larry, “and we’ll look for a landing place -somewhere over there. The whole shore seems to be heavily wooded. Pull -away.” - -It was fully dark when Cal’s keen eyes found what he was looking -for, namely, the sheltered mouth of a small creek or inlet, heavily -overshadowed by woods and a tangled undergrowth. - -Running into it the company landed on a small bluff-like bit of shore -and made things snug for the night. The heavy dew, so prevalent on -that coast, was already dripping from the trees, and the air was very -chill. To avoid the dew drippings the camp-fire was built close to the -margin of the inlet at a point where a little patch of star-studded sky -showed clear overhead. - -The little company sat with their backs against a large fallen tree as -they ate their supper and planned an early start for the morrow. All -were eager to make the visit to Beaufort and have it over with as soon -as possible, for a reason which Dick put into words: - -“I’m anxious to go to Quasi. The very name of the place appeals to my -imagination; the story of it fascinates me. How long will it take us to -get there, Cal, after we finish what we have to do at Beaufort?” - -“The wind bloweth where it listeth, you know,” Cal answered; “and worse -still, it doesn’t blow at all unless it is doing a little ‘listing’; -the tides are subservient to the will of the sun and moon, and we must -reckon upon them as a frequently opposing force; then too, there are -fogs sometimes, as recent experience has taught us, to say nothing of -possible encounters with smugglers, from which we may not escape so -easily next time as we did before. How, then, shall I presume to set a -time for our arrival at Quasi, particularly when I do not know how long -we shall be detained at Beaufort.” - -“Oh, not long,” broke in Larry. “We have nothing to do there but report -to the customs authorities and spend an hour or so buying coffee, ship -biscuit, some hams—for we’re out of bacon—and such other supplies of -a non-perishable sort as we need. Two hours ought to cover our stay -there.” - -“Well, I’m not so certain of that,” said Cal. “As likely as not our -detention will last for two days, or possibly two weeks, and if—” - -“But how, Cal?” Tom interrupted with a look almost of consternation on -his face, for he, too, was impatient to reach Quasi and try the hunting -there. - -“Let Cal finish, Tom,” said Larry. “He has something in mind.” - -“Something on my mind,” Cal replied; “and it weighs heavily too. I’ve -been thinking of it ever since we turned our prow toward Beaufort.” - -“You must have thought it out by this time, then; so go on and tell us -about it,” said Dick, impatiently. - -“I wonder the rest of you haven’t thought of it for yourselves,” -resumed Cal; “but it isn’t worth while to speculate about that. I -was going to say that we four fellows have the misfortune to be -eye-witnesses in the case of those smugglers. We saw them bring their -goods ashore. Now I don’t know what the revenue officers do with -smugglers when they catch them. I suppose they take them to a United -States Court somewhere, though where I don’t know. Charleston is the -most likely place in the case of men caught along this coast. In any -case I suppose they need witnesses to testify to the smuggling, and -unfortunately we are the witnesses in this case. Is it really necessary -to set the matter forth more fully? It all comes to this, that we may -be detained for an indefinite length of time at Beaufort, or we may -even be taken back to Charleston as witnesses. For that reason I am -reluctant to go to Beaufort at all—at least until we’ve had our trip -out.” - -“You’re quite right, Cal,” answered Dick; “it would be a shame to have -our jolly outing spoiled. As for supplies, I suppose we might run down -to Bluffton and pick up the absolutely necessary things—” - -“Yes, or we can do without them,” interposed Tom, to whom every hour -of their sporting trip seemed a precious thing not to be lost on any -account. - -“Oh, yes, we could get them by going a little out of our way,” said -Cal, “or we could go without. I spent two or three months alone down -among these woods and waters without such things, and I can’t remember -that I was the worse for it—though I confess my breeches and my shirt -and shoes suffered. Anyhow, Larry is our captain this time, and he must -decide. He hasn’t spoken a word yet.” - -“It has not seemed necessary,” Larry answered. “Of course we shall go -to Beaufort just as fast as we can.” - -“But why, Larry?” asked Tom. - -“Simply because it is our duty.” - -“But why can’t we wait till we’re on our way back?” - -“It would be too late then.” - -“But I say, Larry,” interposed Dick, “do you really think we are under -so imperative an obligation as that?” - -“To do one’s duty is always an imperative obligation. We are all of -us the sons of gentlemen. We have been trained to think—and truly -so—that a gentleman must do his duty regardless of consequences to -himself. So we are going to start for Beaufort at daylight, no matter -what annoyances it may bring upon us.” - -“Of course you are right,” said Dick and Tom in a breath. Cal said -nothing until one of them asked him why he remained silent. - -“I’m a Rutledge,” he answered, “and what Larry has said is the gospel -in which I have been bred. I hadn’t thought it out till Larry spoke, -that’s all.” - -“Neither had I,” said Dick. - -“Nor I,” said Tom. “Of course we’ve all been bred in the same creed, -and I for one shall never again wait to be reminded of it when a duty -presents itself.” - -“Your decision is unanimously sustained and approved, Larry,” added -Dick, by way of relaxing the seriousness of the talk. “The Rutledges, -the Garnetts and the Wentworths echo your thought, if not your -words—for Echo insists upon pronouncing them—‘Bully for you!’” - -At that moment something happened which brought all four of the boys -to their feet and prompted Cal to slip the cartridges out of his gun -and substitute others carrying buckshot in their stead. The others, -observing his act, quickly imitated it. - - - - -XVIII - -FIGHT OR FAIR PLAY - - -AS the exchange of cartridges was in progress, five men, all armed, -approached the bivouac. They had landed from a boat a hundred yards or -so further down the creek, and attempted to creep upon the camp and -take it by surprise. - -Fortunately Larry’s quick ears had caught sound of them, and by the -time the exchange of bird for buckshot was completed they were in plain -view and not more than a dozen or twenty yards away. - -“Halt!” Larry cried out to them, and as they seemed indisposed to obey -the command, he called again: - -“Stand where you are or we’ll shoot!” - -There was no doubt in Larry’s mind that these men were a band of -smugglers, or that they were trying to spring upon his party unawares. -He had no mind to be taken by surprise by murderous ruffians. -Fortunately for all concerned, his command was obeyed. - -[Illustration: “STAND WHERE YOU ARE OR WE’LL SHOOT.” -_Pag. 182._] - -“Who are you and what do you want?” - -“That we decline to say,” said the spokesman of the party. - -“Then stand off,” said Larry, “or go back to your own place, wherever -it is, or take the consequences.” - -Larry was quick to observe that neither the words nor the tone of the -one who had spoken were such as the drunken, degraded, ignorant men he -had seen in the smugglers’ camp would have used, and the fact puzzled -him. After a moment’s reflection he called out: - -“If you have any business with us you may come ahead a few paces into -the full light of the fire and say what you have to say. But if one of -you raises a gun we’ll give you a volley of buckshot straight at your -breasts. Come on out of the bushes and tell us what you want.” - -As the advance was made and the full firelight fell upon the five men, -Larry saw that they were in the uniform of the revenue cutter service, -with which he was familiar. - -“I beg your pardon, Boatswain,” he said, but without relaxing his -watchfulness; “I couldn’t see your uniforms until now, and mistook your -party for one of a very different sort. Come to the fire and tell us -what you want; your men can stay where they are till we understand -each other better.” - -This last was said because of an apparent purpose on the part of the -men to move forward in a body. - -“Now then, Boatswain, what have you to say to us?” Larry asked, while -the other three boys stood watchfully by the huge trunk of the fallen -tree with their shotguns held precisely as they would have been had -their owners been alertly waiting for a pointer to flush a flock of -birds for them to shoot on the wing. - -“We are men in the revenue service,” the boatswain answered. “We were -sent ashore from the cutter that lies just off the mouth of the creek -to ask who you are and what you are doing here—in short, to give an -account of yourselves. It will save trouble if you answer us.” - -“Coming from an agent of the revenue,” answered Larry, with dignity, -“your questions are entirely proper. It was not necessary to couple -an implied threat with them. However, that was nothing worse than a -bit of ill manners, and I’ll overlook it. To answer your questions: My -name is Lawrence Rutledge; one of the others is my brother. We live -in Charleston, and with our two guests we are down here for a little -sporting trip. Is there anything else you’d like to know about us?” - -“That’s a queer sort of boat you’ve got,” answered the other. - -“I asked if there was anything else you wanted to know,” said Larry, -ignoring the comment on the dory’s appearance as an impertinent one. - -“I guess you’ll have to talk with the lieutenant about that. You see -I’m only a warrant officer.” - -“Very well. Where is he?” - -“On board the cutter.” - -“Send for him then. We’ll give him any information we can.” - -“I think I see myself sending for him! I’ll have to take you on board.” - -“But we won’t go,” answered Larry, with eyes snapping. - -“You’ll have to go.” - -“But we won’t. We are American citizens, attending to our honest -business. If your lieutenant or any other officer of the Government -wishes to ask us any legitimate question, we’re ready to answer. But we -will not endure insult or wrong. If you have a warrant for our arrest -we’ll not resist, but we’ll not submit to arrest without authority.” - -“We don’t have to bother about warrants when we’ve got smugglers dead -to rights.” - -“But we are not smugglers.” - -“That’s for you to settle with the lieutenant. It’s my business to -arrest all of you and take you on board the cutter.” - -In a low voice, before the boatswain had finished his sentence, Larry -said to his comrades: - -“Jump over the log—we’ll make a breastwork of it,” and instantly they -obeyed, leaving him on the side next the revenue men. Then to the -boatswain he said: - -“You’ve no right to arrest without a warrant. I tell you once for all -we’ll not submit to arrest.” - -“What’ll you do then?” - -“We’ll fight first,” answered Larry, delivering the words like shots -from a pistol, and leaping to the farther side of the fallen tree as he -spoke. - -The boatswain was bewildered. He knew, in a vague way, that no one can -legally make an arrest without a warrant, except when he sees a person -in the act of committing crime or running away from officers; but he -had never before had an experience of determined resistance. He was -accustomed to the summary ways of brute force that prevail in military -life, and to him it seemed absurd for anybody to resist the only kind -of constituted authority with which he was familiar. - -He was sorely perplexed. He was by no means sure that the boys were -the smugglers he had been sent to arrest. On the contrary, their -manner, their speech and all other appearances were in their favor. -Nevertheless his superior officers had been watching the dory’s -movements for several days and had sent him ashore in full assurance -that they had their quarry at bay. He was convinced that he ought to -arrest the party, but he had only four men and himself for the work, -and there stood four stalwart young fellows behind the fallen tree -trunk with four double-barreled shotguns bristling across the barrier. -The creek, with a sharp bend, lay upon their left and completely -covered their rear, while on their right was a swamp so densely grown -up in cane and entangled vines, to say nothing of the treacherous mud -below, that passage across it would have been nearly impossible in the -broadest light of day. Clearly Larry’s party must be assailed in front -if assailed at all, and the boatswain was not to blame for hesitating -to make an assault which would almost certainly cost the lives of -himself and all his men. Add to this his uncertainty as to his right to -make any assault at all, and what he did is easily understood. - -He ordered his men to fall back to their boat, and as they did so he -stood alone where he had been. When the men were well away, he said to -Larry: - -“You don’t think me a coward, do you?” - -“Certainly not,” Larry answered. - -“Well, this thing may get me into trouble you know, and if you’re the -man you say you are, I may want you to help me out as a witness. Will -you do it?” - -“Yes, certainly. But what’s the use of getting into trouble? I’m -willing to trust your word as an honorable fellow; if you’ll trust mine -in the same way you and I can settle this whole matter in ten minutes -in a way that will bring you praise instead of blame. Don’t go aboard -the cutter and report a failure and be blamed for it; stay here and -talk the matter over and then go aboard with a report that will do you -honor. What do you say to that?” - -“What are your terms?” - -“Only that you meet me in the same spirit in which I meet you. Give up -your notion that we are a gang of smugglers—you must see how absurd it -is—and give up your claim of a right to arrest us without a warrant; -meet me half way and I’ll show you how to get out of a scrape that you -wouldn’t have got into but for those two mistaken guesses. We have no -feeling of enmity toward you and no wish to injure you. If we were -ready to fight you to the death, it was only in defense of our rights. -Give up your attempt to invade those rights and there will be no -quarrel between us. Is it a bargain?” - -“Well, you speak fair anyhow. I don’t see what else I can do than meet -you half way. I’m ready.” - -“Very well, then,” said Larry, emptying his gun of its cartridges and -signing to his comrades to do likewise. “As you have sent your men -away, we’ll make things even by disarming ourselves.” - -With instinctive recognition of the manly generosity thus shown the -boatswain tossed his own gun to the ground and, advancing, held out his -hand, saying: - -“You wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t been what you say you are. -I’m ready to sit down now and talk things over.” - -Larry sprang over the log that separated them and took the proffered -hand. Then all sat down, and Larry said: - -“I’m willing to tell you now what I never would have told you under a -threat. We have seen the smugglers you are looking for; we know where -they are, or at any rate where they were two days ago; we know where -their plunder is hidden, and we are prepared to go with you to the -place. We were on our way to Beaufort to report all this to the revenue -authorities when you came to arrest us.” - -The two had risen and were standing now, and the boatswain was -continually shaking Larry’s hand. He tried to say what was in his mind -but couldn’t. His wits were bewildered for the moment, and Larry came -to their rescue. - -“Pull yourself together, Boatswain,” he said, “and listen to me. Hurry -back to your boat, go aboard the cutter at once, and report that you -haven’t found a smuggler’s camp but that you’ve found somebody who can -and will show your commanding officer where one is. Tell him Lawrence -Rutledge and his companions offer their services as guides who know -where to go. Be off, quick. We’ll wait here for his answer.” - -The boatswain’s wits were all in his control now and he hurried away. -He had achieved victory where only defeat had seemed possible. He had -met with success where a few minutes before he had hoped for nothing -better than failure. He was going on board to receive commendation -instead of the censure he had expected. Honor was his in lieu of -dreaded disgrace. - - - - -XIX - -WHY LARRY WAS READY FOR BATTLE - - -“LARRY, you ought to be a major-general,” said Dick, with enthusiasm, -as soon as the boatswain was well out of earshot. “I never saw anything -better managed than that was. From the moment you put us behind the -log, the fight—if there was to be a fight—was all ours.” - -“Yes,” said Tom, “we’d have had no difficulty in cleaning those fellows -out if it had come to that, and the boatswain saw it as clearly as we -did. But I don’t yet understand why you did it, Larry.” - -“Why, simply to make sure of success in self-defense. That seems simple -enough,” responded Larry. - -“Oh, yes, that’s simple enough, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I -meant I don’t see why you made any objection to going aboard at first -and telling the officers there all you’re going to tell them now. You -are going of your own accord now; why didn’t you go when he wanted you -to?” - -“Because there was a principle at stake,” answered Larry, setting his -teeth together as he recalled the controversy. “We are going aboard now -of our own accord, as you say. That’s very different from going aboard -as prisoners, under compulsion.” - -“But I don’t see what difference it would have made when you knew the -officers there would make guests instead of prisoners of us as soon as -they heard what you had to say. It seems to me it would have come to -the same thing in the end.” - -“Not by a long shot,” answered Larry, speaking with particular -earnestness. “Think a minute, Tom. We are free men, living under a free -government that exists for the express purpose of securing liberty to -all its people and protecting them in the enjoyment of that liberty. -If one man, or one set of men, could arrest others without a warrant -from a court, there would be no security for liberty and no liberty in -fact. Whenever the people of any country are ready to submit to any -infringement of their rights as free men, liberty in that country is -dead, and tyranny is free to work its evil will. And in a free country -it is the most sacred duty of every man to resist the smallest as -well as the largest trespass upon his rights as a man. Usually he can -do this by appealing to the courts of law, but in a case like ours -to-night, where there is no possibility of making such an appeal, every -man must be ready to fight for his rights—yes, to fight to the death -for them if necessary.” - -“But the matter was so small in this case—” - -“What possible difference does that make? A principle is never small; -liberty is always of supreme consequence, and it makes no difference -how trifling the trespass upon one’s liberty is in itself, the duty to -resist it at all costs and all hazards is just the same. Convenience -and comfort do not count in any way. The difficulty is that men are -not always ready to take trouble and endure inconvenience in defense -of their rights where the matter in question seems to them of small -moment. They forget that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,’ -or if they remember it, they are too self-indulgent to undertake a -troublesome resistance. It was not so that the men of the Revolutionary -time looked at the matter. Webster said that the Americans ‘went to war -against a preamble,’ and perhaps they did, but the preamble involved a -fundamental principle. It was for the principle, not for the preamble, -that they fought for seven long years. The colonists could easily have -submitted to the impositions of a half crazy king and his tyrannical -prime minister. It would have saved them a vast deal of inconvenience, -expense and danger to do so. It would have been far more comfortable -for them if they had done so. But if they had, this great, free nation -of ours would never have existed, and the people in other civilized -countries would not have enjoyed anything like the liberty they do now. -In the same way it would have saved a lot of trouble if we had let -those people arrest us to-night, but we had no right to submit to that. -It was our duty to stand upon our rights and defend the principle by -defending them. - -“There! The lecture is over, and I promise not to let it happen again,” -said Larry, by way of indirect apology for his seriousness. - -“Well,” said Tom, “I for one am glad I heard the lecture as you call -it. I needed it badly, for I had never thought of these things in that -way. How did you come to have all that on the tip of your tongue, -Larry?” - -“I don’t know, or, yes I do. I was born and brought up on that gospel, -and I have heard it preached all my life. My father has taught Cal and -me from childhood that ‘the only legitimate function of government is -to maintain the conditions of liberty,’ and that the highest duty of -every citizen is to insist that the government under which he lives -shall do precisely that. Now let’s talk of something else, or you -fellows talk, rather, for I’ve talked more than my share already.” - -“Before we do,” broke in Dick, “there’s just one thing I’d like to ask.” - -“All right. Go ahead. Ask anything you please if it isn’t a conundrum.” - -“Well, it isn’t a conundrum. It is only that I wonder how you know -there isn’t some law authorizing the revenue officers to make arrests -without warrants?” - -“I know it simply because such a law is impossible.” - -“How so?” - -“Because there is no power on earth that can make such a law for this -country.” - -“Couldn’t Congress make it?” - -“No. Congress has no more power to make it than a flock of crows has.” - -“I don’t understand. If Congress should pass an act to that effect and -the President should sign it, what then?” - -“What then? Why just nothing at all. It wouldn’t be a law. It would -have no more force or effect than the decree of a company of lunatics -that the sun shall hereafter rise in the west and set in the east.” - -“But why not?” - -“Why, simply because Congress has no power to make any law that -violates the Constitution. The Constitution expressly secures certain -rights to every citizen. If Congress passes an act in violation of the -Constitution, or even an act that the Constitution does not authorize -it to pass, the courts refuse to enforce it or in any way to recognize -it as a law. Now we’ve simply got to stop all this discussion, for I -hear the revenue officers coming.” - - - - -XX - -ABOARD THE CUTTER - - -WHEN the boatswain made his report to the lieutenant on board he did -not confine himself to the points Larry had suggested. It had been his -first thought to do so, reporting only that he had found no smugglers -but had discovered a law-abiding company of youths who knew where the -smugglers were and were willing to act as guides to the point indicated. - -But on his way it occurred to him that the lieutenant might ask him -questions—how he knew the character of the boys, and why he had not -placed them under arrest, and other things relating to the conduct of -his expedition. - -It would be humiliating to have the story thus drawn out of him, and it -would be awkward for him to explain why he had not reported the whole -thing in the first place. So, upon reflection, he told the story in -full, though briefly. - -When he mentioned Larry’s name the lieutenant gave a little start and -leaning forward as if to make sure he heard aright, asked: - -“What did you say his name is?” - -“Lawrence Rutledge is the name he gave me, sir.” - -“Of Charleston?” - -“That’s where he said he lived, sir,” answered the boatswain, wondering -why his superior was so closely questioning him on these points. - -The lieutenant resumed his upright position and with a half laugh said: - -“It’s lucky for you that you chose discretion as the better part of -valor this time. If Lawrence Rutledge is any way akin to his father, -you’d have had the tidiest little fight you ever heard of on your hands -if you’d charged him.” - -“I don’t think there would have been any fight at all, sir, if you’ll -pardon me.” - -“Why not?” - -“Only that I think every man of us would have bitten dust before we -could have fired a gun. Those fellows were ready with guns cocked and -leveled.” - -“The moral of that is that you too should always be ready and have your -men ready. Order the gig alongside—men unarmed.” - -When the gig was ready, which was almost instantly, the lieutenant ran -down the ladder, dropped into her, took the helm, and gave the orders: - -“Oars!” “Let fall!” “Give way!” and the boat shot away toward the -plainly visible camp-fire. - -Landing, he introduced himself to Larry, who received him cordially and -in turn presented his comrades. - -“I have the pleasure of knowing your father very well, Mr. Rutledge,” -he began. - -“Then, please,” Larry interrupted, “call me ‘Lawrence,’ or ‘Larry,’ and -not ‘Mr. Rutledge,’ Lieutenant. I’m only a boy yet, and I’ll never be -‘Mister’ to any of my father’s friends.” - -“Very well. ‘Larry’ it shall be then, the more gladly because that is -what I called you years ago when, as I remember, I was telling a lot of -sea stories to you and your brother Calhoun—” - -“Make it Cal, Lieutenant,” said the youth mentioned. “Larry and I are -twins, you know, and always share things evenly between us. We did so -with your stories, you know. I remember it very well, though we were a -pair of very small youngsters then.” - -“So you were—so young that I didn’t think you would remember the -matter. But we’re losing time, and time may be precious in this case. -My petty officer tells me you young gentlemen have seen the miscreants -I’ve been hunting for and can tell me where they are.” - -“We’ve seen them, and our friend Tom Garnett here has been inside one -of their caches and inspected their goods. We can tell you where they -were two nights or so ago, and perhaps they are there yet.” - -“Almost certainly they are,” broke in the lieutenant. “It is calm -weather outside, and not a craft of any kind has put in here under plea -of weather stress since the _Senorita_ sailed two or three days ago.” - -“The _Senorita_?” Tom repeated; “why, that’s the ship’s name I saw -marked on some of the cigar cases and rum kegs they had.” - -“Good, good, good!” said the officer enthusiastically. “If we can get -to that hiding place before they remove the goods, I’ll telegraph to -Baltimore to nab the ship also when she comes in. We _must_ get there -in time. My officer understood that you and your party were willing to -go with us. Was his understanding correct?” - -“Yes,” Larry answered, “we’ll be glad to do that, but we must make some -provision for the safety of our boat while we are gone.” - -“She’ll be safe enough when she rests on the cutter’s deck. I’ll send -a crew to take her alongside and we’ll hoist her on board. When all’s -over I’ll put you in the water again at any point you choose. Is that -satisfactory?” - -“I should say so,” answered Larry. “We’re ready, Lieutenant.” - -“Come on then, and I’ll take you aboard. I’ll leave a man with your -craft till a boat’s crew can come and tow her alongside. Then we’ll -weigh anchor and be off.” - -It was less than fifteen minutes later when the boys saw the -_Hunkydory_ carefully braced upon the little steamer’s deck and closely -covered with a tarpaulin. - -But it was nearly midnight and the lieutenant invited the boys to -sleep in the comfortable berths provided for them until the cutter -should reach the neighborhood of the smugglers’ camp. He thought he -sufficiently recognized the locality from Cal’s description, and -probably he could have steamed to it without further guidance. But -there was no sleep in the eyes of the boys after their adventurous -night, and they all heartily echoed Cal’s sentiment when he answered: - -“What good is there in the frazzled end of a ragged night for sleeping -purposes. I for one will stay up till we see this thing through, if it -is going through to-night.” - -The little cutter was a fleet-winged craft, built for speed, and -carrying greatly more horse power than ordinary steamers of twice her -size. Her navigator and all her officers, indeed, knew every detail -of the waters they were traversing, and so the lieutenant hoped that -he might reach his destination in time to descend upon the smugglers -before morning. - -In this he was disappointed. Some accident to the cutter’s machinery -compelled a delay of two or three hours in a narrow strait where, to -add to the annoyance of delay, a swarm of sand flies descended upon -the ship’s company. These are minute insects, so minute that no screen -or netting, however finely woven, interferes in the least with their -free passage in or out of any opening. Their bite or sting is even more -painful than that of a mosquito, and they come in myriads. - -Under the advice of the commanding officer the boys retreated to a -closed cabin below and remained there until the ship was under way -again—otherwise for two or three hours, during which they lolled about -and managed to get some sleep in spite of their impatience over the -delay and the otherwise excited condition of their minds. - -By way of making themselves more comfortable, they all drew off their -boots, but they could not be persuaded to go to the bunks assigned to -their use, because the ship might start again at any moment and they -were determined to be ready for that whenever it should occur. - -Cal, as usual, was the most wakeful of the party, and at first he was -disposed to talk, but his impulse in that way was promptly checked when -Tom and Larry each threw a boot at him and Dick, half asleep, muttered: - -“I second the motion.” - -As a consequence of this drastic treatment Cal closed his lips and his -eyes at the same moment and was presently breathing as only a sleeper -does. The others, tired and worn out with an excitement that had by -this time passed away, were soon in a profound slumber which lasted -until the engines began to throb again and the ship to jar and tremble -with the rapid revolutions of the screw. - -The sun was well up by that time, and after going on deck, where a -sailor doused bucketfuls of salt water over them as an eye-opener, they -were invited to breakfast with the commanding officer. - - - - -XXI - -TOM’S SCOUTING SCHEME - - -DURING breakfast the talk was, of course, about the smugglers and -the chances of capturing them. In the course of it the lieutenant -manifested some confusion or uncertainty of mind as to the exact -position of the smugglers’ rendezvous and of the approaches to it. - -“Won’t you please clear that up a little for me?” he asked Larry, after -a vain attempt to clear it up for himself. “I don’t quite understand. -Perhaps you can make it plain to my dullness.” - -“Cal can do that better than any other member of our party,” Larry -answered. “He was all about there three or four years ago, while the -rest of us have been there only once. Besides, Cal has a nose for -geographical detail, and he observes everything and remembers it. -Explain the thing, Cal.” - -“After such an introduction,” Cal replied, smiling, “I fear I shall not -be able to live up to the character so generously attributed to me. -Still, I think I can explain the thing; it is simple enough. May I -have paper and a pencil?” - -These were promptly furnished, and Cal made a hasty diagram. - -“You see, Lieutenant, there is a little creek or estuary here. It is -very narrow, especially at the mouth, and it runs inland for only a few -miles. I can’t find it on the chart. Probably it is too insignificant -to be noted there. You observe that it runs in a tortuous course, -‘slantwise’ to the shore, and keeping always within a comparatively -short distance of the broad water, thus forming a sort of tongue of -land. - -“A little further along the shore of the broader water is another -little estuary or cove, only a few hundred yards in its total length, -but that length extends toward the creek on the other side, so that -only about half a mile or less of swamp and thicket separates the two. - -“Right there, about midway between the two, those thieves have their -den. They can approach it in their boats from either side, coming up -the creek or entering the cove, and in either case landing within less -than a quarter of a mile of their thicket-hidden rendezvous. As both -the creek and the smaller estuary make a sharp bend near their mouths, -a boat slipping into either of them is at once lost to view. I wonder -if I have made the geography clear?” - -“Perfectly so, and I thank you. Our plan will be to send boats up both -the little waterways at once. Can we find their mouths, think you?” - -“I can, and Tom knows both of them. He and I will be your pilots.” - -“Thank you. But you know you may get shot in the mêlée and you are -under no sort of obligation to take that risk.” - -“Oh, we want to see the fun,” said Tom. “We’ll be with you, you may -depend.” - -“Is it your plan,” Larry asked after dinner that day, “to attack by -daylight?” - -“I think we must make the descent as promptly as possible. So I intend -to make it to-day, as soon as we get to that neighborhood.” - -Larry made no reply and the officer observed the fact. - -“What is it you have on your mind, Larry?” he asked. “Have you any -suggestion to offer?” - -“No, I would not presume to do that. I was only thinking that in a -daylight descent you might miss the game.” - -“Go on, please. Tell me all you had in mind.” - -“Well, for one thing, those rascals have a lookout tree from which -they can see for miles in every direction. We used it for purposes -of observation when we were there. It is true that they seem to visit -it very seldom, but they might happen to climb it just in time to see -this cutter hovering around. In that case they would probably go into -hiding somewhere. If not, they would at least keep a sharp lookout for -your boats. If you kept entirely away from there until night you would -probably take them by surprise. But of course you know best.” - -“I’m not so sure of that. What you suggest is a matter to be -considered. But I’m afraid to wait until night lest in the meantime the -rascals leave the place.” - -“That is possible,” said Cal, joining in the conversation for the first -time, “but it seems to me exceedingly unlikely.” - -“Why so, Cal?” - -“Well, we’ve pretty closely observed those gentry, and they seem to me -of that variety that does most of its comings and goings under cover -of darkness. If they were in their camp this morning they are pretty -sure to remain there until to-night. There is another point that Larry -didn’t suggest. If you attack the camp in daylight the ruffians can -easily save themselves by scattering and making their escape through -the well-nigh impenetrable swamp. They would have the advantage over -your men in that, as of course they know every little blind trail and -could avoid tangles in which your men would become hopelessly involved.” - -“But wouldn’t they be at still greater advantage in a night attack?” - -“I think not. They will probably get blind drunk by night, for one -thing. They’re apt to sleep profoundly. We can land without being seen, -and once ashore, we can creep clear up to their lair without alarming -them. Then we’ll be on them with our boot heels as it were.” - -“Why do you think they won’t be on the alert at night, with pickets out -and all that?” - -“Because we’ve experimented,” answered Cal. “We’ve crept up to the very -edge of their camp and watched them there by the hour. Tom here even -entered one of the hovels where they bestow the smuggled goods.” - -The officer was much impressed with these suggestions. He meditated for -a while, and then exclaimed: - -“If I could only know whether they are still there or not! I’d give ten -dollars to know that!” - -“You can get the job done for less, Lieutenant,” said Tom, who was -always eager for perilous adventure and almost insanely reckless in his -pursuit of it. “If you’ll bring the cutter to anchor somewhere around -here and let me go ashore, I’ll find out all about it and not charge -you a cent either.” - -“What’s your plan?” - -“It isn’t much of a plan. It is only to go to the smugglers’ den, see -if they are there, and then come back and tell you.” - -“But—” - -“Oh, it’s easy enough. The smugglers can’t see the cutter so long as -she’s in this bay, even if they climb to the top of their lookout tree. -I’m sure of that, because I’ve tried to see the bay from there and -couldn’t, although I knew just where it lay.” - -At this point the lieutenant interrupted: - -“Pardon me a moment. I’ll bring her to anchor.” - -Before he returned to the company a minute or so later, the engines -stopped, and as he sat down the boys heard the chains rattle as the -anchor was cast overboard. - -“Now go ahead, please, and tell me all about your plan,” the officer -said with eager interest. - -“Well, it isn’t more than three or four miles, I should say, from this -point to the mouth of our creek, and the tide is with me all the way. -If you’ll set our dory in the water and Cal will go with me to help -row—” - -“We’ll all four go, of course,” said Larry. - -“In that case, we can put ourselves back at our old camp in about an -hour with such a tide as this to help us. When we land there I’ll go at -once to the lookout tree, climb to the very top of it and see what is -going on. Then, if there’s anything more to be found out, I’ll creep -down to the neighborhood of the rascals’ place and take a closer look. -When the dory gets back here I can tell you all you want to know.” - -“Excellent!” exclaimed the officer. “Only, instead of having you boys -row the dory all that way, I’ll have you taken to the place you want to -reach in a ship’s boat.” - -“They might see that,” objected Tom, “and take the alarm, while if they -see the dory returning to her old anchorage they’ll think nothing about -it. Besides, we don’t mind a little rowing. The tide’s with us going, -and if necessary, we can stay up there in the creek till it turns and -is ready to help us come back.” - -“There won’t be any waiting,” said Cal. “It’ll turn just about the time -we get there—or even before that if we don’t get away from here pretty -quick.” - -“Very well,” said the lieutenant. “The plan is yours, Tom, and you -shall have your own way in carrying it out.” - -A hurried order from the commanding officer, a little well-directed -scurrying on the part of the seamen, and the _Hunkydory_ lay alongside, -ready for her crew to drop from a rope ladder into her. - -They nimbly did so, and as they bent to their oars they passed around a -point and out of sight of the cutter. - - - - -XXII - -TOM DISCOVERS THINGS - - -BY advice of the lieutenant, the boys left their shotguns on board the -cutter and carried instead the short, hard-shooting repeating rifles -that he furnished them. Armed in this way, each could fire many shots -in rapid succession, instead of the two which alone their shotguns -permitted. - -“We can defend ourselves now if the gang discovers and assails us,” -said Larry, with a satisfied smile. “With these guns we’re a good -deal more than a match for those ten smugglers armed as they are with -nothing better than pistols. By the way, Tom, what’s the plan of -campaign?” - -“That’s for you to say,” Tom answered. “You’re the captain.” - -“Not a bit of it this time,” responded Larry. “This is _your_ -expedition and you must manage it in your own way.” - -“That’s only fair,” said Dick. “Tom has undertaken to go ashore, find -out certain facts and report them. We’re here to help him in any way -he wishes, but he is responsible for results and must choose his own -methods.” - -“I congratulate you, Dick, on having another lucid interval,” broke -in Cal, who could never endure seriousness for long. “‘Pon my word, -they’re growing more and more frequent and by the time we get back to -Charleston we’ll have to discharge you as ‘cured.’” - -“Stop your nonsense, Cal,” said Larry, “and let Tom give us our -instructions.” - -“Fortunately, I’m under no sort of obligation to stop my nonsense at -your command, Larry, as by your own voluntary declaration you’re not -captain of this special trip ashore, and Tom is.” - -“All right,” said Tom, laughing. “I’ll give the order myself. Stop your -nonsense till I get through mine—for I dare say you’ll all think my -plan is nonsensical.” - -“All right as to that,” said Larry, “but what is your plan? It doesn’t -matter what we think of it.” - -“Well, then, my notion is not to pull the _Hunkydory_ up on shore, but -to anchor her at our old landing, so that we can handle her quickly -in case of need. Two of you are to stay by her—that will be you and -Dick, Larry. If we should be discovered, and those rascals should want -to catch us, their first effort would be to get possession of our -boat and put us into a trap. So you two will stay with the dory, and -if you are in trouble, Cal and I will come to your assistance as fast -as our legs can carry us. Cal will go with me to the lookout tree and -stay there while I creep down to the lair of the thieves. If I get -into trouble he’ll know it and signal you by firing one shot. Then, of -course, you’ll all come to my support. How does that strike you as a -plan, Larry?” - -“A Lee or a Grant couldn’t make a better one. Here we are at the mouth -of the creek.” - -“Isn’t it ridiculous?” asked Cal, as they turned into the inlet. - -“Isn’t what ridiculous—the creek, or its mouth, or what?” Tom -responded. - -“Why, the way things keep turning themselves around. First, the -gentleman with the impaired walking apparatus, representing the -smugglers, mistook us for officers or agents of the revenue, and sought -to make prisoners of us by getting possession of our boat, so that we -had to disarm him in self-defense. Next, the officers of the revenue -mistook us for the smugglers and we had to defend ourselves against -them. Now we are helping our later assailants to capture our foes of an -earlier date. Wonder if we shall presently have to join the smugglers -and assist them against the revenue people?” - -“That last question answers itself, Cal,” said Tom; “and if it didn’t, -there’s no time to discuss it now, for here we are at the landing. Run -her head to the shore, fellows, and let Cal and me jump out. Then back -her out a little way and anchor her. I leave you in charge of the ship -in my absence, Lieutenant Larry. You have your instructions; see that -you obey them to the letter.” - -With footsteps quickened by eager interest, Tom and Cal were not long -in making the journey to the lookout tree. Tom climbed it to the top -and very carefully studied what lay before him. Cal, who was watching -him, observed that he seemed specially interested by something over to -the left where the creek lay, and perhaps a little puzzled by it. But -he asked no questions as Tom hurried from the tree-top and set off down -the blind trail. - -He was gone for so long a time—nearly two hours—that Cal became very -uneasy about him, but at last he came out of the thicket and set off -toward the dory’s anchorage at as rapid a trot as the nature of the -ground would permit. He said nothing to Cal except the three words: “We -must hurry,” and as he neared the landing, he called out: - -“Up anchor, quick.” - -Then as the boat was moved toward the shore he impatiently waded out -to meet her in water leg-length deep. Cal followed, though he did not -know the cause of Tom’s hurry. - -“Are they after us?” asked Larry and Dick, both speaking at once. - -“No. But we must hurry or it’ll be too late.” - -In response Larry shipped his oars as the mouth of the creek was passed -and, with Dick’s assistance, stepped the mast, hoisted sail and let the -sheet run out until the boom was almost at right angles with the keel. - -“There’s a stiff wind,” he said by way of explanation, “and it’s almost -exactly astern. We can make better time with the sails. Here, Dick, -you’re the best sailor; take the helm and get all you can out of the -breeze.” - -“Don’t hug the port rail so close,” Dick ordered; “trim toward the -kelson and let her heel over to starboard; there, that will do; she -makes her best running with the rail awash.” - -As they sped on, nobody asked Tom what the occasion for his hurry -was. He seemed still out of breath for one thing, and for another the -rush of the dory’s rail through the water made it difficult to hear -words spoken in an ordinary tone, for though the wind was steadily -freshening, Dick refused to spill even a capful of it. He was sailing -now for speed, and he wanted to get all he could out of the wind. But -chief among the reasons for not asking questions was the instinctive -courtesy of Tom’s comrades. They realized that he had discovered -something of importance, and they felt that he ought to have the -pleasure of himself reporting it to the commanding officer of the -cutter before telling anybody else about it. - -In the same spirit, when the dory was laid along the cutter’s side, -they held back to let Tom be the first to climb to the deck, where the -lieutenant was awaiting him. - -Tom’s excitement was gone, now that he had accomplished his purpose of -reaching the cutter before dark—a thing he had feared he might not -do. His report was made calmly, therefore, and with smiles rippling -over his face—smiles of rejoicing over his success, and other smiles, -prompted by recollections of what seemed to him the humorous aspects of -what he had seen and done. - -The report was utterly informal, of course; Tom was not used to -military methods. - -“They are all there, Lieutenant,” he began, “but they won’t be there -long after it grows dark. They’re preparing to leave to-night, as early -as they can get the drunken ones among them sober enough to sit on a -thwart and hold an oar.” - -“How do you know that, Tom?” - -“Why, I heard the boss brute say so while he was rousing one of the -drunkest of them into semi-consciousness by kicking him in the ribs -with force enough to break the whole basket I should think. I won’t -repeat his language—it wasn’t fit for publication—but the substance -of it was that the victim of his boot blows had ‘got to git a move onto -him’ because ‘them boats has got to git away from here jest as soon as -it’s good and dark.’” - -“Why, were you near enough to hear?” - -“Oh, yes. I wasn’t more than ten paces away from the pair at the time -that interesting conversation occurred.” - -“Tell us all about it, Tom—the whole story. There’s plenty of time. It -won’t be ‘good and dark,’ as criminals reckon such things, for nearly -two hours yet. Begin at the beginning.” - -“There isn’t any story in it,” said Tom, “but I’ll tell you what I -did. When I climbed to the top of the lookout tree, I saw first of all -that our game was still there. But I noticed that some of them—all -that weren’t drunk, I suppose—were busy. I couldn’t make out at that -distance what they were doing, but I thought they seemed to be carrying -things, not down to the cove where we saw them land the other night, -but over toward our creek, as we call it. I tried to see their landing -place there, but couldn’t. - -“Of course I had already found out all you wanted to know, but I wanted -to know something more. My curiosity was aroused, and I determined to -gratify it. So, sliding down, I made my way to my old hiding place in -the thicket near their camp. Then I saw what they were at. They were -taking the cigars and rum out of the little hovels they use as caches, -and carrying them over to their landing on the creek. I wondered why, -but I could not see the landing, so I had to let that remain as an -‘unexplored region,’ for the time being at least. - -“Presently the gentleman of the impaired locomotor attachments made -a final visit to the hut that stood nearest me—the one I had myself -entered on a previous occasion. As he came out and passed the boss -bully, he said: - -“‘That’s all they is in there.’ - -“‘Well, I’ll look and see for myself,’ said the boss, seeming to doubt -the veracity of his follower. He went into the hut and presently came -out, muttering: - -“‘Well, he told the truth for once—I didn’t ’spose he knew how.’ - -“As he walked away from the empty hovel it occurred to me that I might -find it a safer point of observation than the one I had. So I slipped -into it, and dug out one of the chinks in the log wall, to make a peep -hole. It was then that I saw the boss making a football of his follower -and heard him say what he did about getting the boats away. - -“That still further stimulated my curiosity. I wanted to see how nearly -the boats were loaded, and the sort of landing place they had, and all -the rest of it. So I determined to go over that way. It was slow work, -of course. The undergrowth was terribly tangled, and then the smugglers -were passing back and forth with their loads. As their path was often -very near me, I had to stop and lie down whenever I saw any of them -approaching. - -“I got down there at last and saw the boats. They were partly loaded, -but most of the freight was still on the bank. I suppose that was -because they wanted to get all the things there before bestowing them. -All the rum kegs that had been brought down were in the boats, while -all the cigars were piled on the banks. - -“I noticed one thing that puzzled me; instead of anchoring the boats -and loading them afloat, they had pulled them up on shore. As the tide -had begun to ebb, I wondered how they were to get them into the water -again after putting their cargoes aboard. However, that was their -business and not mine. I had seen all there was to see, so I slowly -crept back again till I reached the trail. Then I hurried for fear the -quarry would escape before we could get there with your boats. - -“That’s all there is to tell.” - -The lieutenant smiled his satisfaction as he commended Tom’s exploit, -adding: - -“We can let it ‘get good and dark’ before pouncing upon them. They -won’t get away in a hurry. They’ll have trouble getting their boats -afloat again. Indeed, they’ll probably wait for the next flood tide. -Anyhow, we won’t leave here till it is thoroughly dark. You’re sure you -can find your way into the creeks in the dark? It’s cloudy, and the -night promises to be very black.” - -“Oh, there’ll be no trouble about that,” answered Cal. - - - - -XXIII - -TOM AND THE MAN WITH THE GAME LEG - - -IT was very dark indeed when the ship’s boats, well manned and with -carefully muffled oars, set out for the capture. - -Tom was at the bow of one of them and Cal at that of the other, to act -as pilots. It was planned that these two boats should lead the way into -the two entrances, the others closely following. - -Silently the two fleets made their way to the two points of landing. -The one which passed up the creek halted as soon as it came within -sight of the landing where the smugglers were busily and noisily -trying to get their loaded boats afloat, a task in which they were -encountering much difficulty, as the lieutenant had foreseen that they -must. It was the lieutenant’s plan that his boats should lie there, -hidden by the darkness, until the men entering by the cove should land, -march across the neck of swamp, and take the smugglers in the rear, -thus cutting off all possibility of their escape into the bushes. - -As soon as he saw the signal light that Tom showed to announce the -readiness of the party he accompanied, the lieutenant rushed his boats -ashore, and the two revenue parties, without firing a shot, seized and -disarmed their foes, who, until their captors were actually upon them, -had had no dream of their coming. - -In the meanwhile, under the lieutenant’s previously given orders, the -cutter had slowly steamed up toward the mouth of the creek, where, at a -signal, she came to anchor. - -Hurriedly the captured booty was loaded into the ship’s boats and -carried to the revenue vessel. Then the smugglers’ camp was minutely -searched to see if any goods remained there, and the hovels were set on -fire. - -While all this was going on that curiosity on Tom’s part, which had -done so much already, was again at work. Tom wanted to know something -that was not yet clear to him, and he set to work to find out. -Detaching the lame smuggler from his companions, Tom entered into -conversation with him. Fortunately the man was sober now, and had been -so long enough to render him despondent. - -“You’re not fit for this sort of thing,” Tom said to him after he had -broken through the man’s moody surliness and silence. “With your game -leg and the brutal way the others treat you, I should think you’d have -got out of it long ago.” - -“They’d ’a’ killed me if I’d tried,” the man answered. - -“Well, they can’t do that now,” said Tom, “for they’re in for a term in -prison.” - -“But they’s others, jest as I told you that night you fellers caught me -at your boat. There’s the fellers up the creek what’s a-waitin’ this -minute for us to come up with the goods.” - -This was what Tom wanted to find out. - -“Yes, of course,” he replied; “they’ll be disappointed, won’t they? I -suppose they expect to get the goods well inland before morning?” - -“No, not exactly; but they’d ’a’ got ’em hid into a little store -they’ve got up there, so’s they could work ’em off up to Charleston or -down to Savannah, little at a time, like. Howsomever, the game’s up -now, and them what’s got all the profits out’n it’ll play pious an’ go -scot free, while us fellers what’s done all the work an’ took all the -risks has got to go to jail.” - -A new thought suddenly struck Tom. - -“_You_ needn’t, if I’m not mistaken. Anyhow, there’s a chance for you -that’s worth working for.” - -“What’s the good o’ talkin’ that away? Ain’t I ketched long o’ the -rest?” - -“Yes, of course. I was only thinking—” - -“What was you a-thinkin’?” - -“Oh, only that the revenue people would a good deal rather have the -‘others’ you speak of—the men further up the creek and the men behind -them—than to have you.” - -“I reckon they would, but what’s that got to do with it?” - -“Only that if you made up your mind to turn Government’s witness and -give the whole snap away; they’d be pretty apt to let you off easily.” - -The man sat silent for a time. At last he muttered: - -“First place, I don’t know enough. Them fellers ain’t no fools an’ they -ain’t a-lettin’ fellers like me into their secrets. I ain’t never seed -any of ’em, ‘ceptin’ the storekeeper up that away what takes the stuff -from us, an’ pays us little enough for gittin’ it there. ’Sides that, -them fellers has got money an’ lots o’ sense. Even ef I know’d all -about it an’ ef I give it away, ’twould be only the wuss for me. They’d -have me follered to the furdest corner o’ the earth an’ killed like a -dog at last. No, ’tain’t no use. I’ve got to take my medicine. Time for -runnin’ away is past, an’ I ain’t got but one good leg to run with, you -see.” - -“What made you lame, anyhow?” asked Tom, by way of keeping up the -conversation without seeming too insistent on his suggestion that the -man should confess. - -“That bully with the red face—our captain, as he calls hisself. He -kicked my hip out’n jint one day when I was drunk, an’ seein’s they -wa’nt no doctor anywheres about, he sot it hisself, an’ sot it wrong -somehow. Anyhow, I’d like to do him up if I could.” - -Tom noted the remark and the vindictive tone in which it was made, but -he did not reply to it at once. Instead, he said: - -“They must pay him better than they do the rest of you?” - -“Him? You bet! He gits a lot out’n the business, an’ he’s got dead -oodles and scads o’ money put away in the bank. He’s close in with -the big ones what’s backin’ the game. It was him what set it up fust -off—leastways him an’ Pedro Mendez.” - -“Who is Pedro Mendez?” - -“Oh, he’s—never you mind who he is. See here, young feller, you’s a -axin’ too many questions.” - -[Illustration: “NO, ’TAIN’T NO USE. I’VE GOT TO TAKE MY MEDICINE.” -_Page 225._] - -“Not too many for your good if you have sense enough to take my advice. -Listen to me! You know a great deal more about this lawless business -than you pretend. You know enough to make you a very valuable witness. -If you choose to help the revenue people in getting at the bottom of it -and breaking it up, they’re sure to let you off very easily, and as for -killing you, the people in the thing will have enough to do in looking -out for themselves without bothering about that after they get out of -jail.” - -Tom explained and elaborated this point, and at last the lame man began -to see hope ahead for himself. - -“Will they make a certain sure promise to let me off if I tell all I -know?” he asked. - -“No. They can’t do that, for if they did your testimony would be -worthless. But they always do let state’s witnesses off easily, and in -such a case as this they’re sure to do so. You can be very easy about -that.” - -“An’ they’d bear down all the harder on the cap’n when they found out -he was one o’ the big managers o’ the game, wouldn’t they?” - -“I should say they would give him the largest dose the law allows.” - -“I’ll do it then, jest to git even with him. I’ll do it even if they -don’t reckon it up much to my credit. How’ll I go about it?” - -“I’ll arrange that for you. I’ll tell the lieutenant who is in command -here that you’re ready to ‘give the snap away,’ and he’ll take your -statement. Then, when the time comes you’ll only have to go into court -and tell your story over again.” - -“But if them fellers finds out I’ve been chinnin’ with the lieutenant -they’ll kill me right there on board the ship.” - -“The lieutenant will take care of that. He’ll see that they have no -chance to get at you.” - -“Is that certain—sure—hard an’ fast?” - -“Yes—certain, sure, hard and fast,” answered Tom, with a gleefulness -that he found it difficult to keep out of his voice and manner. - -Going to the lieutenant and interrupting him in the directions he was -busily giving, Tom said under his breath: - -“Separate the lame man from the rest. He’ll confess, and it’s a big -story. The others will kill him if they suspect.” - -The lieutenant was quick to catch Tom’s meaning and to act upon it. -Turning to a petty officer he gave the order: - -“Take the prisoners aboard under a strong guard. The rest of the -freight can wait. Put the lame man in my boat and leave him behind -under a guard.” - -As the boats containing the prisoners moved off down the creek, Tom’s -curiosity again got the best of him. Turning to Larry he said: - -“They’re arresting these men without a warrant, Larry, and we’ve helped -them to do the very thing you said we ought to fight to prevent.” - -“No warrant is needed in this case. The gang has been ‘caught in the -act’ of committing crime, and caught with the goods on them.” - -“Oh, I see,” said Tom. “That makes all the difference in the world.” - - - - -XXIV - -THE LAME MAN’S CONFESSION - - -“COME, Tom, let’s go aboard,” said the lieutenant, as soon as the -boat that carried the prisoners was well away down the creek. “A -quartermaster can finish up what there is to do here, and I’m anxious -to let you boys get away on your sporting trip as soon as possible; but -I simply can’t let you go till—till we finish the matter you spoke -of just now. If we can manage that to-night I’ll send you on your way -rejoicing as early to-morrow morning as you please.” - -“Thank you for all of us,” said Tom, as the two, with the lame man and -his guards, seated themselves in the waiting boat; “but you mustn’t -think this thing has interfered with us. It has been right in our line -and strictly according to the programme.” - -“How is that?” the lieutenant asked, enjoying Tom’s evident relish for -the experience he had just gone through. - -“Why, you see we set out not merely for sport, but with the declared -purpose of seeking ‘sport and adventure.’ This thing has been sport to -us, and you’ll not deny that it has had a distinct flavor of adventure -in it.” - -“Tom, you ought to be a sailor or a soldier,” was the officer’s only -reply. - -As soon as they went aboard the lieutenant ordered the lame man taken -to his own cabin and the rest of the prisoners to the forehold under -a strong guard. When the other boys, who were closely following, came -over the side, he invited the four to go with him to his quarters. - -“Stop a minute, though. Tell me just what you’ve arranged, Tom, so that -I may know how to proceed.” - -“Well, I’ve drawn a little information out of the lame man and got him -to promise more—all he knows in fact, and that seems to be a good -deal. These outlaws are only the agents of conspirators ‘higher up,’ as -the phrase goes—ruffians hired by the conspirators to do the work and -take the risks, while the men higher up pocket all the proceeds except -the pittance allowed to their hired outlaws. The red-faced bully down -there, who acts as captain of the band, seems to be an exception to all -this. According to the lame man, that burly brute was the originator -of the conspiracy, he and some man named Pedro Mendez.” - -“What? Pedro Mendez?” interrupted the lieutenant. - -“That’s the name the lame man mentioned. Do you know Pedro, or know who -he is?” - -“I should say I do. He’s—by the way, he’s the owner of the good ship -_Senorita_, from whose cargo some of the smuggled goods came! Wait a -minute.” - -The officer pressed a button and a subordinate promptly appeared to -receive orders. - -“Tell Mr. Chisolm to get the ship under way as soon as all the boats -are aboard, and steam at full speed for Beaufort.” - -When the orderly had disappeared, the lieutenant exclaimed: - -“I must get to a telegraph office before morning, and we’ll have the -smiling Pedro under arrest in Baltimore before another night comes. Go -on, Tom! This is the biggest haul made in ten years and we have you -boys to thank for it. Go on, please.” - -“There isn’t much more for me to tell. The lame man will tell the -rest. He has a grudge against the red-faced captain—a life and death -enmity—I should say—and it is chiefly to get his foe into all -possible trouble that he is willing to tell all he knows. I’ve assured -him that if he gives the information necessary to secure the capture of -the whole gang and the breaking up the business, the authorities are -pretty sure to let him off easily.” - -“That’s all right. Now we’ll go to the cabin and see how much our man -can tell.” - -What the lame man told the lieutenant has no place in this story. He -knew, as Tom had supposed, practically all that was needed, and once -started in his story he told it all. - -It was taken down in shorthand as he told it, and after some -difficulties with the pen the man signed it, the four boys signing as -witnesses. A few days later the newspapers were filled with news of -a “stupendous Revenue capture” and the arrest of a number of highly -respectable men caught in a conspiracy to defraud the Government. - -When the confessing prisoner had been removed to secure quarters for -the night the officer shook hands warmly with the boys, saying: - -“You young men have rendered a much greater service to the Government -than you can well imagine, and as an officer commissioned by the -Government I want to thank you for it as adequately as I can. It is -not only that some smugglers have been captured as a result of what -you have done, and a lot of smuggled goods seized. That, indeed, is -the smallest part of it. This capture will make an end to this sort -of smuggling for all time. I was sent here six weeks ago expressly to -accomplish this purpose, and but for you young men and the assistance -you have given me I doubt that I should ever have accomplished it at -all, although, as you know, a half company of marines was furnished me -in addition to the ship’s own force, in order that I might be strong -enough for any emergency. - -“Now if I talked all night I couldn’t thank you enough. Let me turn to -another matter. I promised you to set you afloat at any point you wish, -and I’ll do it. But I’m taking you to Beaufort now because I _must_ get -to a telegraph office. As soon as I possibly can in the morning I’ll -steam to the point you choose.” - -“Beaufort suits us very well, indeed,” Larry answered. “You see we’re -short of stores and when we’re afloat again we’ll lay our course for a -region where no stores can be had except such as we can secure with our -shotguns.” - -“What stores do you need?” asked the officer. - -“Coffee, a side of bacon to fry fish with, two hams, and as many boxes -of ship biscuit as we can manage to stow away in our boat. That’s all, -except some salt, I think. I suppose we can buy all such things at -Beaufort. If not, we can go without them.” - -“No, you can’t buy them at Beaufort or anywhere else,” the lieutenant -answered; “because I’m going to furnish them from my own ship’s stores.” - -“But, Lieutenant,” said Larry, flushing, “your stores belong to the -Government, don’t they?” - -“Yes, certainly. What of that?” - -“Why, we can’t let you give us goods that belong to the Government.” - -“Oh, I see your scruple, but you’re wrong about the facts. It is a part -of every revenue cutter’s duty to provision craft in distress, and—” - -“But pardon me, we are not in distress. It is only that for our comfort -we need certain supplies that we are perfectly well able to buy, and -when we get to Beaufort a market will be open to us. We’ll provision -ourselves, if you don’t mind.” - -“I wish you’d let me do it. It is little enough, in all conscience, -considering the service you’ve rendered the Government.” - -“We didn’t do that for pay,” Larry answered. - -“I quite understand that. Still I have full authority to issue the -stores to you, and the disposition made of them will of course be set -forth in my official report.” - -“Thank you, very much, for your good will in the matter,” Larry said, -in a tone that left no chance for further argument, “but we prefer to -buy for ourselves. Then if you’ll have your men lower our boat, we’ll -say ‘Good-bye and good luck’ to you and take ourselves off your hands.” - -“That is final?” - -“Yes—final.” - -“Very well. It shall be as you say. But I’m sorry you won’t let me do -even so small a thing as that by way of showing you my gratitude.” - -A little later Larry sought out the lieutenant on deck. - -“I’ll tell you what you may do for us, Lieutenant, if you are still so -minded.” - -“Of course I am. I’ll do whatever you suggest. What is it?” - -“Why, write a brief letter to Tom and let me have it for delivery after -we get away from Beaufort. He’ll cherish that as long as he lives, -and you see after all it was Tom who did it all. He first found the -smugglers’ camp and investigated it; he made the later reconnoissance -on which you acted, and he led the—” - -“Say no more,” the lieutenant answered. “I’ll write the letter and give -it to you.” - -The lieutenant had another thought in mind; he did not mention it; -but when at last the boys got back to Charleston, they found a letter -awaiting each of them, a letter of thanks and commendation. Those -letters were not from the commanding officer of a revenue cutter, but -from the Secretary of the Treasury himself, and they were signed by his -own hand. - -All that occurred later, however. At present the story has to do only -with what further adventures the boys encountered in their coast -wanderings. - - - - -XXV - -A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS - - -THE _Hunkydory_ was loaded to the point of inconvenience when, about -noon, she set sail again. For it was the purpose of the boys to make -their way to Quasi quickly now, stopping only long enough here and -there to replenish their supply of game and fish, and they wanted to be -free to stay as long as they pleased at Quasi, when at last they should -reach that place, without being compelled to hurry away in search of -supplies. Accordingly they bought at Beaufort all the hard bread, -coffee and other such things that they could in any wise induce the -dory to make room for. - -“Never mind, Dory dear,” Cal said to the boat as he squeezed in a dozen -cans of condensed milk for which it was hard to find a place. “Never -mind, Dory dear; with four such appetites as ours to help you out, your -load will rapidly grow lighter, and when we get to Quasi we’ll relieve -you of it altogether.” - -It was planned to establish a comfortable little camp at Quasi, to hunt -and fish at will, to rest when that seemed the best thing to do, and to -indulge in that limitless talk which intelligent boys rejoice in when -freed for a time from all obligation to do anything else. In short, a -considerable period of camping at Quasi had come to be regarded as the -main purpose of the voyage. With their guns and their fishing tackle, -the boys had no concern for their meat supply, but, as Cal said: - -“We can’t expect to flush coveys of ship biscuit or catch coffee -on tight lines, so we must take as much as we can of that sort of -provender.” - -About two o’clock on the afternoon of the third day of their voyage -from Beaufort the boat was lazily edging her way through an almost -perfectly smooth sea, with just a sufficient suggestion of breeze to -give her steerage way. Tom was at the tiller, with next to nothing to -do there. Larry and Dick were dozing in the shadow of the mainsail, -while Cal, after his custom, was watching the porpoises at play and the -gulls circling about overhead and everything else that could be watched -whether there was any apparent reason for watching it or not. - -Presently he turned to Tom and, indicating his meaning by an -inclination of the head toward a peninsula five or six miles away, -which had just come into view as the boat cleared a marsh island, said: - -“That’s it.” - -“What’s it? and what is it?” asked Tom, too indolent now to disentangle -his sentences. - -“Quasi,” said Cal. - -“Where?” - -“Over the port bow. Change your course a little to starboard—there’s a -mud bank just under water ahead and we must sail round it.” - -“Quasi at last!” exclaimed Tom gleefully, as he pushed the helm to port -and hauled in the sheet a trifle in order to spill none of the all too -scanty breeze. - -Instantly Dick and Larry were wide awake, and for a time conversation -quickened as Cal pointed out the salient features of the land ahead. - -“How far away do you reckon it, Cal?” asked Dick. - -“About five miles.” - -“Is it clear water? Can we lay a straight course?” - -“Yes, after we clear this mud bank. A little more to starboard, Tom, or -you’ll go aground.” - -“We ought to make it by nightfall then,” said Larry—“unless this -plaything of a breeze fails us entirely.” - -“We’ll make it sooner than that,” said Dick, standing up and steadying -himself by the mast. “Look, Cal. There’s business in that.” - -Dick had seen white caps coming in between two islands ahead, and had -rightly judged that in her present position the dory was temporarily -blanketed by a great island that lay between it and the sea. - -“I don’t need to stand up,” answered Cal, “and it’s hot. I saw the sea -running in ahead. I’d have suggested a resort to the oars if I hadn’t. -As it is, we’ll toy with this infantile zephyr for half an hour more. -By that time we’ll clear the land here and set our caps on a little -tighter or have them carried away. That’s a stiff blow out there, and -by the way, we’re catching the ragged edges of it already. A little -more to starboard, Tom, and jibe the boom over.” - -“It’ll be windward work all the way,” said Larry, as he looked out -ahead. - -“So much the better,” said Cal, who found something to rejoice in in -every situation. “It’ll blow the ‘hot’ off us before we make Quasi, and -besides, there’s nothing like sailing on the wind if the wind happens -to be stiff enough.” - -“It’ll be stiff enough presently,” said Larry; then after looking about -for a moment, he added: “I only hope we sha’n’t ship enough water to -dampen down our clothes. The dory is _very_ heavily loaded.” - -“Don’t worry,” said Dick. “She’s built to carry a heavy load in a rough -sea and a high wind. In fact, she points up better and foots better, -carries herself better every way when she has a load on than when she -hasn’t.” - -“H’m!” muttered Cal, going to the helm where Tom was manifesting some -distrust of his own skill in the freshening wind and the “lumpy” seaway -they were beginning to meet. “I’ve known men to think they were like -the _Hunkydory_ in that.” - -“Diagram it, Cal,” said Larry. - -“Oh, I’ve seen men who thought they could do things better with a ‘load -on’ than without. Trim ship! I’m going to take the other tack.” - -Then, as the boat heeled over to starboard, her rail fairly making the -water boil, Cal completed his sentence. “But they were mistaken.” - -“It’s different with boats,” Dick answered; “and besides, the dory’s -‘load’ is of quite another sort.” - -Sailing on the wind with a skittish boat of the dory type is about as -exhilarating a thing, when the wind pipes high and the sea surges white -with foam, as can be imagined. In order that the pleasure of it might -not all be his, Cal presently surrendered the tiller to Dick, who in -his turn gave it over to Larry after his own pulses were set a-tingle. -Larry offered Tom his turn, but Tom modestly refused, doubting the -sufficiency of his skill for such work as this. - -“The tools to those who can use them, is sound philosophy, I think,” he -said in refusing. “Besides, I don’t want to be responsible if we turn -turtle before we reach Quasi, after all our trouble.” - -After half an hour or so of speedy windward work the _Hunkydory_ -drew near enough to Quasi for Cal to study details of the shore line -somewhat. Lying in the bow, just under the jib, he was silently but -diligently engaged in scrutinizing every feature he could make out in -a shore that lay half a mile or a trifle more away. The others asked -him questions now and then, but he made no answer. Under his general -instructions the dory was skirting along the shore, making short legs, -so as to maintain her half mile distance until Cal should find the -place he was looking for as a landing. - -Presently he turned and spoke to Dick, who was now at the tiller again. - -“Run in a quarter of a mile, Dick, and bring us nearer shore,” he said. - -Dick obeyed, while Cal seemed to be studying something on shore with -more than ordinary interest. Presently he said: - -“There’s something wrong over there. As soon as we round the point -ahead, Dick, you’ll have fairly sheltered water and sloping sands. -Beach her there.” - -“What is it, Cal? What’s the matter? Why do you say there’s something -wrong?” These questions were promptly hurled at Cal’s head by his -companions. - -“Look!” he answered. “Do you see the little flag up there on top of the -bluff? It is flying union down—a signal of distress. But I can’t make -out anybody there. Can any of you?” - -All eyes were strained now, but no living thing could be seen anywhere -along the shore. Tom ventured a suggestion: - -“The flag is badly faded and a good deal whipped out, as if it had been -flying there for a long time. Perhaps the people who put it up have all -died since.” - -“No, they haven’t,” answered Cal. - -“Why, do you see anybody?” - -“No. But I see a little curling smoke that probably rises from a half -burned-out camp-fire.” - -“It’s all right then?” half asked, half declared Tom. - -“You forget the flag flying union down, Tom. That isn’t suggestive of -all-rightness. Bring her around quick, Dick, and beach her there just -under the bluff!” - -Half a minute more and the dory lay with her head well up on the -sloping sand. The boys all leaped ashore except Larry, who busied -himself housing the mast and sails and making things snug. The rest -scrambled up the bluff, which was an earth bank about twenty feet high -and protected at its base by a closely welded oyster bank. - - - - -XXVI - -AN UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION - - -THERE was nobody near the half burned-out camp-fire, but there were -evidences in plenty of the fact that somebody had cooked and eaten -there that day. There were no cooking utensils lying about, but there -was a structure of green sticks upon which somebody had evidently -been roasting meat; there were freshly opened oyster shells scattered -around—“the beginnings of a kitchen midden,” Dick observed—and many -other small indications of recent human presence. Especially, Cal -noticed, that some smouldering brands of the fire had been carefully -buried in ashes—manifestly to serve as the kindlers of a fresh fire -when one should be needed. Finally, Tom discovered a hunting knife with -its point stuck into the bark of a tree, as if its owner had planned -to secure it in that way until it should be needed again, just as a -house-wife hangs up her gridiron when done with it for the time being. - -As the three were discovering these things and interpreting their -meaning, Larry joined them and suggested a search of the woods and -thickets round about. - -“Why not try nature’s own method first?” Tom asked. - -“How’s that?” - -“Yelling. That’s the way a baby does when it wants to attract -attention, and it generally accomplishes its purpose. That’s why I call -it nature’s own method. Besides, it covers more ground than looking -can, especially in an undergrowth as thick as that around this little -open spot.” - -“It is rather thick,” said Larry, looking round him. - -“Thick? Why, a cane brake is wind-swept prairie land in comparison. -Let’s yell all together and see if we can’t make the hermit of Quasi -hear.” - -The experiment was tried, not once, but many times, with no effect, and -a search of the immediate vicinity proved equally futile. - -“There seems to be nothing to do but wait,” Larry declared, at last. -“The man in distress must have gone away in search of food. He is -starving perhaps, and—” - -“Not quite that,” said Cal. “He may be craving a tapioca pudding or -some other particular article of diet, but he isn’t starving.” - -“How do you know, Cal?” - -“Oh, it is only that he has a haunch of venison—sun-crusted for -purposes of preservation—hanging in that tree there”—pointing—“and -unless he is more different kinds of a lunatic than the chief engineer -of any insane asylum ever heard of, he wouldn’t starve with that on -hand.” - -“Perhaps it is spoiled,” said Tom, looking up the tree where the -venison hung and where Cal alone had seen it. - -“It isn’t spoiled, either,” answered Cal, with assurance. - -“But how can you tell when you’re ten or twenty feet away from it?” Tom -stopped to ask. - -“The carrion crows can tell at almost any distance,” Cal returned, “and -if it were even tainted, they’d be quarreling over it.” - -Tom was not satisfied, and so he climbed the tree to inspect. Sliding -down again, he gave judgment: - -“Why, the thing’s as black as ink and as hard as the bark of a white -oak tree. It’s dried beef—or dried venison, rather.” - -“You’re mistaken, Tom,” said Larry. “It is sun-crusted, as Cal said, -but that’s very different. Inside it is probably as juicy as a steak -from a stall-fed ox.” - -“What do you mean by ‘sun-crusted,’” asked Dick. - -“Oh, I see,” Larry answered. “You and Tom are not familiar with our way -of preserving meat in emergencies. When we are out hunting and have a -joint of fresh red meat that we want to keep fresh, we don’t salt it -or smoke it or do anything of that sort to it. We just hang it out in -the very strongest sunlight we can find. In a brief while the surface -of the meat is dried into a thin black crust as hard as wood, and after -that it will keep for days in any cool, shady place. Flies cannot bore -through the hard crust, and the air itself is shut out from the meat -below the surface.” - -“How long will it keep in that way?” - -“How long, Cal?” asked Larry, referring the question to his brother’s -larger experience. - -“That depends on several things,” Cal answered. “I’ve kept meat in that -way for a week or ten days, and at other times I’ve eaten my whole -supply at the first meal. But I say, fellows, we’re wasting precious -time. The night cometh when no man can work, and we have a good deal to -do before it comes. We must find a safe anchorage for the _Hunkydory_ -and set up a camp for ourselves. In aid of that we must find fresh -water, and I have an idea we’ll find that somewhere along under the -line of bluffs—at some point where they trend well back from the shore -with a sandy beach between. The hermit must get water from somewhere -near, and there’s no sign of any around here.” - -Cal’s conjecture proved to be right. A little spring at the foot of the -bluff had been dug out and framed around with sticks to keep the margin -from crumbling. - -Obviously this was the hermit’s source of water supply. - -“But why in the name of common sense,” said Larry, “didn’t he set up -his Lares and Penates somewhere near the spring?” - -“I can think of two reasons,” Cal answered, “either of which is -sufficient to answer your question.” - -“Go ahead—what are they?” - -“One is, that he may be a crank, and another is, that he may be a -prudent, sensible person, preferring comfort with inconvenience, to -convenience with discomfort.” - -“Now, then, Sphinx, unravel your riddle.” - -“Its meaning ought to be obvious,” Cal drawled, “but as it isn’t, I’ll -explain it. The man is probably a crank. If not, he wouldn’t have set -up a signal of distress and then have gone away and hidden himself so -that if rescuers came they couldn’t find him. To a crank like that any -foolishness is easily possible. On the other hand, if he happens to be -a man of practical common sense—as there is equally good reason to -believe—he would very naturally pitch his camp up where it is, rather -than here where you fellows are already fighting the sand flies that -will be heavily reinforced toward nightfall.” - -“That’s so!” said the others. - -“Of course it’s so. Anybody would know that, after slapping his cheeks -till they feel as if they had been cured with mustard plasters, and -weren’t half well yet.” - -“What shall we do, Cal?” Tom asked. - -“Why, imitate the hermit and improve upon his ideas.” - -“You mean—” began Larry. - -“I mean we must go up on the bluff and pitch our camp a hundred yards -or so back from the beach. Otherwise we shall all be bored as full of -holes as a colander before we stretch our weary limbs upon mother earth -for sleep.” - -“That’s all right,” said Tom, “but you haven’t told us about the -improvement upon the hermit’s ideas. Do you mean we should go farther -back from the water?” - -“No, I didn’t mean that, though we’ll do it. I meant that instead of -carrying water from this brackish spring we’ll dig a well where we -pitch our tent of palmete leaves.” - -“But you said—” - -“I know I did; but that was in swampy land where the only water to -be had by digging was an exudation from muck. It is very different -here. These bluffs and all the high ground that lies back of them -are composed of clean clay and clean sand. Look at the bank and see -for yourself. Now all we’ve got to do to get sweet, wholesome water -anywhere on the higher land—which isn’t as high a little way back as -it is here at the face of the bluff—is to dig down to the level of the -sea. There we’ll find sea water that has been freed from salt and all -other impurities by siping through a mixture of clay and sand that is -as perfect a filter as can be imagined.” - -“Now if you’ve finished that cataract of words, Cal,” said Larry, “we -must get to work or night will be on us before we’re ready for it. You -go and pick out a camping place, and the rest of us will follow you -with things from the boat. We can dig the well and build a shelter -to-morrow.” - -But Tom and Dick were full of enthusiasm, now that they had at last got -to Quasi, and they had both tasted the water of the spring. Its flavor -strongly stimulated their eagerness for something more palatable. - -“Why not begin the well now—as soon as we get the things up from the -boat?” asked Dick. “There’ll be a moon nearly full, and the sea breeze -here is cool. I for one am ready to dig till midnight.” - -“I’ll dig all night,” said Tom, “rather than take another swig of that -stuff. If we work hard we can get the well in commission before we use -all the water left in the kegs.” - -“We sha’n’t have to dig all night,” said Cal. “I’ll pick out a place -where we needn’t go down more than eight or nine feet, and this sandy -earth is easily handled. If we’re really industrious and don’t waste -more time over supper than we must, we’ll strike water within a few -hours, and it’ll be settled and clear by morning. But we must hustle -if we’re to do that. So load yourselves up while I pick out a camp and -I’ll join the caravan of carriers in the next load.” - -It was necessary, of course, to remove everything from the boat to -the bivouac, as it was the purpose of the company to make this their -headquarters for several weeks to come, or at least for as long as -they liked. - -It was nearly sunset, therefore, when that part of the work was done, -and it was decreed that Larry should get supper while the rest worked -at well-digging. - -As there remained no fresh meat among their stores, Larry’s first task -was to go out with his gun in search of game. Squirrels were abundant -all about the place, and very easily shot, as they had never been -hunted. As the time was short, Larry contented himself with the killing -of a dozen or so of the fat rodents, suppressing for the time being -his strong impulse to go after game of a more elusive and therefore -more aristocratic sort. He did indeed take one shot at a flock of -rice birds, killing a good many of them, but mutilating their tender -little butter-balls of bodies because he used bird shot instead of the -“mustard seed” size, which alone is fit for rice-bird shooting. - -On his return to the bivouac to cook his game, he found the well -already sunk to nearly half the required depth, and by the time he was -ready to bid his comrades cease their work and come to supper, at least -another foot had been added to its depth. - -The work was easy, not only because the sandy soil was easily shoveled -out without the use of picks or spades, but because of the form Cal’s -observation of other temporary well digging had taught him to give to -the excavation. - -“We’re not really digging a well,” he explained at the outset. “We’re -only scooping out a basin in order to get to water. So instead of -working in a narrow hole, we’ll take a bowl for our model—a bowl eight -or ten feet across at the top and growing rapidly narrower as we go -down. Working in that way, we’ll not only get on faster and with less -labor, but we’ll spare ourselves the necessity of cribbing up the sides -of our water hole to keep them from falling in. Besides, the farther -down we get the less work each additional foot of digging will cost us.” - -When Larry announced supper, all the company admitted that they “had -their appetites with them”; but Cal did not at once “fall to” as the -others did. Instead, he went into the woods a little way, secured a -dry, dead and barkless stick about five feet long, and drove it into -the bottom of the excavation. Pulling it out again after waiting -for twenty or thirty seconds, he closely scrutinized its end. Then, -measuring off a part of it with his hands so placed as to cover -approximately a foot of space at each application, he tossed the stick -aside and joined the others at their meal. - -Nobody interrupted the beginning of his supper by asking him questions, -but after he had devoured two or three rice birds the size of marbles -and had begun on the hind leg of a broiled squirrel which lay upon an -open baked sweet potato, he volunteered a hint of what he had been -doing. - -“As nearly as I can measure it with my hands, we’ll come to water -about three feet further down, boys. We’ve acquitted ourselves nobly -as sappers and miners, and are entitled to take plenty of time for -supper and a good little rest afterwards—say till the moon, which is -just now coming up out of its bath in the sea out there, rises high -enough to shine into our hole. That will be an hour hence, perhaps, and -then we’ll shovel sand like plasterers making mortar. It won’t take us -more than an hour or so to finish the job, and we’ll get to sleep long -before midnight.” - -“How did you find out how far down the water was, Cal,” asked Tom, -who was always as hungry for information as a school boy is for green -apples or any other thing that carries a threat of stomach ache with it. - -“Why, I drove a dry stick down—one that would show a wetting if it got -it—till it moved easily up and down. I knew then that it had reached -the water-saturated sand. I pushed it on down till the upper end was -level with our present bottom. Then I drew it out and measured the dry -part and six inches or so of the wet. That told me how far down we must -go for the water.” - -“It’s very simple,” said Tom. - -“I’ve noticed that most things are so when one understands them,” said -Dick. “For example—” - -What Dick’s example was there is now no way of finding out, for at that -point in his little speech the conversation was interrupted by a rather -oddly-dressed man who broke through the barrier of bushes and presented -himself, bowing and smiling, to the company. - - - - -XXVII - -THE HERMIT OF QUASI - - -THE newcomer was a man of fifty or fifty-five years of age. He was -slender, but rather with the slenderness of the red Indian than with -that suggestive of weakness. Indeed, the boys observed that his muscles -seemed to be developed out of proportion to his frame, as if he had -been intended by nature for a scholar and had made an athlete of -himself instead. - -There was not an ounce of unnecessary fat upon his person, and yet he -gave no sign of being underfed. Instead his flesh had the peculiar -hardness of the frontiersman’s who eats meat largely in excess of other -foods. - -A little strip across the upper part of his forehead, which showed as -he stood there with his hat removed, suggested that his complexion -had once been fair, but that exposure had tanned it to the color of a -saddle. - -His costume was an odd one, but it was made of the best of materials, -now somewhat worn, but fit still to hold their own in comparison with -far newer garments of cheaper quality. Perhaps they were aided in this -by the fact that they had evidently been made for him by some tailor -who knew how to make clothes set upon their wearer as if they were a -part of him. - -Yet his dress was perfectly simple. He wore a sort of Norfolk jacket -of silk corduroy—a cloth well nigh as durable as sole leather—with -breeches of the same, buttoned at and below the knee, and covered at -bottom with close-fitting calf-skin leggings of the kind that grooms -and dandy horsemen affect. - -The hat he held in his hand, as he addressed the company that had -courteously risen to receive him, was an exceedingly limp felt affair, -soft to the head, light in weight and capable of assuming any shape its -wearer might choose to give it. His shoes were Indian moccasins. - -No sign of linen appeared anywhere about his person, but just above the -top button of his jacket a bit of gray flannel shirt showed in color -harmony with his other garments. - -“Good evening, young gentlemen,” he said; “I trust I do not intrude, -and if I do so it shall not be for long. My name is Rudolf Dunbar. May -I ask if you young gentlemen are the rescuers I have been hoping to -see during the three or four weeks that I have been marooned on this -peninsula which nobody seems ever to visit?” - -“We are here to rescue you if you so desire,” answered Larry, “but we -set out with no such purpose. We were on our way here to fish, hunt, -live in the open air and be happy in natural ways for a time. We -caught sight of your signal of distress and hurried ourselves as much -as possible, fearing that your distress might be extreme. As we found -your camp showing no signs of starvation or illness, and could not find -you, we set to work to establish ourselves for a prolonged stay here -and wait for you to return. It seemed the only thing to do under the -circumstances.” - -“Quite right! Quite right! and I thank you for your kindly impulse. But -you should have taken possession of my camp, making it your own—at -least until you could establish yourselves more to your liking. I don’t -know, though—my camp is bare of everything, so that you’re better off -as you are.” - -As he paused, Larry introduced himself and his comrades by name, and -offered the stranger the hospitality of their camp, inviting him -especially to sit down and share their supper. - -He accepted the invitation, and after a little Larry said to him: - -“May I ask the nature of your distress here, and how pressing it is? We -are ready, of course, to take you to the village over yonder, ten or a -dozen miles away, at any time you like. From there you can go anywhere -you please.” - -“Thank you very much. My distress is quite over now. Indeed, I am not -accustomed to let circumstances distress me overmuch. I found myself -marooned here, and naturally I wanted to establish communication with -the mainland again—or the possibility of such communication. But if -it had been necessary I could have remained here for a year in fair -contentment. Long experience has taught me how to reconcile myself with -my surroundings, whatever they may be, and game and fish are plentiful -here. May I ask how long you young gentlemen have planned to remain -here?” - -“Three or four weeks, probably,” answered Larry. “But as I said before, -we’ll set you ashore on the mainland at any time you like.” - -“Thank you very much. But if it will be quite agreeable to you, I’ll -remain here as long as you do. I haven’t finished my work here, and the -place is extremely favorable for my business. If my presence is in any -way annoying—” - -“Oh, not at all. We shall build a comfortable shelter to-morrow, and -we’ll be glad to have you for our guest. As you see, we’re digging a -well, and we’ll have good sweet water by morning.” - -“That is very wise. I should have dug one myself if I had had any sort -of implement to dig with, but I have none.” - -“And so you’ve had to get on with the rather repulsive water from the -spring down there?” - -“Yes, and no. I have used that water, but I distil it first. You -see, in my peculiar business, I must wander in all sorts of places, -wholesome and unwholesome, and it is often impossible to find good -water to drink. So for years past I have always carried a little -distilling apparatus of my own devising with me. It is very small and -very light, and, of course, when I have to depend upon it for a water -supply, I must use water very sparingly. I think I must bid you good -evening now, as I did not sleep at all last night. I will see you in -the morning.” - -“We’ll expect you to join us at breakfast,” said Larry. - -“It will give me great pleasure to do so. Good night.” - -With that he nimbly tripped away, leaving the boys to wonder who and -what he was, and especially what the “business” was that he had not -yet finished at Quasi. Cal interrupted the chatter presently, saying: - -“We’ve annexed a riddle, and you’re wasting time trying to guess it -out. Nobody ever did guess the answer to a riddle. Let’s get to work -and finish the well.” - -The boys set to work, of course, but they did not cease to speculate -concerning the stranger. Even after the well was finished and when they -should all have been asleep they could not drive the subject from their -minds. - -“I wonder how he got here, anyhow,” said Tom, after all the other -subjects of wonder had been discussed to no purpose. “He has no boat -and he couldn’t have got here without one.” - -“What I wonder,” said Dick, “is why and how his ‘business’ has -compelled him to wander in out-of-the-way places, as he says he has.” - -“_I_ am wondering,” said Cal, sleepily, “when you fellows will stop -talking and let me go to sleep. You can’t find out anything by -wondering and chattering. The enigma will read itself to us very soon.” - -“Do you mean he’ll tell us his story?” asked Tom. - -“Yes, of course.” - -“Why do you think he’ll do that?” - -“He can’t possibly help it. When a man lives alone for so long as he -has done, he must talk about himself. It’s the only thing he knows, and -the only thing that seems to him interesting.” - -“There’s a better reason than that,” said Larry. - -“What is it?” - -“Why, that he is obviously a gentleman. A gentleman wouldn’t think of -coming here to remain indefinitely as our guest without letting us know -who and what he is and all the rest of it.” - -“_Finis!_” said Cal. - -Silence followed, and soon the little company was dreaming of queerly -dressed marooners carrying flags union down. - - - - -XXVIII - -RUDOLF DUNBAR’S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF - - -CAL and Larry were right. Both out of a sense of duty to his -entertainers and because of a not unnatural impulse to tell of his -unusual mode of life, Dunbar began the very next morning to talk freely -of his experiences. - -“It is proper that I explain to you how I came to be here without the -means of getting away again,” he said at breakfast. “Indeed, I was a -little troubled in my mind last night when I remembered that I had -received your kindly offer of rescue without telling you that. But in -my anxiety to get away from your bivouac and let you sleep, I forgot it. - -“You see my entire life is spent in the woods or upon the water. I -go wherever there is promise of anything to reward the labors of a -naturalist, and when I heard of this long-abandoned plantation, where -for twenty-five years or so Nature has had things all her own way, I -knew a visit would be richly worth while. So I purchased a little -rowboat and came over here about three or four weeks ago. I cannot fix -the time more definitely because I never can keep accurate account -of the days or weeks, living alone in the woods as I do and having -no engagements to fulfill. I pulled my boat up on the beach a little -way, selected a place in which to live, and proceeded to remove my -things from the boat to the place chosen. Unfortunately, just as I -had finished doing so, a peculiar moth attracted my attention—a moth -not mentioned or described in any of the books, and quite unknown to -science, I think. I went at once in chase of it, but it led me a merry -dance through the thickets, and it was two hours, I should say—though -I carry no timepiece—before I caught the creature. In the meanwhile I -had forgotten all about my boat, and when I got back I saw it drifting -out to sea with quite a strong breeze to aid the tide in carrying -it away. It seems the tide had reached the flood during my absence, -setting the boat afloat, and had then begun to ebb, carrying her away. - -“There was nothing to be done, of course, but hoist my little flag, -union down, and go on with the very interesting task of studying the -habits of my new moth, of which I have since found several specimens, -besides three cocoons which I am hatching in the hope that they will -prove to belong to the species. I’ve been hard at work at that task -ever since, and I have made some very interesting discoveries with -regard to that moth’s choice of habitat. I made the most important one -the night before you arrived. That is why I got no sleep that night.” - -“Let us hope,” said Cal, “that the excitement of it did not interfere -with your rest last night.” - -“Oh, not at all. I am never excited, and I can sleep whenever I choose. -I have only to lie down and close my eyes in order to accomplish that.” - -“Then you have a shelter or hut up there somewhere—though we saw none?” - -“Oh, no. I never sleep under shelter of any kind; I haven’t done so -for more than twenty years past. Indeed, that is one of the conditions -upon which I live at all. My health is good now, but it would fail me -rapidly if I slept anywhere under a roof.” - -“But when these heavy subtropical rains come?” asked Dick. - -“Ah, I am prepared for them. I have only to spread one rubber cloth on -the ground and a much thinner one over my blanket, and I take no harm.” - -“Your specialty then is the study of butterflies and moths?” asked -Dick. - -“No, not at all. Indeed I have no specialty. When I was teaching I held -the chair of Natural History, with several specialists as tutors under -my general direction. When my health broke down—pray, don’t suppose I -am going to weary you with a profitless catalogue of symptoms—I simply -had to take to the woods. I had nobody dependent upon me—nobody for -whom it was my duty to provide then or later. I had a little money, -very little, but living as I do I need very little, and my work yields -me a good deal more than I need or want. The little rifle I always have -with me provides me with all the food I want, so that I am rarely under -expense on that account.” - -“But you must have bread or some substitute,” said Tom. - -“I do not find it necessary. When I have access to starchy foods—of -which there are many in tropical and subtropical forests if one knows -how to find and utilize them—I eat them with relish, but when they -are not to be had I get on very well without them. You see man is an -omnivorous animal, and can live in health upon either starchy or flesh -foods. It is best to have both, of course, unless the starchy foods are -perverted as they so often are in civilized life, and made ministers to -depraved appetites.” - -“May I ask just how you mean that?” asked Dick. - -“Yes, certainly. The starch we consumed last night in the form of sweet -potatoes was altogether good for us; so is that we are taking now in -these ship biscuits. But if the flour we are eating had been mixed with -lard, sugar, eggs, milk and the like, and made into pastry, we should -be greatly the better without it. - -“However, I’m not a physician, equipped to deliver a lecture on -food stuffs and their preparation. I was betrayed into that by your -question. I was explaining the extreme smallness of my personal needs. -After food, which costs me nothing, comes clothing, which costs me very -little.” - -“Why certainly you are expensively dressed for woodland wandering,” -said Dick. Then instantly he began an apology for the reference to so -purely personal a matter, but Rudolf Dunbar interrupted him. - -“No apology is due. I was voluntarily talking of my own personal -affairs, and your remark was entirely pertinent. My garments are made -of very costly fabrics, but as such materials endure all sorts of hard -usage and last for a very long time, I find it cheaper in the end to -buy only such; more important still is the convenience of it, to one -leading the sort of life I do. Instead of having to visit a tailor -three or four times a year, I have need of his services only at long -intervals. The garments I now have on were made for me in London three -years or so ago, and I have worn no others since. In the meanwhile -I have been up the Amazon for thousands of miles, besides visiting -Labrador and the southern coast of Greenland. - -“That brings me to my principal item of expense, which is the passage -money I must pay in order to get to the regions I wish to explore. That -costs me a good deal at each considerable removal, but in the meanwhile -I have earned greatly more by my work. - -“But pardon me for prosing so about myself. I’ll say not another word -now, so that you young gentlemen may be free to make whatever use -you wish of this superb day. I shall spend the greater part of it in -figuring some specimens with my colored crayons. Good morning!” - - - - -XXIX - -TOM FINDS THINGS - - -AS soon as the visitor disappeared through a tangled growth of bushes, -Larry began marking out the duties of the day. - -“First of all we must make ourselves comfortable,” he said, as if -reflecting. - -“That means a bush shelter of some sort,” interrupted Tom. - -“No, it doesn’t either,” Larry answered, in a tone of playfulness like -Tom’s own. - -“What does it mean, then?” - -“It means a shelter—not ‘of some sort’ as you say, but of a good sort. -The wind blows hard here sometimes as the place is so exposed to a -broad passage leading to the sea outside. So we must build something -that isn’t easily carried away by a squall.” - -“It would mean a good many other things,” said Cal, “if I were the -architect selected to make designs, with front elevations, floor plans, -estimates and all the other things they do before beginning to put up -a building.” - -“Why, of course, Cal, you are to direct the work,” answered Larry. “You -know more about such things than all the rest of us combined.” - -“Well, then, first of all, our palatial country residence must face -directly away from the sea,” said Cal. “If it had its wide open side -in any other direction we’d be drenched inside of it every time a rain -came in from the sea, and that is where nearly all the hard rains come -from here. Then, again, if the hovel faced the wrong way it would be -filled full of smoke every time a sea breeze blew, and in this exposed -place that is nearly all the time. There are seventeen other good -and sufficient reasons for fronting the structure in the way I have -decreed, but the two I have mentioned are sufficient to occupy and -divert your young minds as we go on with the work. Now let all hands -except Larry busy themselves chopping crotched poles of the several -dimensions that I’ll mark here in the sand, for lack of other and more -civilized stationery.” - -With a sharpened stick Cal began writing in the sand. - -“Four poles, 12 feet long, and three or four inches thick.” - -“But what do you want me to do, Cal?” asked Larry. - -“Go fishing,” said Cal. “We must have some dinner after awhile. See if -you can’t bring in a sheepshead or some other fish weighing five or six -pounds and fit for roasting.” - -In an instant Larry was off with cast net, shrimp bucket and some fish -lines. - -Cal resumed his sand writing, cataloguing the various sorts and sizes -of poles wanted. Presently he stopped short, muttering: - -“But then we’re not lumbermen, and the only tool we have to chop with -is our one poor little hand ax. It won’t take three of us to wield that -toy. Say, Tom, suppose you take your gun and see if you can’t get us -some game. We’ll do well enough with fish for dinner, but we must have -some meat for to-night. So go and get some. I know you’re half crazy -to be off in the woods shooting. Dick and I will work at the poles -and palmetes—that’s apt alliteration, but it was quite accidental, I -assure you. One can use the ax and the other cut palmete leaves with -his jackknife, exchanging jobs now and then. We’ll need a great stack -of the palmetes with which to cover the roof and three sides of our -mansion.” - -“Yes, of course, and fortunately they grow very thick just out there -in the woods,” said Dick. “I saw them early this morning.” - -“Yes, I know. I saw them yesterday when I picked out a place for the -camp. Our need of them was one of the considerations I had in mind. By -the way, Dick”—the two were busily at work now—“what do you think of -the professor’s plan of sleeping?” - -“It saves him a lot of trouble,” Dick answered. - -“Yes, in one way. But if he had anything with him that water would -spoil, it would make more trouble than it saves. As he has nothing of -the kind—” - -“How about his reserve ammunition? A man who depends upon his gun for -all his food must have a lot of cartridges somewhere.” - -“That’s so, but his rifle is probably of very small calibre, so that a -good many cartridges can be packed in a small space. Of course we can’t -ask him.” - -At that moment “the professor,” as Cal had called him, appeared, with -profuse apologies. - -“It was really inexcusable,” he protested, “for me to go away as I did -when you young gentlemen had a shelter to build. I should have stayed -to help in the work, as I am to share in its advantages. But I am so -unused to providing shelter for myself that I quite forgot your larger -necessities. Fortunately I heard the blows of your ax and was reminded -of my duty. I have come at once to assist you.” - -“Oh, you mustn’t think of that, Professor,” answered Cal. “We really -need no assistance. My brother and Tom have gone off for supplies of -meat and fish, but they’ll be back presently, and meanwhile we two can -use the only tools we have for this kind of work. Besides, you have -something of your own to do.” - -“Nothing that may not be as well done at another time. I must insist -upon bearing my share of the work of constructing a camp which you have -been courteous enough to invite me to share.” - -“But you don’t sleep under a roof—even a flimsy one of palmete -leaves,” objected Dick. “We invited you to join us here only because we -like good company.” - -“Thank you for the compliment. No, I do not sleep under a roof, but -your roof will be a great convenience and comfort to me in other ways.” - -“I don’t see—” Cal began, but Dunbar broke in. - -“You don’t see how? No, of course not. How should you? But that is only -because you know so little of my tasks. I must write my scientific -reports and articles carefully and voluminously, and I must make -accurate color drawings of my specimens to accompany my text. I am -badly behind with my work in these ways, and the very best time to -bring up the arrears is of long, rainy days, when the living things -I must study—all of them except the fishes—are hidden away in such -shelters as they can find. But I cannot sit in the rain and write -or draw. That would only be to spoil materials of which I have all -too little already. So the rainy days are lost to me, or have been, -hitherto. Now that I am to enjoy your hospitality, I shall sit in your -shelter when it rains, and get a world of writing and drawing done.” - -“Well, at any rate, we shall not need your help in this work, and -we have no tool for you to work with if we did. As to our little -hospitality, it mustn’t and doesn’t involve any obligation on your -part. If it did it wouldn’t be hospitality at all, but something very -different. Why not put in your time on your own work?” - -“I would, if my head didn’t object,” the man of science answered rather -dejectedly, Cal thought, but with a smile. - -“Have you a headache, then?” the youth asked, putting as much -sympathy into his tone as was possible to a robust specimen of young -manhood who had never had a headache in his life. “It must be very -distressing.” - -“No, I haven’t a headache,” the professor answered. “I wish it was only -that. No, my head isn’t clear to-day, and when I try to work it gets -things jumbled up a bit. I tried this morning to write a scientific -account of the habits of a certain fish that these waters bear, and -somehow I got him out into the bushes using wings that I had never -observed before. Now I must go and catch another specimen of that fish -and examine it carefully to see if the wings are really there or not. -You see in cases of doubt a scientist dares not trust anything to -conjecture or memory. He must examine and make sure.” - -So saying, the professor started off to catch the fish he wanted. He -had spoken in a half jocular tone and with a mischievous smile playing -about his lips, though his words were serious enough. - -“What do you think, Dick?” Cal asked as soon as the man was well beyond -earshot; “is he a trifle ‘off’? has he lost some of his buttons?” - -“Possibly, but I doubt it.” - -“But what nonsense he talked!” - -“Yes, I know. But did you observe his smile? He was only doing in his -way what you so often do in yours. Your smile often contradicts your -words—making its bow, as it were, to the nonsense you are uttering. -Yet we don’t suspect you of having slipped your cable.” - -“I suppose that’s it,” said Cal, “but allow me to suggest that our -chatter cuts no palmetes, and we’re in need of a great number.” - -By the time the needed poles and crotch sticks were cut and sharpened -for driving into the ground, Larry returned, bringing with him one huge -fish and a bucket full of croakers and whiting, all of which he had -dressed on the shore. - -He wrapped the large fish in a mass of wet sea weed and buried it in -the hot ashes and coals to bake. After setting such other things to -cook as he thought necessary, he joined the others in the work of -setting up the poles and fastening their ends securely together with -vines as flexible as hempen rope. The wetter parts of the woodlands -yielded such vines in abundance, and as somewhat experienced sailors -the boys all knew how to tie knots that no strain could loosen. - -By the time that the dinner was cooked the framework of the shelter was -more than half done. - -“We’ll knock off for dinner now,” Larry suggested, “and after dinner -the whole force will set to work finishing the framework and covering -it. There are bunks to be made, too, and filled with long gray moss, -so we’ll have a very full afternoon.” - -“By the way, Professor,” asked Cal, as the man of science rejoined the -group, “are you quite sure you won’t let us make a bunk for you?” - -“Oh, yes—quite sure.” - -“Did you catch the fish you wanted to examine, or did he take to his -wings and fly away?” - -“Oh, that was only my poor little jest. You didn’t take it seriously, -did you?” - -Then, interrupting the reply that Cal had begun to make, he said -rapidly: - -“But I did want to make another examination of the fish in question. -You see, when I examined a specimen a few days ago, my attention was -concentrated upon certain definite points, and when I casually observed -something that suggested the possibility of its having a sense of -taste, I went on with the other questions in my mind and quite forgot -to satisfy myself on this point. But when I sat down this morning to -write notes of my observations, the point came back to my mind, and I -saw that I must examine another specimen before writing at all. That is -what I meant by saying, in figurative speech, that my fish went flying -away among the bushes, or whatever else it was that I said.” - -“But, Professor,” said Larry, “something you said about a fish’s sense -of taste just now awakens my curiosity. May I ask you—” - -“Not now,” said Dick. “Let’s reserve all that for this evening after -supper. You see Tom isn’t here now, and he will want to hear it all. -Maybe the professor will let us turn loose our tongues to-night and ask -him the dozen questions we have in our minds.” - -“Yes—a thousand, if you wish,” Dunbar answered. “I have studied fish -with more interest, perhaps, than I ever felt in investigating any -other subject, and naturally I like to air the results of my inquiries.” - -Larry busied himself taking the dinner from the fire, and as he did so -Tom returned. - -“Hello, Tom!” called out Cal as the boy was struggling through the -bushes back of the camp. “Just in time for dinner. Did you get anything -worth while?” - -“Judge for yourself,” he replied, entering the open space and dropping -a huge turkey gobbler on the ground. “Isn’t that a beauty? Got him on -the wing, too. But I forgot, Cal, you don’t approve of post-mortem -chatter over game. One thing I must tell you, anyhow. I found a patch -of these and brought home some samples in my pockets to see if it’s -worth while to go after more.” - -As he spoke he drew out a number of sweet potatoes and cast them down. - -“Are there more to be had?” Larry asked eagerly. - -“Yes, bushels of them—growing wild.” - -“Good! Tom, you’ve a positive genius for finding precisely what we -want. Our supply of bread and bread substitutes is very scant, or -was before you made this discovery, and with all due respect for -your opinion, Professor, I am satisfied that we need a considerable -proportion of starchy foods to go with our meat.” - -“Oh, I agree with you as to that,” quickly answered the professor. -“I have never doubted it. I only said that man, being an omnivorous -animal, can live upon an exclusive diet of meat just as he can live on -the starchy foods alone. I think I stated distinctly that he is better -off with both than with either alone.” - -“You certainly did say that, Professor,” said Dick; “it is only that -Larry was inattentive at the time of your lecture. But I say, Tom, is -it far to your potato patch?” - -“Only about half a mile or a little less.” - -They were all busily eating dinner now, and for a minute there was -nothing more said. Presently Tom spoke: - -“I say, Larry, which of you fellows can best be spared to go with me -after dinner, and help me bring in the deer?” - -“What deer?” asked all in a breath. - -“Why, the one I shot an hour or so ago. I managed to hang him up in a -tree out of reach of other animals, I think, but I suppose he ought to -be brought to camp pretty soon.” - -Cal rose threateningly. - -“I am strongly tempted to throw things at you, Tom Garnett,” he -began. “But there isn’t anything to throw except the ax, and if I -threw that I might incapacitate you for walking, and without your -assistance we might not be able to find that deer. What do you mean, -sir, by interrupting us at dinner with a surprise like that? Don’t you -realize that it is bad for the digestion? In plain language that even -your intelligence can perhaps grasp, why in the name of all that is -sensible, didn’t you tell us about the thing when you first came?” - -“I’ve associated with you, Cal, too long and too intimately to retain -a just appreciation of what is sensible. Anyhow, I wanted the fun of -springing the thing on you in that way. If you’ve finished your dinner, -we’ll be off after the venison. It isn’t half a mile away.” - - - - -XXX - -DUNBAR TALKS AND SLEEPS - - -IT required nearly all the afternoon for Tom and Cal to bring the deer -to camp and dress it. In the meantime Larry, Dick and Dunbar—who -insisted upon helping and did his part very cleverly—worked upon the -shelter and the bunks inside. As a result the hut was ready for use -that night, though not quite finished in certain details. - -By Larry’s orders no further work was to be done after supper, but -supper was to be late, as there was the turkey to be roasted, and he -wanted to roast it right. While he was preparing the bird for the fire, -Dick was rigging up a vine contrivance to serve in lieu of a spit, and -Tom and Cal employed the time in bringing a bushel or two of Tom’s wild -sweet potatoes to camp. - -The turkey was suspended by a long vine from the limb of a tree, so -hung as to bring the fowl immediately in front of a fire built at -that point especially for this roasting. Dick had bethought him to -go to the dory and bring away a square of sheet copper, carried for -boat-repairing purposes. This he scoured to brightness with sand, after -which he fashioned it into a rude dripping pan, and placed it under -the turkey to catch the juices for basting purposes. There was nothing -remotely resembling a spoon in the camp or the boat, but Dick was handy -with his jackknife, and it did not take him long to whittle out a -long-handled wooden ladle with which to do the basting. - -By another device of his the roasting fowl was kept turning as fast -or as slowly as might seem desirable. This device consisted of two -very slender vines attached to the supporting vine at a point several -feet above the fire. One of the “twirlers,” as Dick called the slender -vines, was wrapped several times around the supporting vine in one -direction and the other in the opposite way. - -Sitting on opposite sides of the fire, and each grasping a “twirler,” -Dick and Larry kept the turkey turning first one way and then the other. - -While they were engaged in this, an abundant supply of Tom’s sweet -potatoes were roasting in the ashes. - -“Now we are at Quasi,” said Cal, just before the turkey was declared -“done to a turn”—“at Quasi, the object of all our hopes, the goal of -our endeavors, and the guiding star of all our aspirations during a -period of buffetings, trials and sore afflictions. We are securely at -Quasi, and our residence—which prosaic people might call a hut, hovel -or shanty, but which is to us a mansion—is practically finished. It -is only meet and fit, and in accordance with Homeric custom, that we -should celebrate the occasion and the toilsome achievements that have -made it possible, by all possible lavishness of feasting. All of which -means that I am going to make a pot of robust and red-hot coffee to -drink with the turkey and ‘taters.’” - -It was a hungry company that sat down on the ground to eat that supper, -and if there was anything lacking in the bill of fare, such appetites -as theirs did not permit the boys to find out the fact. - -“It is an inflexible rule of good housewives,” drawled Cal, when the -dinner was done, “that the ‘things’ as they call the dishes, pots, -pans, and the like, shall be cleared away and cleansed. So here goes,” -gathering up the palmete leaves that had served for plates and tossing -them, together with the bones and fragments of the feast, upon the -fire, where they quickly crackled into nothingness. “There aren’t any -cooking utensils, and as for these exquisitely shaped agate iron cups, -it is the function of each fellow to rinse the coffee out of his own. -Oh, yes, there’s the coffee pot I forgot it, and by way of impressing -the enormity of my fault upon a dull intelligence I’ll clean that -myself. A hurried scouring with some sand and water, followed by a -thorough rinsing, ought to do the business finely.” - -“I say, Cal,” said Dick, “I wish you would remember that this is your -off night.” - -“I confess I don’t understand. Do you mean that I shall leave the -coffee pot for some other member of the company to scour?” - -“No. I mean this is your off night for word-slinging. The professor is -going to tell us some things and we want to hear him. So, ‘dry up.’” - -“I bow my head in contriteness and deep humiliation. You have the -floor, Professor.” - -“May I ask you young gentlemen not to call me ‘professor’?” Dunbar -asked very earnestly. - -“Why, of course, we will do as you like about that,” answered Larry; -“we have been calling you ‘professor’ merely out of respect, and you -told us you were or had been a professor in a college.” - -“Yes, I know, and I thank you for your impulse of courtesy. I used the -word descriptively when I told you I had been a ‘professor’ of Natural -History. Used in that way it is inoffensive enough, but when employed -as a title—well, you know every tight-rope walker and every trapeze -performer calls himself ‘professor.’” - -“Well, you must at least have a doctorate of some kind,” said Dick, -“and so you are entitled to be addressed as ‘Dr. Dunbar.’” - -“No, not at all. Of course a number of colleges have offered me baubles -of that cheap sort—asking to make me ‘LL.D.,’ or ‘Ph. D.,’ or ‘L. H. -D.,’ or some other sham sort of a doctor, but I have always refused -upon principle. I hate shams, and as to these things, they seem to -me to work a grievous injustice. No man ought to be called ‘Doctor’ -unless he has earned the degree by a prescribed course of study and -examinations. Honorary degrees are an affront to the men who have -won real degrees by years of hard study. With two or three hundred -colleges in this country, each scattering honorary degrees around and -multiplying them every year, all degrees have lost something of their -value and significance.” - -“How shall we address you then?” asked Larry. - -“Simply as ‘Mr. Dunbar.’ The President of the United States is entitled -to no other address than ‘Mr. President.’ In a republic certainly -‘Mr.’ ought to be title enough for any man. Call me ‘Mr. Dunbar,’ -please.” - -“Well, now, Mr. Dunbar, won’t you go on and tell us what you promised?” - -“What was it? I have quite forgotten.” - -“Why, you said you had been led to suspect that your fish—the kind -that takes wing and flies away into the bushes—had a sense of taste. -Did you mean to imply that fishes generally have no such sense?” - -“Yes, certainly. There are very few fishes that have capacity of taste. -They have no need of it, as they bolt their food whole, and usually -alive. There are curious exceptions, and—” - -“But, Mr. Dunbar,” interrupted Tom, “is it only because they swallow -their food whole that you think they have no sense of taste? Is there -any more certain way of finding out?” - -“Yes, of course. The sense of taste is located in certain nerves, -called for that reason ‘gustatory nerves,’ or ‘taste goblets.’ Now, -as the fishes generally have no gustatory nerves or taste goblets, we -know positively that they do not and cannot taste their food. That is -definite; but the other reason I gave is sufficient in itself to settle -the matter. The gustatory nerves cannot taste any substance until it -is partially dissolved and brought into contact with them in its -dissolved state. You can test that for yourself by placing a dry lump -of sugar in your mouth. Until the saliva begins to dissolve it you can -no more recognize any taste in it than in a similar lump of marble.” - -“But why do they eat so voraciously then? What pleasure do they find in -it?” asked Dick. - -“Chiefly the pleasure of distending the stomach, but there is also -the natural craving of every living organism for sustenance, without -which it must suffer and die. That craving for sustenance is ordinarily -satisfied only by eating, but it may be satisfied in other ways. -Sometimes a man cannot swallow because of an obstruction in the canal -by which food reaches the stomach. In such cases the surgeons insert a -tube through the walls of the body and introduce food directly into the -stomach. That satisfies the desire for sustenance, though the patient -has not tasted anything. When a fish takes a run and jump at a minnow -and swallows it whole at a gulp, he is doing for himself much the same -thing that the surgeon does for his patient.” - -“But, Mr. Dunbar,” Tom asked, “why is it then that the same species -of fish will take a particular kind of bait at one time of year and -won’t touch it at other times? In the very early spring I’ve caught -lots of perch on worms, while a little later they would take nothing -but live bait, and still later, when they were feeding on insects on -the surface, I’ve known them to nose even live bait out of their way, -refusing to take anything but the insects. If they don’t taste their -food, why do they behave in that way?” - -“Frankly, I don’t know,” Dunbar answered. “I have formed many -conjectures on the subject, but all of them are unsatisfactory. Perhaps -somebody will solve the riddle some day, but at present I confess I -can’t answer it.” - -Dunbar stopped as if he meant to say no more, and Tom became apologetic. - -“Won’t you please go on, Mr. Dunbar? I’m sorry I interrupted.” - -“Oh, but you must interrupt. If you don’t interpose with questions, -how am I to know whether I’ve made my meaning clear or not? And how am -I to know what else you wish to hear? No, no, no. Don’t withhold any -question that comes into your mind, or I shall feel that I’m making a -bore of myself by talking too much.” - -“You spoke,” said Dick, “of certain fishes that are exceptions to the -rule.” - -“Oh, yes; thank you. I meant to come back to that but forgot it. The -chief exception I know of is the bullhead, a small species of catfish -that abounds in northern waters, particularly in the Adirondack lakes. -The bullhead has gustatory nerves all over him. He can taste with his -tail, or his side, or his head, as well as with his mouth. Of course -there’s a good reason for the difference.” - -“I suppose so, but I can’t imagine what it is,” said Larry. - -“Neither can I,” echoed Tom and Dick. Cal continued the silence he had -not broken by a word since Dunbar had begun. Observing the fact, Dick -was troubled lest his playful suppression of Cal at the beginning had -wounded him. So, rising, he went over to Cal’s side, passed his arm -around him in warm friendly fashion, and said under his breath: - -“Did you take me seriously, Cal? Are you hurt or offended?” - -“No, you sympathetically sublimated idiot, of course not. It is only -that I want to hear all I can of Mr. Dunbar’s talk. You know I’ve -always been interested in fish—even when they refuse to take bait. -Hush. He’s about to begin again.” - -“Oh, it is obvious enough when you think about it,” said Dunbar. “It -is a fundamental law of nature that every living thing, animal or -vegetable, shall tend to develop whatever organs or functions it has -need of, for defense against enemies or for securing the food it needs. -You see that everywhere, in the coloring of animals and in a thousand -other ways. The upper side of a flounder is exactly the color of the -sand on which he lies. That is to prevent the shark and other enemies -from seeing him and eating him up. But his under side, which cannot be -seen at all by his enemies, is white, because there is no need of color -in it. I could give you a hundred illustrations, but there is no need. -Your own daily observation will supply them.” - -Again Dunbar paused, as if his mind had wandered far away and was -occupying itself with other subjects. After waiting for a minute or two -Cal ventured to jog his memory: - -“As we are not familiar with the bullhead—we who live down South—we -don’t quite see the application of what you’ve been saying, Mr. Dunbar. -Would you mind explaining?” - -“Oh, certainly not,” quickly answered the man of science, rousing -himself as if from sleep. “I was saying—it’s very ridiculous, but I’ve -quite forgotten what I was saying. Tell me.” - -“You were telling us about the bullhead’s possession—” - -“Oh, yes, I remember now. You see fishes generally hunt their prey -by sight, in the clear upper water and in broad daylight. They quit -feeding as soon as it becomes too dark to see the minnows or other -things they want to eat. As they hunt only by sight, they have no need -of the senses of smell and taste, and so those senses are not developed -in them. With the bullhead the thing is exactly turned around. He never -swims or feeds in the upper waters. He lives always on or very near -the bottom of comparatively deep water, in thick growths of grass, -where sight would be of little use to him for want of light. He feeds -almost entirely at night, so that those who fish for him rarely begin -their sport before the dusk falls. In such conditions Mr. Bullhead -finds it exceedingly convenient to be able to taste anything he may -happen to touch in his gropings. So with him the sense of taste is -the food-finding sense, and in the long ages since his species came -into being that sense has been developed out of all proportion to -the others. He has very little feeling and his nervous system is so -rudimentary that if you leave him in a pail without water and packed in -with a hundred others of his species, he seems to find very little to -distress him in the experience. You may keep him in the waterless pail -for twenty-four hours or more, and yet if you put him back into the -pond or lake he will swim away as unconcernedly as if nothing out of -the ordinary had happened. But then all species of fish are among the -very lowest forms of vertebrate creatures, so that they feel neither -pain nor pleasure at all keenly.” - -Suddenly Dunbar ceased speaking for a minute. Then he seemed to speak -with some effort, saying: - -“There are many other things I could tell you about fish, and if you’re -interested, I’ll do so at another time. I’m very sleepy now. May I pass -the night here?” - -“Certainly. I’ll bring you some moss—” - -“It isn’t at all necessary,” he answered, as he threw himself flat upon -the earth and fell instantly into a slumber so profound that it lasted -until Cal called him to breakfast next morning. - - - - -XXXI - -DUNBAR’S STRANGE BEHAVIOR - - -DUNBAR was very silent during breakfast. He answered courteously when -spoken to, as he always did, and there was no suggestion of surliness -in his silence. In response to inquiries he declared that he had slept -well and hoped the boys had done the same. But he added no unnecessary -word to anything he said, and made no inquiries as to plans for -the day. His manner was that of a person suffering under grief or -apprehension or both. - -As soon as breakfast was over he started off into the woods in a -direction opposite to that in which his camp lay. He took neither -his rifle nor his butterfly net with him. He simply walked into the -woodlands and disappeared. - -At dinner time he was nowhere to be found. As evening drew near the -boys agreed to postpone their supper to a later hour than usual in -anticipation of his return. But late as it was when at last they sat -down to their evening meal, he was still missing. - -The boys were beginning to be alarmed about him, for they had already -learned to like the man and regard him as a friend. - -“We must do something at once,” suggested Dick. - -“But what can we do?” asked Larry. “I confess I can think of few -possibilities in the way of searching for him at this time of a very -dark night—for the clouds completely shut out the moonlight. Has -anybody a suggestion to offer? What say you, Cal?” - -“First of all,” was the reply, “we must carefully consider all the -possibilities of the situation. Then we shall be better able to lay -plans of rescue that may result in something. Let’s see. To begin -with, he hasn’t left Quasi. He hasn’t any boat and there is absolutely -no land communication with the main. So he is somewhere on Quasi -plantation. - -“Secondly, what can have happened to him? Not many things that I can -think of. Old woods wanderer that he is, it isn’t likely that he has -succumbed to any woodland danger, if there are any such dangers here, -as there aren’t. There isn’t any wild beast here more threatening than -a deer or a ’possum. He had no gun with him, so he cannot have shot -himself by accident. He may have got lost, but that is exceedingly -unlikely. He is used to finding his way in the woods, and it is certain -that he thoroughly explored Quasi during the time he was marooned here -and flying his distress signal. If by any possible chance he is lost, -he’ll soon find himself again. The only other thing I think of is that -he may have tripped and fallen, breaking something.” - -“I should doubt his doing that,” said Larry, “for he’s as nimble as any -cat I ever saw. Still, there’s the chance. What shall we do to meet it?” - -“We can’t scatter out and search the woods and thickets in the dark,” -suggested Dick. - -“No,” said Tom; “if we did he would have to go in search of four other -lost fellows if he should happen to turn up. But we can keep up a big -fire and we can go out a little way into the woods, fire our shotguns, -give all the college yells we know, and then listen.” - -“Good suggestion, that about shooting and yelling,” said Cal. “Besides, -I like to yell on general principles. But we shan’t need to keep up a -bonfire, and the night is very hot.” - -“But he might see the bonfire,” answered Tom in defense of his plan, -“and he’d come straight to it, of course, if he’s lost.” - -“We’ll put up something else that he can see farther and better.” - -“What?” - -“A fat pine torch.” - -“Where?” - -“Did you observe a catalpa tree that stands all alone over there on the -highest part of the bluff, which is also the highest point in the whole -land of Quasi?” - -“Of course, if you mean over there, near the _Hunkydory’s_ anchorage.” - -“Yes, I mean that. There isn’t another tree anywhere near it. I can’t -imagine how it came to grow out there on that bald bluff, unless -somebody planted it. However, that’s no matter. The tree is there and -a torch fixed in the top of it could be seen from almost every nook -and corner of Quasi, while here we are in a pocket of trees and thick -growths of every kind. A bonfire here could be seen a very little way -off.” - -Cal’s modification of Tom’s plan was promptly approved as the best -possible for that night. The company went into the woods, pausing at -several points to fire their guns and to yell like demons. - -No results following, they returned and set to work making huge torches -of fat pine, one of which was kept burning in the tree-top throughout -the night, a fresh one being lighted whenever an old one burned out. - -It was all to no purpose. Morning came and still there was no sign of -Dunbar. - -Breakfast was cooked and eaten, together with a reserve supply of food -for the boys to carry with them on the search of the plantation, which -they had decided to make that day. Still no sign of the missing man! - -“Now, Cal,” said Larry, “this thing is becoming serious. We must find -poor Mr. Dunbar to-day whatever else happens. We must scour the place -till we accomplish that. We must scatter, but we must see to it that -we get together again. Suppose you suggest a plan of procedure. You’re -better than any of us at that.” - -“I will,” said Cal, who had lost all disposition to be facetious. “He -may be along the shore somewhere, so two of us had better follow the -sealine, one going one way and the other in the opposite direction. -They can cover double ground by going through the woods and open -glades, only keeping near enough the shore to see it well. The other -two will need no directions. Their duty will be to search the woods and -thickets. Where the woods are open they can cover the ground rapidly, -and also in the old fields wherever they haven’t grown up too thickly. -But the denser woods and canebrakes must be searched. Look particularly -for trails. No one can possibly pass into or through such growths -without leaving a trail behind. Look for trails and follow them; don’t -bother about the unbroken growths. Now as to getting back here. We -must all come back well before nightfall. No matter where we may be -on Quasi, it will be easy to find some point near from which the lone -catalpa tree can be seen. Make for that all of you and nobody will -get lost. Finally, if any of you find Mr. Dunbar and need help, fire -three shots about half a minute apart and we’ll all go to the point of -firing. Now let’s be off.” - -It was nearly sunset when Tom reached the catalpa tree on his return. -He had not found Dunbar, but for reasons of his own he waited rather -impatiently for the coming of his comrades. They were not long delayed, -but the blank, anxious face of each as he appeared was a sufficient -report to the others. - -“The search is a failure!” said Larry, dejectedly. - -“Absolutely,” answered Cal. - -“No, not absolutely,” said Tom, feeling in his pocket. “I found -something, and I’ve waited till you should all be here before speaking -of it.” - -“What is it? Tell us quick.” - -“This,” answered Tom, drawing forth a letter, “and this,” producing a -pruning knife with a curved blade, which they had all seen Dunbar use. -“The letter was pinned to a tree with the point of the knife blade.” - -“Never mind that,” said Larry, impatiently; “read the letter.” - -Tom read as follows: - - “I expect to be with you young gentlemen very soon. But in case - I never see you again, please don’t think me ungrateful for all - your kindnesses. There are times when I cannot endure a human - presence—even the—” - -Tom stopped reading, and explained: - -“It breaks off right there, and there is no signature, or address, or -anything else.” - -The boys stared at each other in amazement, and for a time uttered no -word. When they begun talking again it was only to wonder and offer -conjectures, and the conjectures seemed so futile that at last the -little company ceased to try to read the riddle. Then Larry said: - -“Come on. There’s nothing more to be done to-night and we’re all half -famished. We must have a good hearty supper, and then perhaps we’ll -think of something more that we can do.” - -“I doubt that,” said Cal; “but I say, Tom, you have a positive genius -for finding things—turtles’ eggs, smugglers’ camps, sweet potato -patches, letters hidden in the woods, and everything else. Perhaps -you’ll find poor Mr. Dunbar yet.” - -“I was just thinking of some other things that we ought to find, and -that right away.” - -“What things?” - -“Why, Mr. Dunbar’s. You know he has never brought any of them to our -camp, and we know he writes and draws and all that. He must have some -place up near his old bivouac where he can keep his papers and drawings -and specimens dry. It seems to me we ought—” - -“Of course we ought,” broke in Cal. “There may be something there to -give us a clue. What do you say, Larry?” - -“It is a good suggestion of Tom’s, and we’ll act upon it at once.” - -Turning in a direction opposite to that which led to their own camp the -boys visited the spot where Dunbar had lived before they came to Quasi. -They searched in every direction, but found no trace of any of the -man’s belongings. It was rapidly growing dark when at last they gave up -the work of exploring, and decided to resume it again in the morning. - -As they approached their camp through the woods and thickets, they -were surprised to see their camp-fire blazing up briskly, though none -of them had been near it since the early morning. As they came out -of the bushes, they were still more astonished to see Dunbar busying -himself with supper preparations. Larry had just time enough before -Dunbar saw them to say to the others in an undertone: - -“Not a word about this, boys, until he asks.” - -“Good evening, young gentlemen,” was Dunbar’s greeting, delivered in -a cheery voice; “I have taken the liberty of getting supper under -way in anticipation of your coming. I am sure you must be tired and -hungry after a hard day’s shooting. By the way, a cup of tea is always -refreshing when one is tired, and fortunately I have a little packet of -the fragrant herb among my things. I’ll run up there and fetch it.” - -As he spoke he started off briskly and nimbly. - -“Evidently he isn’t tired, anyhow,” suggested Dick. - -“And evidently he has some dry place in which to keep his things,” -added Cal, “and I mean to ask him about it.” - -“Don’t,” said Larry, earnestly. “That would be grossly impertinent.” - -“Not at all, if it’s done in the proper way,” Cal replied, “and I’ll do -it in that way.” - -And he did. When Dunbar returned, he carried the tea, closely sealed up -in tin foil. - -“Is that thin tin foil sufficient to keep tea dry?” Cal asked. - -“If you keep the packet in a dry place it is,” Dunbar answered. “The -tin-foil prevents the delicate aroma of the tea from escaping, and at -the same time forbids the leaves to absorb moisture from the air. When -I’m moving about in a boat I carefully wrap any tea I may have in my -waterproof sheets, but that is apt to give it an undesirable flavor, -so my first care upon landing is to provide a dry storage place for -my tea, my ammunition, my papers and whatever else I may have that -needs protection. By the way, I’ve never shown you my locker up there. -I’ll do so to-morrow morning. I’ll not forget, as I must go there for -writing and drawing materials. I have some things in my mind that I -simply must put down on paper at once.” - -At that moment he thrust his hand into his pocket and felt there for -some seconds. Then he said: - -“That’s very unfortunate. I’ve managed to lose my knife.” - -“I think I must have found it, then,” said Tom, holding it out; “isn’t -that it?” - -“Yes, thank you. I’m particularly glad to get it again, as it is the -only one I have at Quasi. I usually buy half a dozen at a time, and so -the loss of one doesn’t annoy me. But just now I have only this one.” - -He did not ask where or when Tom had found the knife, nor did he seem -in the least surprised that it was found. The circumstance did not seem -to remind him of his letter or of anything else. - -The boys were full of wonder and curiosity, but they asked no -questions. - - - - -XXXII - -A RAINY DAY WITH DUNBAR - - -DUNBAR was in excellent spirits that evening. He seemed indeed like one -who has had some specially good fortune happen to him, or one suddenly -relieved of some distress or sore annoyance. - -Throughout the evening he talked with the boys in a way that greatly -interested them. He made no display of learning, but they easily -discovered that his information was both vast and varied, and better -still, that his thinking was sound, and that he was a master of the art -of so presenting his thought that others easily grasped and appreciated -it. - -When at last the evening was completely gone, he bade his companions a -cheery good night, saying that he would go over to the bluff and sleep -near the catalpa tree. - -“You see there are no sand flies to-night,” he explained, “and I like -to smell the salt water as I sleep.” - -“What do you make of him, Larry?” Dick asked as soon as their guest was -beyond hearing. - -“I don’t know. I’m puzzled. What’s your opinion?” - -“Put it in the plural, for I’ve a different opinion every time I think -about it at all.” - -“Anyhow,” said Tom, “he must be crazy. Just think—” - -“Yes,” interrupted Cal, “but just think also how soundly he thinks. -Let’s just call him eccentric and let it go at that. And who wouldn’t -be eccentric, after living alone in the woods for so long?” - -“After all,” Dick responded, “we’re not a commission in lunacy, -and we’re not under the smallest necessity of defining his mental -condition.” - -“No,” Cal assented; “it’s a good deal better to enjoy his company and -his talk than to bother our heads about the condition of his. He’s one -of the most agreeable men I ever met—bright, cheerful, good natured, -scrupulously courteous, and about the most interesting talker I ever -listened to. So I for one give up trying to answer conundrums, and I’m -going to bed. I wouldn’t if he were here to go on talking, but after an -evening with him to lead the conversation, I find you fellows dull and -uninteresting. Good night. Oh, by the way, I’ll slip away from here -about daylight and get some pan fish for breakfast.” - -Early as Cal was in setting out, he found Dunbar on the shore ready to -go with him. - -“I hope to get a shark,” the naturalist said, “one big enough to show a -well-developed jaw, and they’re apt to bite at this early hour. I’ve a -line in the boat there with a copper wire snell.” - -“Are you specially interested in sharks?” - -“Oh, no, not ordinarily. It is only that I must make a careful drawing -or two, illustrative of the mechanical structure and action of a -shark’s jaw and teeth, to go with an article I’m writing on the general -subject of teeth in fishes, and I wish to draw the illustrations from -life rather than from memory. It will rain to-day, and I’m going to -avail myself of your hospitality and make the drawings under your -shelter.” - -“Then perhaps you’ll let us see them?” - -“Yes, of course, and all the other drawings I have in my portfolio, if -they interest you.” - -“They will, if you will explain and expound a little.” - -Dunbar gave a pleased little chuckle as he answered: - -“I’ll do that to your heart’s content. You know, I really think I like -to hear myself talk sometimes.” - -“Why shouldn’t you? Your talk would delight anybody else.” - -“Here’s my shark,” excitedly cried Dunbar, as he played the fish. “He’s -nearly three feet long, too—a bigger one than I hoped for. Now if I -can only land him.” - -“I’ll help you,” said Cal, leaning over the rail with a barbed gaff -hook in his hand. “Play him over this way—there, now once more -around—here he is safe and sound.” - -As he spoke he lifted the savage-looking creature into the boat and -Dunbar managed, with some little difficulty, to free the hook from his -jaws without himself having a thumb or finger bitten off. - -“Not a tooth broken!” he exclaimed with delight. “I’ll dissect out the -entire bony structure of the head to-day and make a drawing of it. Then -I’m going to pack it carefully in a little box that I’ll whittle out, -and present it—if you don’t mind—to young Wentworth. He may perhaps -value it as a souvenir of his visit to Quasi.” - -Cal assented more than gladly, and the two busied themselves during -the next half hour completing their catch of whiting and croakers for -breakfast. When they reached the camp the rain Dunbar had predicted -had set in. - -As soon as breakfast was over Dunbar redeemed his promise to show the -boys his lockers. - -“I’m going over there now,” he said, “to get some paper, pencils and -drawing board. Suppose you go with me, if you want to see some of my -woodland devices.” - -They assented gladly. They were very curious to see where and how their -guest cared for his perishable properties, the more because their own -search for the lockers had completely failed. - -The matter proved simple enough. Dunbar led them a little way into the -woods and then, falling upon his knees, crawled into the end of a huge -hollow log. After he had reached the farther end of the hollow part he -lighted a little bunch of fat pine splinters to serve as a torch, and -invited his companions to look in. They saw that he had scraped away -all the decaying wood inside the log, leaving its hard shell as a bare -wall. In this he had fitted a number of little wooden hooks, to each of -which some of his belongings were suspended. - -It was a curious collection. There were cards covered with butterflies, -moths and beetles, each impaled upon a large pin. There were the -beaks and talons of various birds of prey, each carefully labeled. -There were bunches of feathers of various hues, some dried botanical -specimens and much else of similar sorts. - -From the farther end of the hollow he brought forth several compact -little portfolios, each so arranged that no rain could penetrate it -when all were bound together and carried like a knapsack. - -“I’ll take two of these portfolios with me to your shelter,” he -said, taking them under his arm. “One of them contains the writing -and drawing materials that I shall need to-day. The other is filled -with my drawings of various interesting objects. Some of them may be -interesting to you during this rainy day, and each has a description -appended which will enable you to understand the meaning of it.” - -But the boys had a rather brief time over the drawings that day. They -ran through a part of the portfolio while Dunbar was writing, but after -an hour he put his writing aside and began dissecting the shark’s head, -stopping now and then to make a little sketch of some detail. After -that the boys had no eyes but for the work he was doing and no ears but -for the things he said. - -“You see there are comparatively few species of fish that have any -teeth at all. They have no need of teeth and therefore have never -developed them.” - -“But why is that,” asked Tom; “I should think some of the toothless -varieties of fish would have developed teeth accidentally, as it were.” - -“Development is never accidental in that sense, Tom. It is Nature’s -uniform law that every species of living thing, animal or vegetable, -shall tend to develop whatever is useful to it, and nothing else. That -is Nature’s plan for the perpetuation of life and the improvement of -species.” - -After pausing in close attention to some detail of his work, Dunbar -went on: - -“You can see the same dominant principle at work in the varying forms -of teeth developed by different species. The sheepshead needs teeth -only for the purpose of crushing the shells of barnacles and the like, -and in that way getting at its food. So in a sheepshead’s mouth you -find none but crushing teeth. The shark, as you see, has pointed teeth -so arranged in rows that one row closes down between two other rows in -the opposite jaw, and by a muscular arrangement the shark can work one -jaw to right and left with lightning-like rapidity, making the saw-like -row of teeth cut through almost anything after the manner of a reaping -machine. Then there is the pike. He has teeth altogether different from -either of the others. The pike swallows very large fish in proportion -to his own size, and his need is of teeth that will prevent his prey -from wriggling out of his mouth and escaping while he is slowly trying -to swallow it. Accordingly his teeth are as small and as sharp as -cambric needles. Moreover, he has them everywhere in his mouth—on his -lips, on his tongue, and even in his throat. However, this is no time -for a lecture. If you are interested in the subject you can study it -better by looking into fishes’ mouths than by listening to anybody talk -or by reading books on the subject.” - -Again Dunbar paused in order that his attention might be closely -concentrated upon some delicate detail of his work. - -When the strain upon his attention seemed at last to relax, Cal -ventured to say something—and it was startling to his comrades. - -“Of course you’re right about the books on such subjects,” he said. -“For example, the most interesting of all facts about fish isn’t so -much as mentioned in any book I can find, though I’ve searched through -several libraries for it.” - -“What is your fact?” asked Dunbar, suspending his work to listen. - -“Why that fish do not die natural deaths. Not one of them in a million -ever does that.” - -“But why do you think that, Cal? What proof is there—” - -“Why, the thing’s obvious on its face. A dead fish floats, doesn’t it? -Well, in any good fishing water, such as the Adirondack lakes, where I -fished with my father one summer, there are millions of fish—big and -little—scores of millions, even hundreds of millions, if you count -shiners and the other minnows, that of a clear day lie in banks from -the bottom of the water to its surface. Now, if fish died natural -deaths in anything like the proportion that all other living things do, -the surface of such lakes would be constantly covered with dead fish. -Right here at Quasi and in all these coast waters the same thing is -true. Every creek mouth is full of fish and every shoal is alive with -them, so that we know in advance when we go fishing that we can catch -them as fast as we can take them off the hook. If any reasonable rate -of natural mortality prevailed among them every flood tide would strew -the shores with tons of dead fish. As nothing of the kind happens, it -seems to me certain that as a rule fish do not die a natural death. -In fact, most of them have no chance to do that, as they spend pretty -nearly their entire time in swallowing each other alive.” - -“You are a close observer, Cal. You ought to become a man of science,” -said Dunbar with enthusiasm. “Science needs men of your kind.” - -“Oh, I don’t know,” answered Cal. “I imagine Science can get on very -comfortably without any help of mine.” - -“How did you come to notice all that, anyhow, Cal?” asked Dick. - -“Oh, it didn’t take much to suggest that sort of thing, when the facts -were staring me in the face. Besides, I may be all wrong. What do you -think of my wild guess, Mr. Dunbar?” - -“It isn’t a wild guess. Your conclusion may be right or wrong—I must -think of the subject carefully before I can form any opinion as to -that. But at any rate it is a conclusion reasoned out from a careful -observation of facts, and that is nothing like a wild guess.” - -Thus the conversation drifted on throughout the long rainy day, and -when night came the boys were agreed that they had learned to know -Dunbar and appreciate him more than they could have done in weeks of -ordinary intercourse. - - - - -XXXIII - -A GREAT CATASTROPHE - - -DURING the next fortnight or so the association between Dunbar and -the boys was intimate and constant. When it rained, so that outdoor -expeditions were not inviting, he toiled diligently at his writing -and drawing, keeping up an interesting conversation in the meanwhile -on all manner of subjects. In the evenings especially the talk around -the fire was entertaining to the boys and Dunbar seemed to enjoy it as -much as they. He was fond of “drawing them out” and listening to such -revelations of personal character and capacity as their unrestrained -discussions gave. - -On fine days he made himself one of them, joining heartily in every -task and enthusiastically sharing every sport afloat or afield. He -was a good, strong oarsman and he could sail a boat as well as even -Dick could. In hunting, his woodcraft was wonderfully ingenious, and -among other things he taught the boys a dozen ways of securing game by -trapping and snaring. - -“You see,” he explained, “one is liable sometimes to be caught in the -woods without his gun or without ammunition, and when that happens it -is handy to know how to get game enough to eat in other ways than by -shooting.” - -During all this time he had no more of his strange moods. He never once -fell into the peculiar slumber the boys had observed before, and he -never absented himself from the company. Indeed, his enjoyment of human -association seemed to be more than ordinarily keen. - -Little by little his comrades let the memory of his former eccentricity -fade out of their minds, or if they thought of it at all they dismissed -it as a thing of no significance, due, doubtless, to habitual living in -solitude. - -One rainy afternoon he suddenly turned to the boys and asked: - -“Does any one of you happen to know what day of the month this is? By -my count it must be somewhere about the twenty-fifth of August.” - -“My little calendar,” said Cal, drawing the card from a pocket -and looking at it attentively for a moment, “takes the liberty of -differing with you in opinion, Mr. Dunbar. It insists that this is -the thirty-first day of August, of the year eighteen hundred and -eighty-six.” - -Dunbar almost leaped to his feet in surprise. After a brief period of -thought he turned to Larry and asked: - -“I wonder if you boys would mind sailing with me over to the nearest -postoffice town early to-morrow morning.” - -“Why, you know, Mr. Dunbar,” Larry answered, “to-morrow morning is -mortgaged. We’re all going out after that deer you’ve located. Won’t -the next day answer just as well for your trip?” - -“Unfortunately, no. I gave my word that I would post certain writings -and drawings to the publisher not later than noon on September 1, -and the printers simply must not be kept waiting. Of course, if you -can’t—” - -“But we can and will,” answered Larry. “Your business is important—the -deer hunt is of no consequence. But you’ll come back with us, will you -not?” - -“I shall be delighted to do so if I may,” he answered. “I’m enjoying it -here with you, and my work never before got on so well with so little -toil over it. I shall like to come back with you and stay at Quasi as -long as you boys do.” - -“That’s good news—altogether good. How long are you likely to be -detained at the village?” - -“Only long enough to post my letter and the manuscript—not more than -half an hour at the most.” - -“Very well, then. We shall want to buy all the bread and that sort of -thing there is to be had over there, but we can easily do that within -your half hour. We’ll start about sunrise, and if the wind favors us -we’ll be back by noon or a little later, and even if we have no wind, -the oars will bring us back before nightfall.” - -Dunbar at once set to work to arrange and pack the drawings he wished -to send by mail, and as there were titles to write and explanatory -paragraphs to revise, the work occupied him until supper time. In the -meanwhile the boys prepared the boat, filled the water kegs, bestowed a -supply of fishing tackle, and overhauled the rigging to see that every -rope was clear and every pulley in free running order. - -After supper there was not a very long evening for talk around the -fire, for, with an early morning start in view, they must go early to -their bunks. - -They all rolled themselves in their blankets about nine o’clock and -soon were sleeping soundly—the boys under the shelter and Dunbar under -the starry sky—for the rain had passed away—by that side of the fire -which was opposite the camp hut. - -Their slumber had not lasted for an hour when suddenly they were -awakened by a combination of disturbances amply sufficient, as Dick -afterwards said, “to waken the denizens of a cemetery.” - -The very earth was swaying under them and rocking back and forth like -a boat lying side on to a swell. Deep down—miles beneath the surface -it seemed, there was a roar which sounded to Cal like “forty thousand -loose-jointed wagons pulled by runaway horses across a rheumatic -bridge.” - -As the boys sprang to their feet they found difficulty in standing -erect, and before they could run out of their shelter, it plunged -forward and fell into the fire, where the now dried palmete leaves -which constituted its roof and walls, and the resinous pine poles of -its framework, instantly blazed up in a fierce, crackling flame. - -“Quick!” cried Dunbar, as Larry, Dick and Cal extricated themselves -from the mass, “quick—help here! Tom is entangled in the ruins.” - -The response was instantaneous, and before the rapidly-spreading -flames could reach him, the other four had literally dragged their -comrade from the confused mass of poles and vines in which he had been -imprisoned. If the work of rescue had been prolonged for even a minute -more, it would have been too late, and Tom would have been burned to a -crisp. As it was, he was choking with smoke, coughing with a violence -that threatened the rupture of his breathing apparatus somewhere, and -so nearly smothered for want of air as to be only half conscious. - -[Illustration: A MINUTE MORE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO LATE. -_Page 320._] - -A bucket of water which Dunbar had dashed over him “set him going -again,” as he afterwards described the process of recovering breath and -consciousness, and as the paroxysms of coughing slowly ceased he stood -erect by way of announcing a recovery which he was still unable to -proclaim in words. - -At that moment a second shock of earthquake occurred, a shock less -violent than the first, but sufficient to topple Tom and Larry off -their feet again. - -It did no harm, chiefly because there was no further harm to do, and -the little company busied themselves saving what they could of their -belongings from the burning ruins. - -After they had worked at this for ten minutes, a third shock came. It -was feebler than either of the others, but just as the boys felt the -earth swaying again there was an explosion under the burning mass, -followed by a rapid succession of smaller explosions which scattered -shot about in a way so dangerous that at Cal’s command all the company -threw themselves prone upon the ground. - -This lasted for perhaps a minute, and fortunately nobody received a -charge of shot in his person from the bursting cartridges that had made -the racket. Fortunately, too, the box of cartridges thus caught in the -flames and destroyed was the only one involved in the catastrophe. The -rest had been kept, not in the hut, but in the _Hunkydory’s_ lockers. - -But when they came to take account of their losses, which they did -as soon as the first excitement had passed away, they found that the -damage done had been considerable. - -For one thing, their entire supply of meat was destroyed; so was their -bread and their coffee. - -“We shall not starve, anyhow,” Cal decided. “We can kill as much game -as we need and as the bottom doesn’t seem to have dropped out of the -sea, we can still catch fish, oysters, shrimps and crabs. As for bread, -we still have Tom’s sweet potato patch to draw upon. There wasn’t more -than a pound of coffee left, so that’s no great loss.” - -For the rest, the very few clothes the boys had brought with them in -addition to what they wore, were all lost, but they decided that they -could get on without them—“Mr. Dunbar’s fashion.” Tom was the worst -sufferer in that respect, as the garments he wore had been badly torn -in his rescue from the fire, but he cheerfully announced: - -“I can manage very well. I’ll decline all dinner, dance and other -invitations that require a change from every-day dress. I’ll have some -cards engraved announcing that ‘Mr. Thomas Garnett is detained at the -South and will not be at home to receive his friends until further -notice.’ Then I’ll borrow some of your beetle-detaining pins, Mr. -Dunbar, and pin up the worst of the rents in my trousers.” - -“We’ll do better than that, Tom,” the naturalist answered. “I’ve quite -a little sewing kit tucked away in my log locker. You shall have -needles, thread and a thimble whenever you wish to use them.” - -“Thank you, Mr. Dunbar; but please spare me the thimble. I never -could use a contrivance of that kind. Every time I have tried I have -succeeded only in driving the needle into my hand and breaking it off -well beneath the skin.” - -“Boy like,” answered Dunbar. “You’re the victim of a traditional defect -in our system of education.” - -“Would you mind explaining?” asked Cal. - -“Certainly not. I hold that the education of every human being ought -to include a reasonable mastery of all the simple arts that one is -likely to find useful in emergencies. We do not expect girls to become -accountants, as a rule, but we do not on that account leave the -multiplication table out of a girl’s school studies. In the same way -we do not expect boys generally to do much sewing when they grow to -manhood, but as every man is liable to meet emergencies in which a -little skill in the use of needle, thread and scissors may make all the -difference between comfort and discomfort, every boy ought to be taught -plain sewing. However, we have other things to think of just now.” - -“Indeed we have,” answered Cal, “and the most pressing one of those -other things is to-morrow morning’s breakfast. Does it occur to any of -you that, except the salt in the dory’s locker, we haven’t an ounce of -food of any kind in our possession?” - -“That is so,” “I hadn’t thought of that;” “and we’ll all be hungry, -too, for of course we shall not sleep”—these were the responses that -came quickly in answer to Cal’s suggestion. - -“We’ll manage the matter in this way,” said Cal, quite as if no one -else had spoken. “When ’yon grey streaks that fret the clouds give -indication of the dawn,’ Mr. Dunbar will go fishing. As soon as it -grows light enough for you to walk through the woods without breaking -more than two or three necks apiece, the rest of you can take that big -piece of tarpaulin, go out to Tom’s potato patch, and bring back a -large supply of sweet potatoes. After breakfast one or two of us can -go for some game, while the rest repair damages here. It will take two -or three days to do that.” - -As he spoke he looked about him as if to estimate the extent of the -harm done. - -“Hello!” he cried out a moment later. “That’s bad, very bad.” - -“What is it, Cal?” - -“Why, our well has completely disappeared—filled up to the level -by the surrounding earth, which seems to have lost its head and in -that way got itself ‘into a hole,’ just as people do when they forget -discretion. That means that we’ve got to dig out the well to-day, and -in the meantime drink that stuff from the spring down under the bluff. -Our day’s work is cut out for us, sure enough.” - -Tom had disappeared in the darkness while Cal was speaking, and as Cal -continued to speak for a considerable time afterwards, marking out what -Dick called a “programme of convenience,” he had not finished when Tom -returned and in breathless excitement announced that the spring under -the bluff was no more. - -“The whole of that part of the bluff has slumped down to the beach,” -he said, “and even the big catalpa tree is uprooted and overturned. -Of course the spring is completely filled up, and we’ll all be half -famished for water before we get the well dug out again.” - -“Don’t indulge in too hopeless a grief over the loss of the spring, -Tom,” said Cal in his most confidently optimistic tone. “We can make -another just as good anywhere down there in half an hour or less. That -puddle held nothing but sea water that had leaked through the sand, -partly filtering itself in doing so. We can dig a little hole anywhere -down that way, and if we choose the right sort of place we’ll get -better water than the spring ever yielded. I’ll look after that when -Mr. Dunbar and I go fishing. We’ll have the sand out of this well by -noon, too—it’s very loose and easily handled.” - -“But, Cal,” interrupted Tom; “we haven’t a thing to dig with. The two -shovels we had were in the hut.” - -The others stood aghast; Cal faced the situation with hopeful -confidence. - -“That’s bad,” he commented. “Of course the handles are burned up, but -the iron part remains, and even with the meagre supply of cutting tools -we have—which is to say our jackknives and the little ax—we can -fashion new ones. It will take valuable time, but we must reconcile -ourselves to that.” - -“Well, we must get to work at something—it’s hard to know where to -begin,” said Larry in a despondent tone. “What’s the first thing to be -done, Cal?” - -“The first thing to be done is to cheer up; the next thing is to stay -cheered up. You fellows are in the dumps worse than the well is, and -you’ve got to get out of them if you have to lift yourselves out by -the straps of your own boots. What’s the matter with you, anyhow? Have -we lived a life of easy luxury here at Quasi for so long that you’ve -forgotten that this is an expedition in search of sport and adventure? -Isn’t this earthquake overthrow an adventure of the liveliest sort? -Isn’t the loss of our belongings by fire a particularly adventurous -happening?” - -“After all,” broke in Tom, who had a genuine relish for danger, -difficulty and hardship, “after all, we’re not in half as bad a -situation as we were when we faced the revenue officers from behind our -log breastwork. Our lives were really in danger then, while now we have -nothing worse than difficulty to face.” - -“Yes, and a few months hence we’ll all remember this thing with joy and -talk of it with glee.” - -“You’re right about that,” said Dunbar, “and it is always so. I have -gone through many trying experiences, and as I recall them the most -severely trying of them are the ones I remember with the greatest -pleasure. Besides, in this case the way of escape, even from such -difficulties as lie before you, is wide open. The dory is at anchor -down there and if you are so minded you can sail away from it all.” - -“What! Turn tail and run!” exclaimed Tom, almost indignantly. - -“No, we’re not thinking of that,” said Cal. “We’ll see the thing out, -and, by the way, it’s growing daylight. Come, Mr. Dunbar! We have a -pressing engagement with the fish and we must have an early breakfast -this morning on all accounts. We have a lot to do, and you mustn’t be -later than noon in reaching the postoffice, you know.” - -“Oh, I’ve abandoned that,” responded Dunbar. - -“But why?” asked Larry. “Of course we can’t go with you as we planned, -but you can take the dory and make the trip for yourself. And perhaps -you won’t mind taking some money along and buying out whatever food -supplies the country store over there can furnish. We need bread -especially, and coffee and—” - -“And a few pounds of cheese won’t come amiss,” added Dick. - -“But I tell you I am not going,” said Dunbar. “I have accepted and -enjoyed your hospitality when all was going well with you; do you -suppose I’m going to abandon you even for a day, now that you’re in -trouble and need all the help you can get?” - -“Your reasoning is excellent,” said Cal, purposely lapsing into his -old habit of elaborate speech, by way of relieving the tension that -had made his comrades feel hurried and harassed; “your reasoning -is excellent, but your premises are utterly wrong. You can help us -mightily by sailing up to that postoffice town and bringing back the -supplies we need, while you cannot help us at all by remaining here. We -four are more than enough to keep the few tools we have left constantly -busy. With a fifth person included in the construction gang, there -would always be one of us who must idly hold his hands for want of -anything to work with. No, Mr. Dunbar, the best service you can render -to the common cause is to sail up to the village, redeem your promise -by mailing your papers, and bring back all you can of provisions -adapted to our use. So that’s settled, isn’t it, boys?” - -Their answer left no room for further argument, and as the daylight -was steadily growing stronger, the party separated, Cal and Dunbar -going in quest of fish for breakfast, and the others struggling through -tangled thickets toward the wild sweet potato field. - - - - -XXXIV - -MAROONED AT QUASI - - -IT was a bright, sunny day that followed—a day offering no suggestion -of the convulsion of the night before. There was a good sailing breeze -blowing in from the sea. It gave Dunbar the wind over the starboard -quarter for his voyage to the village, and promised to be nearly abeam -for his return. - -“The dory will take me there and back by noon or a little later,” he -called to the others as the sails filled and the boat heeled over to -port. - -The Rutledge boys had urged him to take the money they offered him for -the purchase of supplies, but he had declined. - -“I have a plenty of my own,” was his answer, “and whatever I can buy up -there I’ll bring back as my contribution to the general welfare.” - -It was idle to argue the matter, and not very safe either, Dick -thought, for in their intercourse with him the boys had learned that -with all his kindly good-nature, Dunbar was exceedingly proud and very -sensitive. - -When the dory had gone, the boys set to work with a will upon the task -of re-establishing Camp Quasi. Tom was sent out after game. Dick, -who was the cleverest of them all in using tools, and especially -his jackknife, busied himself in fitting new handles into their two -shovels. With these and the bait pails for excavating tools, the three -who remained in camp toiled diligently in removing the sand from their -well. - -Tom returned a little before noon, bringing in game enough of one kind -and another to keep the company in meat for two days to come. - -There was no sign of Dunbar and the dory as yet, and as the rest were -hungry, it was decided that Cal should cook dinner at once, while Tom -worked at the well in his stead. The cooking occupied a considerable -time, and it was two o’clock in the afternoon when the tired boys -finished eating. They had not slept since the earthquake at ten o’clock -the night before; they had worked hard during the night in an endeavor -to save what they could of their belongings, and they had worked still -harder ever since dawn. Moreover, the excitement had been even more -wearying than the work. Now that it had passed away and its victims -had eaten a hearty dinner, the desire for rest and sleep became -irresistible. - -Cal had made measurements and reported that two hours more of digging, -or perhaps even less than that, would give them a water supply once -more. At Larry’s suggestion, therefore, the worn-out fellows decided to -sleep for an hour or two. - -“We’ll do the rest of the well-digging in the cool of the late -afternoon,” he said between a succession of yawns. - -“Let’s hope,” said Tom, “that Mr. Dunbar won’t get here and wake us up -before we’re ready.” - -“There’s not much danger of that,” answered Cal. - -“Why not, Cal?” - -“You’d know without asking if you were as observant to-day as you -usually are. I suppose you didn’t notice that the wind died out before -noon, and there hasn’t been a sailing breath since.” - -“That’s so,” said Tom, “and he’ll have to row the whole way. I ought to -have thought of that.” - -“Well, please don’t apologize now. It would only keep us awake when -every moment is precious for slumber. I give notice now that I’m asleep -and you can’t pull another word out of me with a corkscrew.” - -When the weary fellows waked the afternoon was nearly gone, but before -resuming their work, and by way of refreshing themselves for it, they -went down to the beach and took a plunge into the sea. - -“No sign of Mr. Dunbar yet,” said Tom, who was beginning to be uneasy. - -“No,” answered Larry, “but we needn’t bother about him. He’ll turn up -quite unexpectedly when he gets ready. He always does that you know. -What we’ve got to do is to finish our well in the shortest possible -time. So, on with your duds, and let’s get to work.” - -“You’re ‘mighty right,’ Larry,” said Dick. “I’ve quenched my thirst -with sour wild grapes till my teeth have an edge like those of a -buck-saw, and I begin to crave some unseasoned water.” - -“I imagine we’re all in the same condition,” said Cal, as they hurried -back to the ruins of the camp, “and it is altogether well that we are -so.” - -“How’s that, Cal?” - -“Why, stimulated by thirst and encouraged by a sure prospect of reward, -we’ll stop fooling away our time and do a little real work.” - -Two hours later there was an abundant water supply in the well, and -it had so far “settled” that the boys drank it freely with their late -supper. - -When the meal was over they all strolled down to the shore again and -listened for the sound of oars in the direction from which Dunbar was -expected. Nobody had suggested this. No word of uneasiness had been -uttered, but every member of the company was in fact uneasy about the -missing member of the group. After their return to camp this feeling -was recognized as something in the minds of all. Presently Tom offered -a suggestion: - -“What do you think, Larry? Won’t it be just as well to show a light -down that way, in case he should have trouble in finding the landing -during the night?” - -“That’s a good idea, Tom, but we’re so nearly out of oil now—indeed, -we haven’t any except what is in the lanterns—that it must be a -torch—” - -“Or a camp-fire,” suggested Cal. “There are no sand flies to-night, and -there’s nothing to keep us here. Why not move down to the bluffs and -build a camp-fire there? Then we can sleep by it and keep it going all -night.” - -This plan was carried out, but it resulted in nothing. When the boys -returned to their work of rebuilding the shelter the next morning, -Dunbar had not yet made his appearance, nor was anything to be seen of -the dory in such of the waterways as were open to view between the mud -marshes that dotted the great bay or inlet in every direction. - -But as the boys busied themselves with their work on the hut, their -minds were occupied and their anxiety as to Dunbar was less than during -the night before. - -When another day had passed, however, and still Dunbar did not return, -that anxiety became very keen indeed. They built their fire again on -the bluff, and they tried hard to sleep by it, but with little success. -They would resolve to stop talking and go to sleep, and for a few -minutes all would be quiet. Then one after another would grow restless -and sit up, or walk about, or say something that set the talk going -again. - -Presently, when all had given up the attempt to sleep, Larry made a -final end of all efforts in that direction by saying: - -“You see, boys, this thing is really very serious. We are all anxious -about Mr. Dunbar’s safety, but we’ve got our own to think about also.” - -Every one of the company had thought of that, but until now all of them -had avoided mentioning it. - -“You see it isn’t Mr. Dunbar alone that is missing; the dory is gone -too, and if he doesn’t return the dory won’t.” - -“No, and in that case,” commented Dick, “our situation will be really -very serious. We are here on what is practically an island that nobody -ever visits; we are without a boat, and there is no possible way of -escape from here without one.” - -“Can’t we build some sort of craft that will answer our purpose?” asked -Tom, hopefully. - -“What with?” Larry responded. “We have no materials and no tools except -the one little ax. There isn’t so much as a nail anywhere on Quasi -plantation, and if there were kegs full, we haven’t a hammer to hit -them with.” - -“We might drive nails with stones,” suggested Dick. - -“We might if we had one of your Massachusetts quarries to furnish the -stones. But on all this coast there isn’t a rock or a stone as big as a -filbert. No, we have no tools and no substitutes for tools.” - -“Yes,” growled Cal, who alone was lying down with closed eyes in an -endeavor to get to sleep, “and you fellows are doing all you can -to wear out the strength we need for the emergency by profitless -chatter, when we ought to be sleeping and refreshing ourselves to meet -conditions as they arise. Don’t you see the folly of that? Don’t you -realize that you aren’t bettering things, but making them worse? - -“The very worst preparation for meeting difficulties is to fall into -a panic about them. Besides, there’s no occasion for panic or for -melancholy brooding; Dunbar may turn up with the dory safe and sound. -If he doesn’t, I grant you we’ll have some problems to wrestle with -and we’ll need the clearest heads we can keep on our shoulders. You’re -doing all you can to muddle them.” - -“But, Cal, it is necessary to face this situation and think of ways in -which—” - -“That’s precisely what you’re not doing. Not one of you has offered a -single suggestion that is worth while. Besides, this isn’t the time for -that. Troubles always look worse at night than by daylight. The best we -can do now is to make up our minds to two things.” - -“What are they, Cal?” - -“First, that if we’re in a hole, we’ll find some way of getting out of -it, and, second, that it is high time to go to sleep.” - -“Have you thought of any plans, Cal?” - -“Not exactly; but I have some ideas that may be worthy of attention on -the part of this distinguished company, if this distinguished company -will individually and collectively stop gabbing and let sleep respond -to the wooing of closed eyelids. Silence in camp!” - - - - -XXXV - -AGAIN TOM FINDS SOMETHING - - -WHEN morning came all the boys admitted that Cal had been right in -saying that troubles exaggerate themselves at night and seem far -less hopeless when faced by daylight. The situation was the same -that morning that it had been at midnight, but it did not seem so -bad. Dunbar had not appeared and every hour that passed made it less -probable that he ever would return. But somehow even that prospect did -not altogether appal the boys when they thought of it by daylight. - -Nevertheless, their minds were greatly disturbed as they waited -throughout that day for Cal to unbosom himself of the ideas and -suggestions he had promised to offer. They hoped he would do so at -breakfast, but he talked instead of plans for that day’s work in -rebuilding the hut. While they were engaged in building it there was no -opportunity for him to set forth his views; they could not get together -to hear his plans without delaying the work, and they were agreed that -nothing must be permitted to interrupt that. They looked forward to -dinner as the opportunity he would probably seize upon for explaining, -but when during that meal some one threw out a hint that that was as -good a time as any, Cal replied: - -“We’ll wait till evening; we must give Mr. Dunbar till then to return. -If he doesn’t put in an appearance by sunset to-day we may as well give -up looking for him. Then will be the time for discussing the situation -and planning ways out of it. Now we’ll all get to work again.” - -There was something in Cal’s manner and in his general cheerfulness -which comforted his comrades, though it would have puzzled them to say -how or why. It was evident at any rate that Cal had not lost hope. It -was obvious that he saw nothing in the situation that should suggest -despair, and his manifest confidence was in some degree contagious. - -The sun was still an hour high when suddenly Cal called out: - -“Suppose we let it go at that, boys. The thing’s good enough as it -stands and we can get on with it for the few weeks that remain of our -stay at Quasi.” - -“Then you really see a way out?” asked Larry. “What is it?” - -“Come on over to the bluff and we’ll have a last look for Mr. Dunbar. -If he isn’t within sight we’ll give him up and make up our minds that -we shall never see the _Hunkydory_ again. Then we’ll talk the thing -over and see what is to be done.” - -They set out for the bluff, restraining their impatience to hear what -Cal might have to say with a good deal of difficulty, and only because -they must. They knew he would say nothing until he should be ready, and -that if they hurried him he would remain silent the longer. - -No sign appearing of Dunbar or the dory, Cal sat down with the others -and seemed ready to say what was in his mind. - -“This is a situation that we didn’t reckon upon, but it is by no means -hopeless, and we shall enjoy talking about it as the crowning event in -our trip to Quasi when we come to think of it only as a memory.” - -“But we’re not out of it yet,” interrupted Larry, “and I for one see no -prospect of getting out.” - -“There speaks despair, born of pessimism,” Cal smilingly said. “‘Hope -springs eternal in the human breast,’ you know, and my breast is -altogether human and hopeful. But let us suppose your despair is well -founded, and see what then. At worst we shall not starve to death. -There is plenty of game—” - -“Yes, and fish too,” Tom interjected. - -“Yes, and fish too. It won’t be easy to get them without a boat, but -we’ll manage in some way.” - -“We can easily make a raft to fish from,” suggested Dick. - -“I had thought of that,” resumed Cal, “but it’s impracticable.” - -“Why so?” - -“Because we have no anchor and nothing that will serve as a substitute -for one. Of course the tide would quickly sweep our raft away from any -bar we might try to fish upon. No, what fish we get will have to be -caught with the castnet at low tide, and in the mouths of sloughs where -mullets feed, particularly at night. But there is game, and there are -oysters, and no end of crabs. We shall not starve to death. We have no -bread left, and Tom’s sweet potato patch is about exhausted, but we can -live on the other things for the two or three weeks that we must stay -here.” - -“You’ve said something like that several times, Cal,” said Larry, with -a touch of impatience. “What do you mean by it?” - -“I mean that this is the beginning of September; that the college -session will begin on the first of October—less than a month hence; -that our honored parents expect us to be in attendance at that time; -and that if we don’t get home in time to pack our trunks they will -send out and search for us; and finally, that as Major Rutledge, of -Charleston, whom I have the honor to call father, knew in advance that -we intended to visit Quasi on this trip, Quasi will be the place at -which he will first look for us. So we’ll have our little frolic out -and it will be great fun to tell the fellows at college about it after -we get acquainted with them.” - -The spirits of the boys responded promptly to Cal’s confident prophecy, -which indeed was not so much a prophecy as a statement of simple facts -known to all of them, though in their half panic-stricken mood they had -not thought of them before. - -Presently Dick had something to say that added a new impulse to -activity. - -“Of course, Cal is right, and we’ll be rescued from Quasi before the -end of the month, but I for one would like us to get away without being -rescued. Think of the alarm and distress our mothers will suffer if we -do not turn up in time, especially as this earthquake has happened. -They will think we’ve come to grief in some way and—I say, boys, we -simply _must_ get away from here before they take the alarm.” - -“We certainly ought to if there was any way,” said Cal, “but of course -there isn’t.” - -“Yes, there is,” answered Dick, confidently. “You’re the pessimist this -time, Cal.” - -“Go ahead and tell us your plan,” responded Cal. “I’m always ready for -the hopeful prospect if I can find it. What do you propose, Dick?” - -“To build a sort of catamaran. It can’t be much of a craft because we -have no tools and no fit materials, but these waters are so closely -land-locked that all we need is to make something that will float. We -can paddle it to the village up there, ten miles or so away, and from -there we can walk to the railroad.” - -“So far, so good,” said Cal, when Dick ceased to speak. “Go on and tell -us the rest.” - -“What do you mean?” - -“Why the ‘how’ of it all. What is the plan of your catamaran, and how -are we to make it?” - -“Don’t be sceptical, Cal, till you’ve—” - -“I’m not sceptical—not a bit. I’m only asking what we are to do -and how, so that we may get to work at it early in the morning, or -to-night, for that matter, if there’s anything that can be done by fire -light. You spoke of our parents awhile ago, and of the alarm they must -feel if we don’t get back on time. I’ve been thinking of my mother -ever since. She’s an invalid, you know, and a shock of that sort might -kill her. So I’m ready to work by night or by day, or both, if it will -help to spare her. Go on and tell us your plan.” - -“I will. You know, of course, what a catamaran is, so I need not -explain that. We will cut two logs, about twelve or fourteen feet long, -one of them eight or ten inches thick and the other a mere pole. We’ll -hew their ends sharp—boat-fashion—and lay them parallel to each -other, seven feet or so apart. We’ll fasten them securely in place with -stout poles at the bow and stern and amidships, binding the poles in -place with limber vines. That will complete our framework. Then we’ll -place a light pole longitudinally on the cross braces and about three -feet inside the larger of our two logs. From the log to this pole -we’ll construct a light deck of cane on which to stand as we paddle -and push the craft along. Of course it will be a rude thing, very hard -to manage, but as no part of it will be in the water except the two -logs—one a mere pole—it will offer very little resistance, not half -as much as a raft would.” - -“No, not a tenth,” answered Larry. - -“Come on,” said Cal. “We’re burning daylight. This job is yours, Dick, -and you are to boss it, but I’ll be foreman of the gang and keep -myself and the rest of you at work. We’ll let supper go till after -dark, and utilize what’s left of the daylight in cutting cane, vines, -poles and whatever else you need. Then we’ll be ready in the morning -to cut the logs and begin the work of construction. Hoop la! We’ll be -afloat again before the week’s up! Dick, you’re a dandy, and I’ll never -accuse you of pessimism again. ‘Look up and not down, forward and not -back, out and not in, and lend a hand.’ Dr. Hale put all there is of -sound philosophy into that one sentence.” - -After the darkness made an end of work for that day the boys sat down -gleefully to their supper, and hopefully laid plans for the morrow. -Presently Larry jestingly turned to Tom: - -“It’s your turn now, Tom. You are credited in this company with -something like a genius for finding things at the critical moment when -we need them most. Why don’t you bring your abilities to bear on the -present situation and find something—a chest of tools or a keg of -nails, or something else useful?” - -“Perhaps I will,” answered Tom. “Anyhow, I’m going out now to see what -I can find in three traps I set yesterday. There have been coon tracks -over that way every morning recently, and the gentleman who made them -may have walked into one of my traps.” - -The boys kept a number of torches ready for lighting, now that the lack -of oil rendered the lanterns useless, and taking one of these with -him, Tom set out to inspect his traps. He was gone for so long that -his comrades were wondering what had become of him, when suddenly he -appeared, coming from the direction of the bluff, though he had gone -quite the opposite way. - -“Did you get your coon?” asked Larry. - -“No,” said Tom; “but I found something.” - -“What was it, and where is it?” - -“Be patient and I’ll tell you about it. After I had looked at my traps -it occurred to me that I might as well come back by way of the bluffs, -on the chance—” - -“Ah, I guess it all,” interrupted Cal. “You found the dory at anchor -there and Mr. Dunbar busy polishing his finger nails preparatory to his -return to camp. Or perhaps you found a—” - -“Stop your nonsense, Cal,” commanded Larry. “Don’t you see that Tom -really has something to tell us!” - -“Go ahead, Tom; I’m as mum as the Sphinx,” answered Cal, who found it -difficult to keep his jubilant spirits within bounds now that he had -something to do which promised results. - -Tom resumed: - -“I don’t know whether it means anything or not, but it’s interesting -at any rate and I may as well tell you about it. As I was passing the -uprooted catalpa tree, my foot sank into wet sand, and as the sand -there had always been as dry as powder, I looked about to see what it -meant. To my surprise I saw water trickling out from under the roots -of the tree, and I went close up to inspect. As I was looking at the -new-born spring my eye was caught by something curiously entangled -among the upturned roots of the tree. It was so wound about by the -roots and so buried in sand that I could make out its shape only in -part, and that with difficulty. To make matters worse my torch was -burned out by that time, so that I had only my fingers to explore with. -I felt of the thing carefully, and made out that it is a keg of the -kind that people sell gunpowder in. But I could get at only a small -part of the chine, so I could learn no more about it. We can cut the -roots away and dig it out to-morrow.” - -“We’ll cut the roots away and dig it out to-night,” answered Cal, -rising and lighting a torch. “We have work to do to-morrow and can’t -spare time. Besides, this is a mystery and we sha’n’t sleep till we -solve it; grab a cold torch each of you and come on. I’ll carry the -little ax.” - - - - -XXXVI - -WHAT THE EARTH GAVE UP - - -TOM’S account of the way in which the powderkeg was entangled in the -roots of the catalpa tree was more than borne out by the fact as the -boys found it. It seemed to them a wonder that Tom had discovered it -at all, so completely was it wrapped up in the knotted mass of root -growths. - -After digging away the earth until the whole root entanglement was -exposed to view, the boys set Dick Wentworth at work cutting away the -roots with his jackknife, a thing at which only one person could work -at a time. When Dick’s hand grew tired, another of the boys relieved -him at the task and the work was hurried as much as possible, not -so much because it was growing late as because the little company’s -curiosity was intense. - -“Wonder how on earth anybody ever got the thing under the roots of a -tree that way?” ventured Tom, as he toiled with his knife. - -“Simple enough,” answered Cal. “He didn’t do it.” - -“How did it get there, then?” - -“Why, the tree grew there after the keg was buried, of course. Somebody -stuck a catalpa bean in the ground directly over the keg. Probably the -man who buried the thing did that; he wanted to provide a landmark by -which to find the spot again, and probably he knew there wasn’t another -catalpa tree on all Quasi plantation.” - -“But that tree has been standing here a long time—twenty or -twenty-five years I should say.” - -“That only means that the keg was buried here twenty or twenty-five -years ago at the least, and ’pon my word, it looks it.” - -“What I’m wondering about,” interposed Larry, “is what the keg -contains. It must be something important or nobody would have taken the -pains to bury it and plant a tree over it.” - -“And yet,” argued Dick, “if it is anything important, why did anybody -bury it away out here and never come back for it?” - -“It all depends,” answered Cal, “on just what you mean by ‘important.’ -Things are important sometimes and utterly unimportant at others; -important to one person and of no consequence to anybody else. At this -moment I feel that my breakfast in the morning is becoming a thing of -very great importance to me; but I don’t suppose poor Dunbar, wherever -he is, cares a fig about it.” - -“By the way, what can have become of the poor fellow? I wonder if he -managed to fall out of the dory and get drowned?” - -It was Tom who asked the question. Cal, who had thought a great deal -about the matter, answered it promptly: - -“That isn’t likely,” he said. “Indeed, it is scarcely possible. Dunbar -was too good a boatman to fall overboard, and too good a swimmer to -drown if he did. He would have climbed back into the dory with no worse -consequence than a ducking in warm sea water.” - -“What’s your theory then, Cal?” - -“Why, that he has had one of his peculiar ‘spells.’ You remember that -when he was missing from camp the last time he wrote us a letter, but -when his lost knife was returned to him he seemed to remember nothing -about it. More than that, he seemed to think the day he returned was -the same as the day he went away. In other words, his memory was a -blank as to the time he was away. Then, too, you remember that when we -first found him here he couldn’t remember whether he had come three -weeks or four weeks before. Still again, you remember how badly he was -mixed up about the date just before he went away this time, and that -too in spite of the fact that he had important papers to post before a -given time.” - -“Then you think he’s crazy?” - -“I don’t know about that, because I’m not a doctor or an alienist, or -anything else of the kind. But I think he has a way of losing himself -now and then, though at ordinary times his head is a remarkably clear -one.” - -“I have read of such cases,” said Dick. “They call it ‘double -consciousness,’ I believe. I don’t know whether it is regarded as a -kind of insanity or not. Then you think, Cal—” - -“I hardly know what I think. You see I don’t know the facts in this -case. We know absolutely nothing of what Dunbar did or what happened -to him after he passed out of sight behind the marsh island over -there. So we haven’t enough facts to base any thinking at all upon. -But it has occurred to me that after he left us one of his fits of -self-forgetfulness may have come on, and it may have lasted ever since.” - -At this point the discussion of Dunbar’s case was brought to an end by -an unexpected happening. As Tom tugged hard at one of the larger roots -in an effort to loosen its hold, the keg suddenly fell to pieces. The -oaken staves and headings seemed still to be fairly sound, but the -iron hoops that had held the keg together had been so eaten with rust -that they fell into fragments under the strain and the staves tumbled -together in a loose pile. - -From among them Tom drew forth something, and all the boys held their -torches close while examining it. - -“What is it, anyhow?” was the question on every lip. - -“It’s very heavy for its size,” said Tom, poising it in his hand. - -“Of course it is,” answered Cal. “Lead usually is heavy for its size. -But that’s a box, made of lead. If it were solid it would be a good -deal heavier. Open it, Tom.” - -“I can’t. It doesn’t seem to have any opening or any seams of any kind. -Look at it for yourself, Cal.” - -As he spoke he handed the thing to his comrade. It was an oblong mass, -seemingly hollow, but showing no sign of an opening anywhere. It was -about ten or eleven inches in length, a little more than four inches -wide, and about two inches thick from top to bottom. The surface was -much corroded, but Larry thought he discovered a partly obliterated -inscription of some kind upon it. - -“We must stop handling the thing carelessly,” he said. “Corroded as -the surface is we might rub the inscription off, and in that way rob -ourselves of the means of making out the meaning of the thing. We’ll -carry it carefully to camp, quicken up the fire with plenty of light -wood, and then make a minute examination of the curious find. Tom, you -may have found a fortune for yourself this time, who knows?” - -“Or a misfortune,” suggested Dick, who in his childhood had been a -firm believer in all the mysteries and wonder workings recorded in -the Arabian Night’s Entertainments, and still recalled them upon the -smallest suggestion. “Shut up as it is, with no sign of an opening, who -knows but that it bears Solomon’s seal on it? The inscription may be -Solomon’s autograph, put there to hold captive some malicious genie. We -all know what happened to the fisherman who let the smoke out of the -copper vase.” - -“Oh, I’ll take my chances on that sort of thing,” laughingly answered -Tom, who, as the discoverer, was recognized by his comrades as the -rightful owner of the box and the person entitled to say what should be -done with it. - -“Of course,” said Cal. “Genii don’t play tricks in our time and -country. They’re afraid of the constable.” - -The boys had reached the camp now, and a few minutes later a pile of -blazing fat pine made the space around it as light as day. For an hour, -perhaps, the boys minutely examined the queer casket. There was, or -had been, an inscription cut upon its upper surface with the point of -a penknife, but the corroding of the surface had so far obliterated it -that the boys succeeded only in doubtfully guessing at a half-effaced -letter here and there and in making out the figures 865 at the end of -the writing. - -“That’s the date,” said Larry—“1865, the figure one obliterated. -Obviously the inscription tells us nothing. What next, Tom?” - -Tom was minutely examining the sides of the case, scraping off the rust -with his thumb nail. Presently, instead of answering Larry’s question, -he cried out: - -“Eureka! See here, boys! This box was made in two pieces exactly alike, -one top and the other bottom. The two have been fitted together and -then a hot iron has been drawn over the seam, completely obliterating -it. It’s the nicest job of sealing a thing up water tight and air tight -that I ever saw, but I’m going to spoil it.” - -With that he opened his jackknife and very carefully drew its point -along the line where the upper and lower halves of the casket had been -joined. After he had traced the line twice with the knife point the two -halves suddenly fell apart, and some neatly folded and endorsed papers -were found within. - -Tom began reading the endorsements, but before he had run half through -the first one he leaped up, waving the documents over his head and -shouting “hurrah!” in a way that Cal said was “like the howling of a -demon accidentally involved with the accentuations of a buzz saw.” - -After a moment the excited boy so far calmed his enthusiasm as to throw -the bundle of papers into Larry’s face, shouting: - -“I’ve found the Quasi deeds! I’ve saved Quasi to its rightful owners! -Why don’t you all hurrah with me, you snails, you dormice or dormouses, -whichever is the proper plural of dormouse? There are the papers and it -was Tom Garnett who found them! For once prying curiosity has served a -good turn. Now, all together! Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!” - -The others joined heartily in the cheering that seemed necessary for -the relief of Tom’s excitement, and half-spoken, half-ejaculated -congratulations occupied the next five minutes. - -After that the whole party sat down to hear the results of the more -thorough examination of the papers, which Larry was delegated to make. - -“Yes, these are the deeds,” he reported, “uninjured by time or damp or -anything else, thanks to our grandfather’s care in sealing that leaden -box. They were executed in May, 1861, and see, down in a corner of each -is written: - -“‘Recorded in the clerk’s office of Beaufort District, liber 211, pp. -371, 372, 373. J. S., Clerk.’ - -“And here’s a memorandum in our grandfather’s handwriting and signed by -him. It is on a separate sheet, dated in February, 1865, and—” - -“Read it!” suggested Cal. - -“I will,” and he read as follows: - -“‘The clerk’s office in which these deeds were recorded at the time -of their execution has been destroyed, together with all the books of -record. It is vitally necessary therefore that these original deeds -shall be preserved. In these troublous times there is no place of -deposit for them which can be deemed reasonably safe. I am sealing them -in this leaden box, therefore, and will bury them upon the abandoned -plantation of Quasi, to which they give title. I shall plant a catalpa -bean above them as a sure means of identifying the spot, there being no -other catalpa on the plantation. I shall send my daughters a detailed -statement of what I have done, with instructions as to the way of -finding the papers. I place this memorandum in the box with the deeds -themselves, so that if anyone finds it he may know to whom its contents -belong. The address of my daughters will be found endorsed upon the -deeds themselves.’” - - - - -XXXVII - -TOM’S FINAL “FIND” - - -“TOM,” said Cal, taking the Virginia boy by the hand and warmly -greeting him, “you have crowned this expedition—” - -“Oh, bother!” interrupted Tom. “You fellows are daffy. I’ve had the -good luck to find the deeds, but it was by sheer accident, and anybody -else might have—” - -“But ‘anybody else’ didn’t, and that makes all the difference. Now -listen. I have the floor. I have restrained my natural impulse to do -all the talking lately until I’ve had to let out two holes in my belt. -I was going to hurl my best speech at your head, but you interrupted, -and now the graceful periods have slipped from memory’s grasp. I’ll -leave the task of adequate expression to my father. He’ll do it quite -as well as I can. But there’s one thing to which I must ask the -attention of the company here assembled.” - -“What is it, Cal?” Dick asked. - -“Why, simply that Tom has added another to the purposes with which this -expedition was undertaken. Our objects were sport and adventure. We -have had both, and now Tom has added a third—achievement.” - -“That’s all very well,” answered Tom, “but we haven’t made the -achievement yet. That will be when we deliver the deeds to your father, -and not till then. And we’ll never, never do that unless you stop your -nonsense and let us get to work on the catamaran, or raft, or whatever -else you call it. Our present job is to get away from Quasi with the -golden fleece. I suppose we ought to sleep now, but—” - -“But glue wouldn’t stick our eyelids together,” broke in Dick. “Work’s -the thing for us now. Let’s get at it. Oh, I say, Cal, what of the -tides? When will they set in strongly toward that little town up there?” - -Cal reckoned the matter up and named the hours at which the young flood -tides would begin to run. Then Dick thought a little and asked: - -“Is it all land-locked water from here to the town, or are there -openings to the sea?” - -“All closely land-locked—all creeks,” Cal answered. - -“Then if we work hard we can have the catamaran ready by to-morrow -noon—she won’t need to be much of a craft for such waters—and we can -make our start when the tide turns, about that time. Let’s see; the -distance is only ten or twelve miles, and the tide will run up for six -hours. That ought to take us there with no paddling or poling except -enough to keep the craft headed in the right direction.” - -“We’ll do it,” declared Cal. “Now to work, all of us. Tell us what to -do, Dick.” - -“Let one fellow make a lot of fresh torches,” the Boston boy answered. -“The rest of us can keep busy till daylight dragging bamboos, big cane -stalks and the cross braces down to the shore. As soon as it is light -enough in the morning we’ll fashion the two larger timbers, and get -them into the water. After that two or three hours’ work will finish -the job.” - -“An excellent programme, so far as it goes,” muttered Cal, as if only -thinking aloud. - -“Go ahead, Cal, what’s lacking?” - -“Seems to me,” Cal responded, “that every member of this company is in -the habit of carrying a digestive apparatus somewhere about his person. -That’s all.” - -“Right, Cal!” Larry broke in. “We must have breakfast and dinner, -and I think I remember hearing that experienced navigator, Richard -Wentworth, say, once upon a time, that one should never venture upon -salt water without carrying a supply of provisions along.” - -“I humbly submit to the rebuke,” answered Dick, with a laugh. “It was -forgetfulness, but forgetfulness is never quite pardonable. Some one -must go for game immediately after breakfast. We have enough on hand -for that meal.” - -“I delegate you to that task, Tom,” said Larry. “Your habit of finding -things may hasten the job.” - - * * * * * - -It was a little past noon when the company pushed away from Quasi on -the rude raft that served them for a ship, and were driven by the -strong flood tide through the maze of broad and narrow passages among -the marsh islands that lay between them and the town on the mainland. - -There was some discussion before they left Quasi as to what they should -do with the rifle and other things in Dunbar’s log lockup. - -Larry settled the matter, saying: - -“We’ll leave his belongings just where he placed them. We are not -likely to find him now, and—” - -“And if he finds himself,” Tom broke in, “he’ll come to Quasi after -them. Wonder where the poor fellow is, anyhow, and what’s the matter -with him.” - -Nobody could offer a conjecture that had not been discussed before, and -so the subject was dropped in favor of more immediate concerns. - - * * * * * - -The tide ran strong, and Dick’s “palatial passenger craft,” as Tom -called the raft, proved to be cork-like in its ability to float almost -as fast as the tide itself flowed. About five o’clock the last of -the marsh islands was passed, and the little town, perched upon high -bluffs, appeared. As the raft neared it, Tom suddenly called out: - -“I’ve found something else! There’s the _Hunkydory_ riding at anchor -in that little bay over yonder! Now, maybe the next find will be Mr. -Dunbar.” - -While Larry was sending a telegram to his father, the others went to -the boat and with permission of the man in charge, examined it. No -accident had happened to it and nothing about it gave the least hint -that Dunbar had merely abandoned it. The sail was neatly lashed to the -boom; the mast and the rudder had been unshipped and bestowed in the -bilge. Every rope was coiled and every pulley block ran free. - -More significant still was the fact that the lockers were all filled -with food stuffs. - -“Obviously he intended to return to Quasi,” Cal argued, “and laid in -supplies for us as he had promised. Whatever happened to him must have -occurred after that and just before the time he had set for sailing. -Let’s go up into the town and see what we can learn about him.” Then -pausing, he turned to the man in charge of the boat and asked: - -“Has she been lying at anchor and taking the chance of rain all this -time?” - -“No,” the man answered. “She’s been in that there boat house, but -to-day the squire tole me to anchor her out in the sun for an hour or -two, an’ that’s what I’m a doin’.” - -On their way they met Larry, who had telegraphed his father both at the -North and at Charleston, uncertain whether or not the earthquake had -hurried his home-coming. In his dispatches Larry had said: - -“Quasi deeds found by Tom Garnett, now in my possession and in perfect -order. Dory sails for Charleston immediately.” - -Two hours later there came two telegrams from Major Rutledge in -Charleston, one of them addressed to Larry and the other to Tom -Garnett. The one to Larry sent congratulations and asked him to hurry -home as fast as he could. What was in Tom’s none of the boys ever -knew. Tom’s eyes were full of tears as he read it, though his face -was a gladly smiling one as he replaced the paper in its envelope and -carefully bestowed it in his pocket. - -While waiting for these dispatches the boys made diligent inquiries -concerning Dunbar. He had arrived at the town about three o’clock on -the day of his leaving Quasi. He had intelligently addressed and posted -his manuscript and drawings. After that he had bought camping supplies -of every kind that the town could furnish, and had loaded them very -carefully into the dory. An hour later he had been found sitting under -a big tree and seemingly in distress of some kind. He was unable to -tell who he was, in answer to inquiries. His mind seemed an absolute -blank. Papers found on his person gave a sufficient clue to his -identity and the addresses of his nearest friends. Telegrams were sent -to them, and as soon as possible they came and took the poor fellow -away with them, a magistrate meanwhile setting a deputy constable to -care for the boat and cargo till its owners should appear. - -The young doctor whom Dunbar’s friends brought with them explained to -the old doctor of the town that for many years past Dunbar had been -the victim of a rather rare mental malady, causing occasional complete -lapses of memory. - -“This present attack,” he added, “is lasting longer than usual. He has -hitherto been allowed to roam at will, to live in the woods and pursue -his investigations. Now, however, I shall strongly advise his friends -to keep him under some small restraint for the sake of his own safety.” - -“That ends the Dunbar incident,” said Larry when the old doctor -finished his relation of the facts. “Now we must be off for Charleston. -What do you say, boys? There’s a moon to-night and we might as well get -a little start before it sets.” - -“My own judgment,” ventured Dick, “is that as we worked all of last -night, we’d better stay here till morning and get some sleep. But ‘I’m -in the hands of my friends’ as the politicians say.” - -Dick’s suggestion was approved, and the sun was just rising the next -morning when the _Hunkydory_ set sail. When the boys stepped ashore at -the Rutledge boathouse on the Ashley River, Major Rutledge was there to -greet them. - -“We feared you boys might be in serious difficulty down at Quasi,” he -said, warmly shaking hands all round for the second time, “and I was -about setting out to rescue you, when Larry’s telegram came.” - -“We rescued ourselves, instead,” Cal replied; “and to us that is more -satisfactory.” - -“It is very much better,” answered the father, catching Cal’s meaning -and heartily sympathizing with the proud sense of personal achievement -that lay behind. - -“Come on home now, and over a proper dinner tell your mother and me all -about what happened at Quasi.” - - - THE END - - - - -George Cary Eggleston’s Juveniles - - -The Bale Marked Circle X - -A Blockade Running Adventure - -Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated cover, -$1.50.- - -Another of Mr. Eggleston’s stirring books for youth. In it are told -the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate Service who -are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage from Charleston to the Bahamas, -conveying a strange bale of cotton which holds important documents. The -boys pass through startling adventures: they run the blockade, suffer -shipwreck, and finally reach their destination after the pluckiest kind -of effort. - - -Camp Venture - -A Story of the Virginia Mountains - -Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth, illustrated -cover, $1.50. - -The _Louisville Courier Journal_ says: “George Cary Eggleston has -written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in ‘Camp Venture.’ -It will be of interest to young and old who enjoy an exciting story, -but there is also a great deal of instruction and information in the -book.” - - -The Last of the Flatboats - -A Story of the Mississippi - -Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated cover, -$1.50. - -The _Brooklyn Eagle_ says: “Mr. George Cary Eggleston, the veteran -editor and author, has scored a double success in his new book, -‘The Last of the Flatboats,’ which has just been published. Written -primarily as a story for young readers, it contains many things that -are of interest to older people. Altogether, it is a mighty good story, -and well worth reading.” - - -Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston. - - - - -DAVE PORTER SERIES - -By EDWARD STRATEMEYER - - -VOLUME FIVE - -_DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLASSMATES_ - - _Or For the Honor of Oak Hall_ - - Illustrated by Charles Nuttall 12mo Cloth Price, $1.25 - -IN this volume Dave is back at Oak Hall and he brings about the -complete reformation of a former bully, who was rapidly going to the -bad. Athletic events and jolly fun are constantly mingled, and as -evidence that the boys are not at school entirely for that, many take -high honors at the close of the year, Dave being prize essayist, to the -great delight of his friends. - - “The best type of American schoolboy.”—_Boston Globe._ - - “Athletic events are told with a zest that shows the author’s ability - in that direction.”—_News, Buffalo, N. Y._ - - “Will hold the attention of the readers from beginning to - end.”—_Citizen, Brooklyn, N. Y._ - - -VOLUME SIX - -_DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH_ - - _Or The Cowboy’s Secret_ - - Illustrated by Lyle T. Hammond 12mo Cloth Price, $1.25 - -FROM his home, Dave, in company with his sister and some chums, -journeys to the boundless west. At the ranch the lads fall in with both -good and bad cowboys, and the hero has a thrilling time of it riding -a “busting bronco.” Some horses disappear in a mysterious manner, and -while trying to get back to the ranch on foot two of the lads are -caught in a furious storm, that blows down a big tree on top of them. -There are many scenes of hunting and rounding-up of cattle, and once a -stampede adds to the excitement. Mr. Stratemeyer has traveled through -the country he describes and gives a picture as accurate as it is -entertaining. - - “The author of ‘Dave Porter’ is a prime favorite with the - boys.”—_Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer._ - - “Edward Stratemeyer’s ‘Dave Porter’ has become exceedingly - popular.”—_Boston Globe._ - - “Dave and his friends are nice, manly chaps.”—_Times-Democrat, New - Orleans._ - - - - -THE BOYS OF BROOKFIELD ACADEMY - -By WARREN L. ELDRED - - Illustrated by Arthur O. Scott Large 12mo Cloth $1.50 - -[Illustration] - -THIS story tells of a boys’ school, with a glorious past, but an -uncertain future, largely due to the wrong kind of a secret society, a -vital problem in hundreds of schools to-day. - -The boys, after testing his patience in every way that youthful -ingenuity can suggest, come to rally about an athletic and brainy young -graduate in the splendid transformation of the society, and soon of -the entire academy, in one of the best school and athletic stories yet -written. - - “Things are doing all the way through the story, which is clean, manly - and inspiring.”—_Christian Endeavor World._ - - -THE LOOKOUT ISLAND CAMPERS - -By WARREN L. ELDRED - - Illustrated by Arthur O. Scott Large 12mo Cloth $1.50 - -[Illustration] - -THIS is a story of active boys of fifteen or so. They are very -fortunate in the friendship of the principal of their school and his -friend, an athletic young doctor. Under the care of these two they go -into camp on an island well suited to the purpose, and within easy -distance of a thronged summer resort. A series of exciting ball games -and athletic contests with the boys at the hotel naturally follows, -and the boys display as many varieties of human nature as could their -elders. - - “Mr. Eldred’s book is almost certain to meet with a ready response - from young readers, for not only are the boys filled with life and - vigor of a true youthful and appreciable variety but their experiences - are entertaining in themselves and may perhaps give the young readers - ideas for summer plans of their own.”—_Chicago Tribune._ - - -U. S. SERVICE SERIES - -By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER - -Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government - - Large 12mo Cloth $1.50 per volume - - -THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY - -[Illustration] - -APPEALING to the boy’s love of excitement, this series gives actual -experiences in the different branches of United States Government work -little known to the general public. This story describes the thrilling -adventures of members of the U. S. Geological Survey, graphically woven -into a stirring narrative that both pleases and instructs. The author -enjoys an intimate acquaintance with the chiefs of the various bureaus -in Washington, and is able to obtain at first hand the material for the -books. - - “There is abundant charm and vigor in the narrative which is sure - to please the boy readers and will do much toward stimulating their - patriotism by making them alive to the needs of conservation of the - vast resources of their country.”—_Chicago News._ - - “This is a book one can heartily recommend for boys, and it has life - enough to suit the most eager of them.”—_Christian Register, Boston._ - - -THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS - -[Illustration] - -THE life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous -detail—the mighty representative of our country’s government, though -young in years—a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete -with information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at -every step, this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated. - - “It is at once a most entertaining and instructive study of forestry - and a most delightful story of boy life in the service.”—_Cincinnati - Times-Star._ - - “It is a fascinating romance of real life in our country, and will - prove a great pleasure and inspiration to the boys who read it.”—_The - Continent, Chicago._ - - “No one beginning to read this book will willingly lay it down till he - has reached the last chapter.”—_Christian Advocate, Cincinnati._ - - - FIVE CHUMS SERIES - - By NORMAN BRAINERD - - 12mo Cloth Illustrated $1.25 each - - - Winning His Shoulder Straps - - [Illustration] - - A ROUSING story of life in a military school by one who thoroughly - knows all its features. Bob Anderson, the hero, is a good friend to - tie to, and each of his four particular friends is a worthy companion, - with well-sustained individuality. Athletics are plentifully featured, - and every boy, good, bad, and indifferent, is a natural fellow, who - talks and acts like a bright, up-to-date lad in real life. - - “The story throughout is clean and wholesome, and will not fail - to be appreciated by any boy reader who has red blood in his - veins.”—_Kennebec Journal._ - - “There are school and athletic competitions, pranks and frolics and - all in all a book of which most boy readers will have no criticism to - make.”—_Springfield Republican._ - - -Winning the Eagle Prize - -[Illustration] - -THE hero not only works his way at Chatham Military School after his -father’s financial misfortune, but has the pluck to try for a prize -which means a scholarship in college. It is very hard for a lad of his -make-up to do the requisite studying, besides working and taking a -prominent part in athletics, and he is often in trouble, for, unlike -some others, who are naturally antagonistic to the frank, impulsive -Billy, he scorns to evade responsibility. His four friends are loyal to -the fullest extent, and all comes right in the end. - - Athletics play a prominent part in the story and the whole is - delightfully stimulating in the fine ideals of life which it sets - before its young readers.”—_Chicago News._ - - “The workmanship of the author is up to his high mark and this book is - one to be appreciated by any active reader who has not forgotten his - boyhood, or, if he is a boy yet, has the real boy spirit, clean, and - wholesome and natural.”—_Buffalo News._ - - -Larry Burke, Freshman - -By FRANK I. ODELL - - Illustrated by H. C. Edwards $1.25 - -[Illustration] - -THIS book bristles with activity: baseball, football, ice-hockey, -basketball, track and field events, and a regatta appearing, and each -sport brought in with expert accuracy of detail, and realism that -makes one live over his own most thrilling athletic experiences. Along -with this is a charming narrative of student life and comradeship—the -golden days that have no others like them. Every boy and man who ever -heard of a college can take delight in this book. - - “The high tone of most of the boys, their comradeship and good will - toward one another are felt through the whole book. And if ever a boy - deserved friends or success, it was the noble-hearted hero of the - story, Larry Burke.”—_Louisville Courier-Journal._ - - “A boys’ book that is filled with healthy adventure and action from - cover to cover.”—_Cincinnati Times-Star._ - - -Tim and Roy in Camp - -By FRANK PENDLETON - - Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy Large 12mo $1.50 - -[Illustration] - -IN this book is crowded a wealth of sport, adventure, Indian stories, -hunting and camping, facts about animals encountered, and all that -will please a boy’s heart. A skilful hunter and trapper takes his son, -nephew, and two close friends on such a hunting and camping trip as -their most vivid imagination could not have improved upon. They are -supremely happy in their enjoyment in all that pertains to the woods, -and his camp-fire stories of experiences with Indians. Each of the boys -has a chance to show his bravery and resourcefulness, and each is equal -to the occasion. - - “The story is fascinating and contains not one thrill too - many.”—_Chicago News._ - - “This is a great book for live, active boys, vigorous, wholesome, - instructive and entertaining, written by a man who certainly - understands and knows boys, and who knows how to give them the best - kind of a vacation.”—_Portland Express._ - - -_For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by -the publishers_ - -LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: - -—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What Happened at Quasi, by -George Cary Eggleston and H. C. 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- margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of What Happened at Quasi, by -George Cary Eggleston and H. C. Edwards - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: What Happened at Quasi - The Story of a Carolina Cruise - -Author: George Cary Eggleston - H. C. Edwards - -Release Date: December 31, 2015 [EBook #50811] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI *** - - - - -Produced by Giovanni Fini, David Edwards and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class="limit"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="350" height="462" alt="" /> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc4 xlarge">WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI</p> - -<p class="pc large">THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> - -<div class="bord"> -<p class="pc large">BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> -<p class="pc lmid">BY</p> -<p class="pc mid">GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON</p> -<hr class="d1" /> -<p class="pc">Each Handsomely Illustrated. Price of Each Volume, $1.50</p> -<hr class="d1" /> -<p class="pad1">THE LAST OF THE FLATBOATS. A Story of the -Mississippi and Its Interesting Family of Rivers.</p> -<p class="pad1">CAMP VENTURE. A Story of the Virginia Mountains. -Adventures among the “Moonshiners.”</p> -<p class="pad1">THE BALE MARKED CIRCLE X. A Blockade-Running -Adventure.</p> -<p class="pad1">JACK SHELBY. A Story of the Indiana Backwoods.</p> -<p class="pad1">LONG KNIVES. The Story of How They Won the -West. A Tale of George Rogers Clark’s Expedition.</p> -<p class="pad1">WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI. The Story of a -Carolina Cruise. A Tale of Sport and Adventure.</p> -<hr class="d1" /> -<p class="pc"><i>For Sale by All Booksellers, or Sent Postpaid on -Receipt of Price by the Publishers</i></p> -<p class="pc1">LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a><br /><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-004.jpg" width="400" height="601" id="fr" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc400"><span class="smcap">As Tom tugged hard at one of the larger roots, the keg -suddenly fell to pieces.</span>—<i><span class="wn"><a href="#Page_353">Page 353.</a></span></i></p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> - -<h1 class="p4">WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI</h1> - -<p class="pc large">THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE</p> - -<p class="pc4 mid">BY</p> - -<p class="pc elarge">GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON</p> - -<p class="pc4">ILLUSTRATED BY H. C. EDWARDS</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-005.jpg" width="150" height="275" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="pc large">BOSTON</p> - -<p class="pc large">LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc4 reduct">Published, April, 1911</p> - -<p class="pc4">Copyright, 1911<br /> -<span class="smcap">By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.</span></p> - -<hr class="d2" /> - -<p class="pc reduct"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> - -<hr class="d2" /> - -<p class="pc"><span class="smcap">What Happened at Quasi</span></p> - -<p class="pc4 reduct">NORWOOD PRESS<br /> -<span class="mid">BERWICK & SMITH CO.</span><br /> -NORWOOD, MASS.<br /> -U. S. A.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc4">I INSCRIBE THIS STORY WITH AFFECTION TO</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-007.jpg" width="150" height="285" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="pc mid">GEORGE DUNN EGGLESTON</p> - -<div class="limit2"> -<p class="pn1">MY GRANDSON, IN THE BELIEF THAT WHEN HE GROWS -OLD ENOUGH HE WILL WANT TO KNOW “WHAT HAPPENED -AT QUASI,” AND WILL READ THE BOOK BY WAY -OF FINDING OUT</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a><br /><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">CONTENTS</h2> - -<table id="toc" summary="cont"> - - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="tdl"><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">I.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Interstate Chumming</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">II.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">The Story of Quasi</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">III.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Programme Subject to Circumstances</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom Fights it Out</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">V.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Rather Bad Night</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Little Sport by the Way</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">An Enemy in Camp</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Cal Begins to Do Things</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Fancy Shot</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">X.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom’s Discoveries</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Perilous Spying</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom’s Daring Venture</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Cal’s Experience as the Prodigal Son</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XIV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Cal Relates a Fable</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Cal Gathers the Manna</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XVI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Fog-Bound</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XVII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">The Obligation of a Gentleman</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XVIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Fight or Fair Play</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XIX.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Why Larry Was Ready for Battle</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XX.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Aboard the Cutter</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom’s Scouting Scheme</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom Discovers Things</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom and the Man With the Game Leg</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXIV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">The Lame Man’s Confession</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Signal of Distress</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXVI.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">An Unexpected Interruption</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXVII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">The Hermit of Quasi</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXVIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Rudolf Dunbar’s Account of Himself</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXIX.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom Finds Things</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXX.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Dunbar Talks and Sleeps</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Dunbar’s Strange Behavior</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Rainy Day With Dunbar</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXIII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">A Great Catastrophe</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXIV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Marooned at Quasi</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXV.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Again Tom Finds Something</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXVI.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">What the Earth Gave Up</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdrh">XXXVII.</td> - <td class="tdl1"><span class="smcap">Tom’s Final “Find”</span></td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td> - </tr> - -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -<table id="toi" summary="illustrations"> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">As Tom tugged hard at one of the larger -roots, the keg suddenly fell to pieces -(Page 353)</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#fr"><span class="small"><i>Frontispiece</i></span></a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="tdrl"><span class="small">FACING PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">Dick, Cal, and Tom searched the man’s clothes</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#i72">72</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">“In my haste I forgot to conceal my gun”</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#i126">126</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">“Stand where you are or we’ll shoot”</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#i182">182</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">“No, ’tain’t no use. I’ve got to take my medicine”</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#i226">226</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl2">A minute more, it would have been too late</td> - <td class="tdrl"><a href="#i320">320</a></td> - </tr> - -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI</h2> - -<p class="pc mid"><b>THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE</b></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a><br /><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc4 elarge">WHAT HAPPENED AT QUASI</p> - -<p class="pc mid">THE STORY OF A CAROLINA CRUISE</p> - -<h2 class="p4">I</h2> - -<p class="pch">INTERSTATE CHUMMING</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was hot in Charleston—intensely hot—with -not a breath of air in motion anywhere. The glossy -leaves of the magnolia trees in the grounds that surrounded -the Rutledge house drooped despairingly -in the withering, scorching, blistering sunlight of a -summer afternoon in the year 1886. The cocker -spaniel in the courtyard panted with tongue out, between -the dips he took at brief intervals in the -water-vat provided for his use. A glance down -King Street showed no living creature, man or beast, -astir in Charleston’s busiest thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>In the upper verandah of the Rutledge mansion, -four boys, as lightly dressed as propriety permitted, -were doing their best to keep endurably cool -and three of them were succeeding. The fourth -was making a dismal failure of the attempt. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -was Richard Wentworth of Boston, and he naturally -knew little of the arts by which the people of -hot climates manage to endure torrid weather with -tolerable comfort and satisfaction. He kept his -blood excited by the exertion of violently fanning -himself. While the others sat perfectly still in -bamboo chairs, or lay motionless on joggling boards, -Dick Wentworth was constantly stirring about in -search of a cooler place which he did not find.</p> - -<p>Presently he went for the fourth or fifth time to -the end of the porch, where he could see a part of -the street by peering through the great green jalousies -or slatted shutters that barred out the fierce -sunlight.</p> - -<p>“What do you do that for, Dick?” asked Lawrence -Rutledge in a languid tone and without lifting -his head from the head-rest of the joggling -board.</p> - -<p>“What do I do what for?” asked Dick in return.</p> - -<p>“Why run to the end of the verandah every -five minutes? What do you do it for? Don’t you -know it’s hot? Don’t you realize that violent exertion -like that is unfit for weather like this? Why, -I regard unnecessary winking as exercise altogether -too strenuous at such a time, and so I don’t open -my eyes except in little slits, and I do even that only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -when I must. You see, I’m doing my best to keep -cool, while you are stirring about all the time and -fretting and fuming in a way that would set a kettle -boiling. Why do you do it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m only observing, in a strange land,” answered -Dick, sinking into a wicker chair. “I’ll be -quiet, now that I have found out the facts.”</p> - -<p>“What are they, Dick?” asked Tom Garnett, -otherwise known to his companions as “the Virginia -delegation,” he being the only Virginian in -the group. “What have you found out?”</p> - -<p>“Only that the cobblestones, with which the -street out there is paved, have been vulcanized, just -as dentists treat rubber mouth plates. Otherwise -they would melt.”</p> - -<p>“I’d laugh at that joke, Dick, if I dared risk the -exertion,” drawled Calhoun Rutledge, the fourth -boy in the group, and Lawrence Rutledge’s twin -brother. “Ah, there it comes!” he exclaimed, -rolling off his joggling board and busying himself -with turning the broad slats of the jalousies so as to -admit the cool sea breeze that had set in with the -turning of the tide.</p> - -<p>Lawrence—or “Larry”—Rutledge did the -same, and Tom Garnett slid out of his bamboo chair, -stretched himself and exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Well, that <i>is</i> a relief!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>Dick Wentworth sat still, not realizing the sudden -change until a stiff breeze streaming in through -the blinds blew straight into his face, bearing with -it a delicious odor from the cape jessamines that -grew thickly about the house. Then he rose and -hurried to an open lattice, quite as if he had expected -to discover there some huge bellows or some -gigantic electric fan stirring the air into rapid motion.</p> - -<p>“What has happened?” he asked in astonishment.</p> - -<p>“Nothing, except that the tide has turned,” answered -Larry.</p> - -<p>“But the breeze? Where does that come -from?”</p> - -<p>“From the sea. It always comes in with the -flood-tide, and we’ve been waiting for it. Pull on -your coat or stand out of the draught; the sudden -change might give you a cold.”</p> - -<p>“Then you don’t have to melt for whole days -at a time, but get a little relief like this, now and -then?”</p> - -<p>“We don’t melt at all. We don’t suffer half as -much from hot weather as the people of northern -cities do—particularly New York.”</p> - -<p>“But why not, if you have to undergo a grilling -like this every day?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It doesn’t happen every day, or anything like -every day. It never lasts long and we know how -to endure it.”</p> - -<p>“How? I’m anxious to learn. I may be put -on the broiler again and I want to be prepared.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we begin by recognizing facts and meeting -them sensibly. It is always hot here in the sun, -during the summer months, and so we don’t go -out into the glare during the torrid hours. From -about eleven till four o’clock nobody thinks of quitting -the coolest, shadiest place he can find, while -in northern cities those are the busiest hours of the -day, even when the mercury is in the nineties. We -do what we have to do in the early forenoon and -the late afternoon. During the heat and burden -of the day we keep still, avoiding exertion of every -kind as we might shun pestilence or poison. The -result is that sun strokes and heat prostrations are -unknown here, while at the north during every hot -spell your newspapers print long columns of the -names of persons who have fallen victims.”</p> - -<p>“Then again,” added Calhoun, “we build for hot -weather while you build to meet arctic blasts. We -set our houses separately in large plots of ground, -while you pack yours as close together as possible. -We provide ourselves with broad verandahs and -bury ourselves in shade, while you are planning your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -heating apparatus and doubling up your window -sashes to keep the cold out.”</p> - -<p>“It distresses me sorely,” broke in Larry, “to -interrupt an interesting discussion to which I have -contributed all the wisdom I care to spare, but the -sun is more than half way down the western slope -of the firmament, and if we are to get the dory into -the water this afternoon it is high time for us to be -wending our way through Spring Street to the -neighborhood of Gadsden’s Green—so called, I -believe, because some Gadsden of ancient times intended -it to become green.”</p> - -<p>The four boys had been classmates for several -years in a noted preparatory school in Virginia. -Dick Wentworth had been sent thither four years -before for the sake of his threatened health. He -had quickly grown strong again in the kindly climate -of Virginia, but in the meanwhile he had -learned to like his school and his schoolmates, particularly -the two Rutledges and the Virginia boy, -Tom Garnett. He had therefore remained at the -school throughout the preparatory course.</p> - -<p>Their school days were at an end now, all of -them having passed their college entrance examinations; -but they planned to be classmates still, all attending -the same university at the North.</p> - -<p>They were to spend the rest of the summer vacation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -together, with the Charleston home of the -Rutledge boys for their base of operations, while -campaigning for sport and adventure far and wide -on the coast.</p> - -<p>That accounted for the dory. No boat of that -type had ever been seen on the Carolina coast, but -Larry and Cal Rutledge had learned to know its -cruising qualities while on a visit to Dick Wentworth -during the summer before, and this year -their father had given them a dory, specially built to -his order at Swampscott and shipped south by a -coasting steamer.</p> - -<p>When she arrived, she had only a priming coat -of dirty-looking white paint upon her, and the boys -promptly set to work painting her in a little boathouse -of theirs on the Ashley river side of the city. -The new paint was dry now and the boat was ready -to take the water.</p> - -<p>“She’s a beauty and no mistake,” said Cal as the -group studied her lines and examined her rather -elaborate lockers and other fittings.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she’s all that,” responded his brother, -“and we’ll try her paces to-morrow morning.”</p> - -<p>“Not if she’s like all the other dories I’ve had -anything to do with,” answered Dick. “She’s been -out of water ever since she left her cradle, and it’ll -take some time for her to soak up.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, of course she’ll leak a little, even after a -night in the water,” said Cal, with his peculiar drawl -which always made whatever he said sound about -equally like a mocking joke and the profoundest -philosophy. “But who minds getting his feet wet -in warm salt water?”</p> - -<p>“Leak a little?” responded Dick; “leak a little? -Why, she’ll fill herself half full within five -minutes after we shove her in, and if we get into -her to-morrow morning the other half will follow -suit. It’ll take two days at least to make her seams -tight.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t the caulkers put more oakum into -her seams, then?” queried Tom, whose acquaintance -with boats was very scant. “I should think they’d -jam and cram every seam so full that the boat would -be water tight from the first.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps they would,” languidly drawled Cal, -“if they knew no more about such things than you -do, Tom.”</p> - -<p>“How much do you know, Cal?” sharply asked -the other.</p> - -<p>“Oh, not much—not half or a quarter as much -as Dick does. But a part of the little that I know -is the fact that when you wet a dry, white cedar -board it swells, and the further fact that when you -soak dry oakum in water, it swells a great deal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -more. It is my conviction that if a boat were -caulked to water tightness while she was dry and -then put into the water, the swelling would warp -and split and twist her into a very fair imitation of -a tall silk hat after a crazy mule has danced the -highland fling upon it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see, of course. But will she be really -tight after she swells up?”</p> - -<p>“As tight as a drum. But we’ll take some -oakum along, and a caulking tool or two, and a pot -of white lead, so that if she gets a jolt of any kind -and springs a leak we can haul her out and repair -damages. We’ll take a little pot of paint, too, in one -of the lockers.”</p> - -<p>“There’ll be time enough after supper,” interrupted -Larry, “to discuss everything like that, and -we must be prompt at supper, too, for you know -father is to leave for the North to-night to meet -mother on Cape Cod and his ship sails at midnight. -So get hold of the boat, every fellow of you, and -let’s shove her in.”</p> - -<p>The launching was done within a minute or two, -and after that the dory rocked herself to sleep—that’s -what Cal said.</p> - -<p>“She’s certainly a beauty,” said Dick Wentworth. -“And of course she’s better finished and finer every -way than any dory I ever saw. You know, Tom,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -dories up north are rough fishing boats. This one -is finished like a yacht, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she’s hunky dory,” answered Tom, lapsing -into slang.</p> - -<p>“That’s what we’ll name her, then,” drawled -Cal. “She’s certainly ‘hunky’ and she’s a dory, -and if that doesn’t make her the <i>Hunkydory</i>, I’d -very much like to know what s-o-x spells.”</p> - -<p>There was a little laugh all round. As the incoming -water floated the bottom boards, the name -of the boat was unanimously adopted, and after -another admiring look at her, the four hurried away -to supper. On the way Dick explained to Tom that -a dory is built for sailing or rowing in rough seas, -and running ashore through the surf on shelving -beaches.</p> - -<p>“That accounts for the peculiar shape of her narrow, -flat bottom, her heavy overhang at bow and -stern, her widely sloping sides, and for the still odder -shape and set of her centre board and rudder. She -can come head-on to a beach, and as she glides up -the sloping sand it shuts up her centre board and lifts -her rudder out of its sockets without the least danger -of injuring either. In the water a dory is as nervous -as a schoolgirl in a thunder storm. The least -wind pressure on her sails or the least shifting of -her passengers or cargo, sends her heeling over almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -to her beam ends, but she is very hard to capsize, -because her gunwales are so built out that they -act as bilge keels.”</p> - -<p>“I’d understand all that a good deal better,” -answered Tom, laughing, “if I had the smallest -notion what the words mean. I have a vague idea -that I know what a rudder is, but when you talk -of centre boards, overhangs, gunwales, and bilge -keels, you tow me out beyond my depth.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” said Cal. “Wait till we get you -out on the water, you land lubber, and then Dick -can give you a rudimentary course of instruction -in nautical nomenclature. Just now there is neither -time nor occasion to think about anything but the -broiled spring chickens and plates full of rice that -we’re to have for supper, with a casual reflection -upon the okra, the green peas and the sliced tomatoes -that will escort them into our presence.”</p> - -<p>In an aside to Dick Wentworth—but spoken -so that all could hear—Tom said:</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe Cal can help talking that way. -I think if he were drowning he’d put his cries of -‘help’ into elaborate sentences.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly, I should do precisely that,” answered -Cal. “Why not? Our thoughts are the children -of our brains, and I think enough of my brain-children -to dress them as well as I can.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - -<p>In part, Cal’s explanation was correct enough. -But his habit of elaborate speech was, in fact, also -meant to be mildly humorous. This was especially -so when he deliberately overdressed his brain-children -in ponderous words and stilted phrases.</p> - -<p>They were at the Rutledge mansion by this time, -however, and further chatter was cut off by a negro -servant’s announcement that “Supper’s ready an’ -yo’ fathah’s a waitin’.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">II</h2> - -<p class="pch">THE STORY OF QUASI</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Major Rutledge</span> entertained the boys at supper -with accounts of his own experiences along the -coast during the war, and incidentally gave them a -good deal of detailed information likely to be useful -to them in their journeyings. But he gave them no -instructions and no cautions. He firmly believed -that youths of their age and intelligence ought to -know how to take care of themselves, and that if -they did not it was high time for them to learn in -the school of experience. He knew these to be -courageous boys, manly, self-reliant, intelligent, and -tactful. He was, therefore, disposed to leave them -to their own devices, trusting to their wits to meet -any emergencies that might arise.</p> - -<p>One bit of assistance of great value he did give -them, namely, a complete set of coast charts, prepared -by the government officials at Washington.</p> - -<p>“You see,” he explained to the two visitors, -“this is a very low-lying coast, interlaced by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -tangled network of rivers, creeks, inlets, bayous, -and the like, so that in many places it is difficult -even for persons intimately familiar with its intricacies -to find their way. My boys know the geography -of it fairly well, but you’ll find they will have -frequent need to consult the charts. I’ve had them -encased in water-tight tin receptacles.”</p> - -<p>“May I ask a question?” interjected Tom -Garnett, as he minutely scanned one of the charts.</p> - -<p>“Certainly, as many as you like.”</p> - -<p>“What do those little figures mean that are -dotted thickly all over the sheets?”</p> - -<p>“They show the depth of water at every spot, at -mean high tide. You’ll find them useful—particularly -in making short cuts. You see, Tom, many -of the narrowest of our creeks are very deep, and -many broad bays very shallow in places. Besides, -there are mud banks scattered all about, some of -them under water all the time, others under it only -at high tide. You boys don’t want to get stuck on -them, and you won’t, if you study the figures on -your charts closely. By the way, Larry, how much -water does your boat draw?”</p> - -<p>“Three feet, six inches, when loaded, with the -centre board down—six inches, perhaps, when -light, with the board up.”</p> - -<p>“There, Tom, you see how easily the chart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -soundings may save you a lot of trouble. There -may be times when you can save miles of sailing -by laying your course over sunken sandbars if sailing -before the wind, though you couldn’t pass over -them at all if sailing on the wind.”</p> - -<p>“But what difference does the way of sailing -make? You see, I am very ignorant, Major Rutledge.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll learn fast enough, because you aren’t -afraid to ask questions. Now to answer your last -one; when you sail before the wind you’ll have no -need of your centre board and can draw it up, making -your draught only six or eight inches, while -on the wind you must have the centre board down—my -boys will explain that when you’re all afloat—so -if you are sailing with the wind dead astern, -or nearly so, it will be safe enough to lay a course -that offers you only two or three feet of water in its -shoalest parts, while if the wind is abeam, or in a -beating direction, you must keep your centre board -down and stick to deeper channels. However, the -boys will soon teach you all that on the journey. -They’re better sailors than I am.”</p> - -<p>Then, turning to his own sons, he said:</p> - -<p>“I have arranged with my bank to honor any -checks either of you may draw. So if you have -need of more money than you take with you, you’ll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -know how to get it. Any planter or merchant down -the coast will cash your checks for you. Now I -must say good-bye to all of you, as I have many -things to do before leaving. I wish all of you a -very jolly time.”</p> - -<p>With that he quitted the room, but a few minutes -later he opened the door to say:</p> - -<p>“If you get that far down the coast, boys, I -wish you would take a look over Quasi and see that -there are no squatters there.”</p> - -<p>When he had gone, Cal said:</p> - -<p>“Wonder if father hopes to win yet in that -Quasi matter, after all these years?”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t know,” answered Larry. -“Anyhow, we’ll go that far down, if only to gratify -his wish.”</p> - -<p>“Is Quasi a town?” asked Dick, whose curiosity -was awakened by the oddity of the name.</p> - -<p>“No. It’s a plantation, and one with a story.”</p> - -<p>Dick asked no more questions, but presently Cal -said to his brother:</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you go on, Larry, and tell him all -about it? I have always been taught by my pastors -and masters, and most other people I have ever -known, that it is exceedingly bad manners to talk in -enigmas before guests. Besides, there’s no secret -about this. Everybody in South Carolina who ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -heard the name Rutledge knows all about Quasi. -Go on and tell the fellows, lest they think our family -has a skeleton in some one or other of its closets, -and is cherishing some dark, mysterious secret.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you tell it yourself, Cal? You -know the story as well as I do.”</p> - -<p>“Because, oh my brother, it was your remark -that aroused the curiosity which it is our hospitable -duty to satisfy. I do not wish to trespass upon your -privileges or take your obligations upon myself. -Go on! There is harkening all about you. You -have your audience and your theme. We hang -upon your lips.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it isn’t much of a story, but I may as well -tell it,” said Larry, smiling at his brother’s ponderous -speech.</p> - -<p>“Quasi is a very large plantation occupying the -end of a peninsula. Except on the mainland side a -dozen miles of salt water, mud banks and marsh -islands, separate it from the nearest land. On the -mainland side there is a marsh two or three miles -wide and a thousand miles deep, I think. At any -rate, it is utterly impassable—a mere mass of semi-liquid -mud, though it looks solid enough with its -growth of tall salt marsh grass covering its ugliness -and hiding its treachery. The point might as -well be an island, so far as possibilities of approach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -to it are concerned, and in effect it is an island, or -quasi an island. I suppose some humorous old -owner of it had that in mind when he named it -Quasi.</p> - -<p>“It is sea island cotton land of the very finest -and richest kind, and when it was cultivated it was -better worth working than a gold mine. There are -large tracts of original timber on it, and as it has -been abandoned and running wild for more than -twenty years, even the young tree growths are -large and fine now.</p> - -<p>“That is where the story begins. Quasi belonged -to our grandfather Rutledge. He didn’t -live there, but he had the place under thorough cultivation. -When the war broke out my grandfather -was one of the few men in the South who doubted -our side’s ability to win, and as no man could foresee -what financial disturbances might occur, he decided -to secure his two daughters—our father’s sisters, -who were then young girls—against all possibility -of poverty, by giving Quasi to them in their -own right. ‘Then,’ he thought, ‘they will be comfortably -well off, no matter what happens.’ So he -deeded Quasi to them.</p> - -<p>“When the Federals succeeded, early in the war, -in seizing upon the sea island defences, establishing -themselves at Beaufort, Hilton Head, and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -places, it was necessary for my grandfather to remove -all the negroes from Quasi, lest they be carried -off by the enemy. The place was therefore -abandoned, but my grandfather said that, at any -rate, nobody could carry off the land, and that that -would make my aunts easy in their finances, whenever -peace should come again. As he was a hard-fighting -officer, noted for his dare-devil recklessness -of danger, he did not think it likely that he would -live to see the end. But he believed he had made -his daughters secure against poverty, and as for my -father, he thought him man enough to take care of -himself.”</p> - -<p>“The which he abundantly proved himself to be -when the time came,” interrupted Cal, with a note -of pride in his tone.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was a matter of course,” answered -Larry. “It’s a way the Rutledges have always -had. But that is no part of the story I’m telling. -During the last year of the war, when everything -was going against the South, grandfather saw -clearly what the result must be, and he understood -the effect it would have upon his fortunes. He was -a well-to-do man—I may even say a wealthy one—but -he foresaw that with the negroes set free and -the industries of the South paralyzed for the time, -his estate would be hopelessly insolvent. But like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -the brave man that he was, he did not let these -things trouble him. Believing that his daughters -were amply provided for, and that my father—who -at the age of twenty-five had fought his way from -private to major—could look out for himself, the -grim old warrior went on with his soldierly work -and bothered not at all as to results.</p> - -<p>“In the last months of the war, when the Southern -armies were being broken to pieces, the clerk’s -office, in which his deeds of Quasi to my aunts -were recorded, was burned with all its contents. -As evidence of the gift to his daughters nothing remained -except his original deeds, and these might -easily be destroyed in the clearly impending collapse -of everything. To put those deeds in some -place of safety was now his most earnest purpose. -He took two or three days’ leave of absence, hurried -to Charleston, secured the precious papers and -put them in a place of safety—so safe a place, indeed, -that to this day nobody has ever found them. -That was not his fault. For the moment he returned -to his post of command he sat down to write -a letter to my aunts, telling them what he had done -and how to find the documents. He had not written -more than twenty lines when the enemy fell -upon his command, and during the fight that ensued, -he was shot through the head and instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -killed. His unfinished letter was sent to my aunts, -but it threw no light upon the hiding place he had -selected.</p> - -<p>“When the war ended, a few weeks later, the estate -was insolvent, as my grandfather had foreseen. -In the eagerness to get hold of even a little money -to live upon, which was general at that time, my -grandfather’s creditors were ready to sell their -claims upon the estate for any price they could get, -and two of the carrion crows called money-lenders -bought up all the outstanding obligations.</p> - -<p>“When they brought suit for the possession of my -grandfather’s property, they included Quasi in their -claim. When my father protested that Quasi belonged -to his sisters by deeds of gift executed years -before, he could offer no satisfactory proof of his -contention—nothing, indeed, except the testimony -of certain persons who could swear that the transfer -had been a matter of general understanding, -often mentioned in their presence, and other evidence -of a similarly vague character.</p> - -<p>“Of course this was not enough, but my father -is a born fighter and would not give up. He secured -delay and set about searching everywhere -for the missing papers. In the meanwhile he was -energetically working to rebuild his own fortunes, -and he succeeded. As soon as he had money of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -own to fight with, he employed the shrewdest and -ablest lawyers he could find to keep up the contest -in behalf of his sisters. He has kept that fight up -until now, and will keep it up until he wins it or -dies. Of course he has himself amply provided -for my aunts, so that it isn’t the property but a -principle he is fighting for.</p> - -<p>“By the way, the shooting ought to be good at -Quasi—the place has run wild for so long and is -so inaccessible to casual sportsmen. If the rest of -you agree, we’ll make our way down there with -no long stops as we go. Then we can take our -time coming back.”</p> - -<p>The others agreed, and after a little Dick Wentworth, -who had remained silent for a time, turned -to Larry, saying:</p> - -<p>“Why did you say it wasn’t much of a story, -Larry?”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">III</h2> - -<p class="pch">A PROGRAMME—SUBJECT TO CIRCUMSTANCES</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Hunkydory</i> was an unusually large boat for -a craft of that kind. She was about twenty-five -feet long, very wide amidships—as dories always -are—and capable of carrying a heavy load without -much increase in her draught of water. She -was built of white cedar with a stout oak frame, -fastened with copper bolts and rivets, and fitted -with capacious, water-tight lockers at bow and -stern, with narrower lockers running along her -sides at the bilge, for use in carrying tools and the -like.</p> - -<p>She carried a broad mainsail and a large jib, and -had rowlocks for four pairs of oars. Sitting on -the forward or after rowing thwart, where she was -narrow enough for sculls, one person could row her -at a fair rate of speed, so little resistance did her -peculiar shape offer to the water. With two pairs -of oars, or better still, with all the rowlocks in use, -she seemed to offer no resistance at all.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was the plan of the boys to depend upon the -sails whenever there was wind enough to make any -progress at all, and ply the oars only when a calm -compelled them to do so.</p> - -<p>“We’re in no sort of hurry,” explained Larry, -“and it really makes no difference whether we run -one mile an hour or ten. There aren’t any trains -to catch down where we are going.”</p> - -<p>“Just where are we going, Larry,” asked Dick. -“We’ve never talked that over, except in the -vaguest way.”</p> - -<p>“Show the boys, Cal,” said Larry, turning to -his brother. “You’re better at coast geography -than I am.”</p> - -<p>“Hydrography would be the more accurate word -in this case,” slowly answered Cal, “but it makes -no difference.”</p> - -<p>With that he lighted three or four more gas -burners, and spread a large map of the coast upon -the table.</p> - -<p>“Now let me invoke your earnest attention, -young gentlemen,” he began. “That’s the way the -lecturers always introduce their talks, isn’t it? -You see before you a somewhat detailed map of -the coast and its waterways from Charleston, south -to Brunswick, Georgia. It is grossly inaccurate -in some particulars and slightly but annoyingly so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -in others! Fortunately your lecturer is possessed -of a large and entirely trustworthy fund of information, -the garnerings, as it were, of prolonged -and repeated personal observation. He will be able -to correct the errors of the cartographer as he -proceeds.</p> - -<p>“We will take the Rutledge boathouse on the -Ashley River near the foot of Spring Street as our -point of departure, if you please. <i>Enteuthen exelauni</i>—pardon -the lapse into Xenophontic Greek—I -mean thence we shall sail across the Ashley -to the mouth of Wappoo Creek which, as you see -by the map, extends from Charleston Harbor to -Stono Inlet or river, separating James Island from -the main. Thence we shall proceed up Stono -River, past John’s Island, and having thus disposed -of James and John—familiar characters in that -well-remembered work of fiction, the First Reader—we -shall enter the so called North Edisto -River, which is, in fact, an inlet or estuary, and -sail up until we reach the point where the real -Edisto River empties itself. Thence we shall proceed -down the inlet known as South Edisto River -round Edisto Island, and, by a little detour into -the outside sea, pass into St. Helena Sound. From -that point on we shall have a tangled network of -big and little waterways to choose among, and we’ll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -run up and down as many of them as tempt us -with the promise of sport or adventure. We shall -pass our nights ashore, and most of our days also, -for that matter. Wherever we camp we will remain -as long as we like. That is the programme. -Like the prices in a grocer’s catalogue and the -schedules of a railway, it is ‘subject to change -without notice.’ That is to say, accident and unforeseen -circumstances may interfere with it at -any time.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and we may ourselves change it,” said -Larry. “Indeed, I propose one change in it to start -with.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked the others in chorus.</p> - -<p>“Simply that we sail down the harbor first to -give Dick and Tom a glimpse of the points of interest -there. We’ll load the boat first and then, -when we’ve made the circuit of the bay, we needn’t -come back to the boat house, but can go on down -Wappoo cut.”</p> - -<p>The plan commended itself and was adopted, and -as soon as the <i>Hunkydory’s</i> seams were sufficiently -soaked the boat was put in readiness. There was -not much cargo to be carried, as the boys intended -to depend mainly upon their guns and fishing tackle -for food supplies. A side of bacon, a water-tight -firkin of rice, a box of salt, another of coffee, a tin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -coffee-pot, and a few other cooking utensils were -about all. The tools and lanterns were snuggled -into the places prepared for them, an abundance of -rope was bestowed, and the guns, ammunition and -fishing tackle completed the outfit. Each member -of the little company carried a large, well-stocked, -damp-proof box of matches in his pocket, and each -had a large clasp knife. There were no forks or -plates, but the boat herself was well supplied with -agate iron drinking cups.</p> - -<p>It was well after dark when the loading was finished -and the boat in readiness to begin her voyage. -It was planned to set sail at sunrise, and so the crew -went early to the joggling boards for a night’s rest -in the breezy veranda.</p> - -<p>“We’ll start if there’s a wind,” said Cal.</p> - -<p>“We’ll start anyhow, wind or no wind,” answered -Larry.</p> - -<p>“Of course we will,” said Cal. “But you used -the term ‘set sail.’ I object to it as an attempt to -describe or characterize the process of making a -start with the oars.”</p> - -<p>“Be quiet, Cal, will you?” interjected Dick. “I -was just falling into a doze when you punched me -in the ribs with that criticism.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">IV</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM FIGHTS IT OUT</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Fortunately</span> there was a breeze, rather light -but sufficient, when the sun rose next morning. -The <i>Hunkydory</i> was cast off and, with Cal at the -tiller, her sails filled, she heeled over and “slid on -her side,” as Tom described it, out of the Ashley -River and on down the harbor where the wind was -so much fresher that all the ship’s company had to -brace themselves up against the windward gunwale, -making live ballast of themselves.</p> - -<p>The course was a frequently changing one, because -the Rutledge boys wanted their guests to pass -near all the points of interest, and also because they -wanted Dick Wentworth, who was the most expert -sailor in the company, to study the boat’s sailing -peculiarities. To that end Dick went to the helm -as soon as the wind freshened, and while following -in a general way the sight-seeing course suggested -by the Rutledges, he made many brief departures -from it in order to test this or that peculiarity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -the boat, for, as Larry explained to Tom, “Every -sailing craft has ways of her own, and you want to -know what they are.”</p> - -<p>After an hour of experiment, Dick said:</p> - -<p>“We’ll have to get some sand bags somewhere. -We need more ballast, especially around the mast. -As she is, she shakes her head too much and is inclined -to slew off to leeward.”</p> - -<p>“Let me take the tiller, then, and we’ll get what -we need,” answered Larry, going to the helm.</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“At Fort Sumter. I know the officer in command -there—in fact, he’s an intimate friend of our -family,—and he’ll provide us with what we need. -How much do you think?”</p> - -<p>“About three hundred pounds—in fifty pound -bags for distribution. Two hundred might do, but -three hundred won’t be too much, I think, and if -it is we can empty out the surplus.”</p> - -<p>“How on earth can you tell a thing like that by -mere guess work, Dick?” queried Tom in astonishment.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t mere guess work,” said Dick. “In fact, -it isn’t guess work at all.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, then?”</p> - -<p>“Experience and observation. You see, I’ve -sailed many dories, Tom, and I’ve studied the behavior<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -of boats under mighty good sea schoolmasters—the -Gloucester fishermen—and so with a -little feeling of a boat in a wind I can judge pretty -accurately what she needs in the way of ballast, -just as anybody who has sailed a boat much, can -judge how much wind to take and how much to -spill.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to learn something about sailing if I -could,” said Tom.</p> - -<p>“You can and you shall,” broke in Cal. “Dick -will teach you on this trip, and Larry and I will -act as his subordinate instructors, so that before we -get back from our wanderings you shall know how -to handle a boat as well as we do; that is to say, if -you don’t manage to send us all to Davy Jones during -your apprenticeship. There’s a chance of that, -but we’ll take the risk.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and there’s no better time to begin than -right now,” said Dick. “That’s a ticklish landing -Larry is about to make at Fort Sumter. Watch it -closely and see just how he does it. Making a -landing is the most difficult and dangerous thing one -has to do in sailing.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Cal; “it’s like leaving off when -you find you’re talking too much. It’s hard to do.”</p> - -<p>The little company tarried at the fort only long -enough for the soldiers to make and fill six canvas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -sand bags. When they were afloat again and Dick -had tested the bestowal of the ballast, he suggested -that Tom should take his first lesson at the tiller. -Sitting close beside him, the more expert youth -directed him minutely until, after perhaps an hour -of instruction, during which Dick so chose his -courses as to give the novice both windward work -and running to do, Tom could really make a fair -showing in handling the sails and the rudder. He -was still a trifle clumsy at the work and often -somewhat unready and uncertain in his movements, -but Dick pronounced him an apt scholar, and predicted -his quick success in learning the art.</p> - -<p>They were nearing the mouth of the harbor when -Dick deemed it best to suspend the lesson and handle -the boat himself. The wind had freshened still -further, and a lumpy sea was coming in over the -bar, so that while there was no danger to a boat -properly handled, a little clumsiness might easily -work mischief.</p> - -<p>The boys were delighted with the behavior of -the craft and were gleefully commenting on it when -Larry observed that Tom, instead of bracing himself -against the gunwale, was sitting limply on the -bottom, with a face as white as the newly made -sail.</p> - -<p>“I say, boys, Tom’s seasick,” he called out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -“We’d better put about and run in under the lee of -Morris Island.”</p> - -<p>“No, don’t,” answered Tom, feebly. “I’m not -going to be a spoil-sport, and I’ll fight this thing -out. If I could only throw up my boots, I’d be all -right. I’m sure it’s my boots that sit so heavily on -my stomach.”</p> - -<p>“Good for you, Tom,” said Larry, “but we’ll -run into stiller waters anyhow. We don’t want -you to suffer. If you were rid of this, I’d—”</p> - -<p>He hesitated, and didn’t finish his sentence.</p> - -<p>“What is it you’d do if I weren’t playing the -baby this way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s all right.”</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t,” protested Tom, feeling his seasickness -less because of his determination to contest -the point. “What is it you’d do? You shall do -it anyhow. If you don’t, I’ll jump overboard. I -tell you I’m no spoil-sport and I’m no whining baby -to be coddled either. Tell me what you had in -mind.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it was only a sudden thought, and probably -a foolish one. I was seized with an insane desire -to give the <i>Hunkydory</i> a fair chance to show what -stuff she’s made of by running outside down the -coast to the mouth of Stono Inlet, instead of going -back and making our way through Wappoo creek.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Do it! Do it!” cried Tom, dragging himself -up to his former posture. “If you don’t do it I’ll -quit the expedition and go home to be put into pinafores -again.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a brick, Tom, and you shan’t be humiliated. -We’ll make the outside trip. It won’t -take very long, and maybe you’ll get over the worst -of your sickness when we get outside.”</p> - -<p>“If I don’t I’ll just grin and bear it,” answered -Tom resolutely.</p> - -<p>As the boat cleared the harbor and headed south, -the sea grew much calmer, though the breeze continued -as before. It was the choking of the channel -that had made the water so “lumpy” at the -harbor’s mouth. Tom was the first to observe the -relief, and before the dory slipped into the calm -waters of Stono Inlet he had only a trifling nausea -to remind him of his suffering.</p> - -<p>“This is the fulfillment of prophecy number one,” -he said to Cal, while they were yet outside.</p> - -<p>“What is?”</p> - -<p>“Why this way of getting into Stono Inlet. -You said our programme was likely to be ‘changed -without notice,’ and this is the first change. You -know it’s nearly always so. People very rarely -carry out their plans exactly.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose not,” interrupted Larry as the Stono<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -entrance was made, “but I’ve a plan in mind that -we’ll carry out just as I’ve made it, and that not -very long hence, either.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Larry?”</p> - -<p>“Why to pick out a fit place for landing, go -ashore, build a fire, and have supper. Does it occur -to you that we had breakfast at daylight and -that we’ve not had a bite to eat since, though it is -nearly sunset?”</p> - -<p>As he spoke, a bend of the shore line cut off what -little breeze there was, the sail flapped and the dory -moved only with the tide.</p> - -<p>“Lower away the sail,” he called to Cal and -Dick, at the same time hauling the boom inboard. -“We must use the oars in making a landing, and I -see the place. We’ll camp for the night on the -bluff just ahead.”</p> - -<p>“Bluff?” asked Tom, scanning the shore. “I -don’t see any bluff.”</p> - -<p>“Why there—straight ahead, and not five hundred -yards away.”</p> - -<p>“Do you call that a bluff? Why, it isn’t three -feet higher than the low-lying land all around -it.”</p> - -<p>“After you’ve been a month on this coast,” said -Cal, pulling at an oar, “you’ll learn that after all, -terms are purely relative as expressions of human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -thought. We call that a bluff because it fronts -the water and is three feet higher than the general -lay of the land. There aren’t many places -down here that can boast so great a superiority to -their surroundings. An elevation of ten feet we’d -call high. It is all comparative.”</p> - -<p>“Well, my appetite isn’t comparative, at any -rate,” said Tom. “It’s both positive and superlative.”</p> - -<p>“The usual sequel to an attack of seasickness, -and I assure you—”</p> - -<p>Cal never finished his assurance, whatever it was, -for at that moment the boat made her landing, and -Larry, who acted as commander of the expedition, -quickly had everybody at work. The boat was to -be secured so that the rise and fall of the tide would -do her no harm; wood was to be gathered, a fire -built and coffee made.</p> - -<p>“And I am going out to see if I can’t get a -few squirrels for supper, while you fellows get -some oysters and catch a few crabs if you can. -Oh, no, that’s too slow work. Take the cast net, -Cal, and get a gallon or so of shrimps, in case -I don’t find any squirrels.”</p> - -<p>“I can save you some trouble and disappointment -on that score,” said Cal, “by telling you now -that you’ll get no squirrels and no game of any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -other kind, unless perhaps you sprain your ankle -or something and get a game leg.”</p> - -<p>“But why not? How do you know?”</p> - -<p>“We’re too close to Charleston. The pot-hunters -haven’t left so much as a ground squirrel in -these woods. I have been all over them and so I -know. Better take the cartridges out of your gun -and try for some fish. The tide’s right and you’ve -an hour to do it in.”</p> - -<p>Larry accepted the suggestion, and rowing the -dory to a promising spot, secured a dozen whiting -within half the time at disposal.</p> - -<p>Supper was eaten with that keen enjoyment -which only a camping meal ever gives, and with a -crackling fire to stir enthusiasm, the boys sat for -hours telling stories and listening to Dick’s account -of his fishing trips along the northern shores, and -his one summer’s camping in the Maine woods.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">V</h2> - -<p class="pch">A RATHER BAD NIGHT</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the next two or three days the expedition -worked its way through the tangled maze of -big and little waterways, stopping only at night, -in order that they might the sooner reach a point -where game was plentiful.</p> - -<p>At last Cal, who knew more about the matter -than any one else in the party, pointed out a vast -forest-covered region that lay ahead, with a broad -stretch of water between.</p> - -<p>“We’ll camp there for a day or two,” he said, -“and get something besides sea food to eat. There -are deer there and wild turkeys, and game birds, -while squirrels and the like literally abound. I’ve -hunted there for a week at a time. It’s only about -six miles from here, and there’s a good breeze. -We can easily make the run before night.”</p> - -<p>Tom, who had by that time learned to handle the -boat fairly well for a novice, was at the tiller, and -the others, a trifle too confident of his skill perhaps,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -were paying scant attention to what he was -doing. The stretch of water they had to cross was -generally deep, as the chart showed, but there were -a few shoals and mud banks to be avoided. While -the boys were eagerly listening to Cal’s description -of the hunting grounds ahead, the boat was -speeding rapidly, with the sail trimmed nearly flat, -when there came a sudden flaw in the wind and -Tom, in his nervous anxiety to meet the difficulty -managed to put the helm the wrong way. A second -later the dory was pushing her way through -mud and submerged marsh grass. Tom’s error -had driven her, head on, upon one of the grass covered -mud banks.</p> - -<p>Dick was instantly at work. Without waiting -to haul the boom inboard, he let go the throat and -peak halyards, and the sails ran down while the -outer end of the boom buried itself in the mud.</p> - -<p>“Now haul in the boom,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you wait and do that first?” asked -Tom, who was half out of his wits with chagrin -over his blunder.</p> - -<p>“Because, with the centre board up, if we’d -hauled it in against the wind the boat would have -rolled over and we should all have been floundering.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But the centre board was down,” answered -Tom.</p> - -<p>“Look at it,” said Cal. “Doubtless it was -down when we struck, but as we slid up into the -grass it was shut up like a jackknife.”</p> - -<p>“Stop talking,” commanded Larry, “and get to -the oars. It’s now or never. If we don’t get -clear of this within five minutes we’ll have to lie -here all night. The tide is just past full flood and -the depth will grow less every minute. Now then! -All together and back her out of this!”</p> - -<p>With all their might the four boys backed with -the oars, but the boat refused to move. Dick -shifted the ballast a little and they made another -effort, with no result except that Tom, in his well-nigh -insane eagerness to repair the damage done, -managed to break an oar.</p> - -<p>“It’s no use, fellows,” said Larry. “You might -as well ship your oars. We’re stuck for all night -and must make the best of the situation.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t we get out and push her off?” asked -Tom in desperation.</p> - -<p>“No. We’ve no bottom to stand on. The mud -is too soft.”</p> - -<p>“That’s one disadvantage in a dory,” said Dick, -settling himself on a thwart. “If we had a keel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -under us, we could have worked her free with the -oars.”</p> - -<p>“If, yes, and perhaps,” broke in Cal, who was -disposed to be cheerfully philosophical under all circumstances. -“What’s the use in iffing, yessing and -perhapsing? We’re unfortunate in being stuck on -a mud bank for the night, but stuck we are and -there’s an end of that. We can’t make the matter -better by wishing, or regretting, or bemoaning -our fate, or making ourselves miserable in any -other of the many ways that evil ingenuity has devised -for the needless chastisement of the spirit. -Let us ‘look forward not back, up and not down, -out and not in,’ as Dr. Hale puts it. Instead of -thinking how much happier we might be if we were -spinning along over the water, let us think how -much happier we <i>shall</i> be when we get out of this -and set sail again. By the way, what have we on -board that we can eat before the shades of night -begin falling fast?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you will ‘look forward,’ as you’ve -advised us all to do,” said Dick Wentworth, “by -which I mean if you will explore the forward -locker, you’ll find there a ten-pound can of sea biscuit, -and half a dozen gnarled and twisted bologna -sausages of the imported variety, warranted to keep -in any climate and entirely capable of putting a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -strain upon the digestion of an ostrich accustomed -to dine on tenpenny nails and the fragments of -broken beer bottles.”</p> - -<p>“Where on earth did they come from?” asked -Larry. “I superintended the lading of the -boat—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know you did, and I watched you. I -observed that you had made no provision for shipwreck -and so I surreptitiously purchased and bestowed -these provisions myself. The old tars at -Gloucester deeply impressed it upon my mind that -it is never safe to venture upon salt water without -a reserve supply of imperishable provisions to -fall back upon in case of accidents like this.”</p> - -<p>“This isn’t an accident,” said Tom, who had -been silent for an unusual time; “it isn’t an accident; -it’s the result of my stupidity and nothing -else, and I can never—”</p> - -<p>“Now stop that, Tom!” commanded Cal; “stop -it quick, or you’ll meet with the accident of being -chucked overboard. This was a mishap that might -occur to anyone, and if there was any fault in the -case every one of us is as much to blame as you are. -You don’t profess to be an expert sailor, and we -know it. We ought some of us to have helped you -by observing things. Now quit blaming yourself, -quit worrying and get to work chewing bologna.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Thank you, Cal,” was all that Tom could say -in reply, and all set to work on what Dick called -their “frugal meal,” adding:</p> - -<p>“That phrase used to fool me. I found it in -Sunday School books, where some Scotch cotter -and his interesting family sat down to eat scones -or porridge, and I thought it suggestive of something -particularly good to eat. Having the chronically -unsatisfied appetite of a growing boy, the thing -made me hungry.”</p> - -<p>“This bologna isn’t a bit bad after you’ve -chewed enough of the dry out of it to get the -taste,” said Larry, cutting off several slices of the -smoke-hardened sausage.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Dick, “it isn’t bad; but I judge -from results that the Dutchman who made it had -rather an exalted opinion of garlic as a flavoring.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Cal answered, speaking slowly after his -habit, “the thing is thoroughly impregnated with -the flavor and odor of the <i>allium sativum</i>, and I -was just revolving—”</p> - -<p>“What’s that, Cal?” asked Larry, interrupting.</p> - -<p>“What’s what?”</p> - -<p>“Why, <i>allium</i> something or other—the thing -you mentioned.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you mean <i>allium sativum</i>? Why, that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -the botanical name of the cultivated garlic plant, -you ignoramus.”</p> - -<p>“Well, how did you come to know that? You -never studied botany.”</p> - -<p>“No, of course not. I’ll put myself to the trouble -of explaining a matter which would be obvious -enough to you if you gave it proper thought. I -found the term in the dictionary a month or so -ago when you and I had some discussion as to the -relationship between the garlic and the onion. I -may have been positive in such assertions as I found -it necessary to make in maintaining my side of the -argument; doubtless I was so; but I was not sufficiently -confident of the soundness of my views to -make an open appeal to the dictionary. I consulted -it secretly, surreptitiously, meaning to fling it at your -head if I found that it sustained my contentions. -As I found that it was strongly prejudiced on your -side, I refrained from dragging it into the discussion. -But I learned from it that garlic is <i>allium -sativum</i>, and I made up my mind to floor you with -that morsel of erudition at the first opportunity. -This is it.”</p> - -<p>“This is what?”</p> - -<p>“Why, the first opportunity, to be sure. I’m -glad it came now instead of at some other time.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Cal?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why because we have about eleven hours of -tedious waiting time before us and must get rid -of it in the best way we can. I’ve managed to wear -away several minutes of it by talking cheerful nonsense -and spreading it out over as many words as -I could. I’ve noticed that chatter helps mightily -to pass away a tedious waiting time, and I’m profoundly -convinced that the very worst thing one -can do in a case like ours is to stretch the time out -by grumbling and fretting. If ever I’m sentenced -to be hanged, I shall pass my last night pouring -forth drivelling idiocy, just by way of getting -through what I suppose must be rather a trying -time to a condemned man.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, Cal, you were just beginning to say -something else when Larry interrupted you to ask -about the Latin name of garlic. You said you -were ‘just revolving.’ As you paused without any -downward inflection, and as you certainly were -not turning around, I suppose you meant you -were just revolving something or other in your -mind.”</p> - -<p>“Your sagacity was not at fault, Tom, but my -memory is. I was revolving something in my -mind, some nonsense I suppose, but what it was, -I am wholly unable to remember. Never mind; -I’ll think of a hundred other equally foolish things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -to say between now and midnight, and by that time -we’ll all be asleep, I suppose.”</p> - -<p>It was entirely dark now, and Dick Wentworth -lighted a lantern and hoisted it as an anchor light.</p> - -<p>“What’s the use, Dick, away out here?” asked -one of the others.</p> - -<p>“There may be no use in it,” replied Dick, “but -a good seaman never asks himself that question. -He just does what the rules of navigation require, -and carries a clear conscience. If a ship has to stop -in mid ocean to repair her machinery even on the -calmest and brightest of days when the whole horizon -is clear, the captain orders the three discs set -that mean ‘ship not under control.’ So we’ll let -our anchor light do its duty whether there is need -of it or not.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right in principle,” said Larry, “and -after all it makes no difference as that lantern -hasn’t more than a spoonful of oil in it. But most -accidents, as they are called—”</p> - -<p>Larry was not permitted to say what happened -to “most accidents,” for as he spoke Tom called -out:</p> - -<p>“Hello! it’s raining!”</p> - -<p>“Yes—sprinkling,” answered Larry, holding -out his hand to feel the drops, “but it’ll be pouring -in five minutes. We must hurry into our oilskins.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -There! the anchor light has burned out and -we must fumble in the dark.”</p> - -<p>With that he opened a receptacle and hurriedly -dragged the yellow, oil-stiffened garments out, saying -as he did so:</p> - -<p>“It’s too dark to see which is whose, but we’re -all about of a size and they don’t cut slickers to -a very nice fit. So help yourselves and put ’em on -as quickly as you can, for it’s beginning to pour -down.”</p> - -<p>The boys felt about in the dark until presently -Cal called out:</p> - -<p>“I say, fellows, I want to do some trading. I’ve -got hold of three pairs of trousers and two squams, -but no coat. Who wants to swap a coat for two -pairs of trousers and a sou’wester?”</p> - -<p>The exchanges were soon made and the waterproof -garments donned, but not before everybody -had got pretty wet, for the rain was coming down -in torrents now, such as are never seen except in -tropical or subtropical regions.</p> - -<p>The hurried performance served to divert the -boys’ minds and cheer their spirits for a while, but -when the “slickers” were on and closely fastened -up, there was nothing to do but sit down again in -the dismal night and wait for the time to wear -away.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Now this is just what we needed,” said Cal, -as soon as the others began to grow silent and -moody.</p> - -<p>“What, the rain?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. It helps to occupy the mind. It gives -us something to think about. It is a thing of interest. -By adding to our wretchedness, it teaches -us the lesson that—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we don’t want any lessons, Cal; school’s -out,” said Dick. “What I want to know is -whether you ever saw so heavy a rain before. -I never did. Why, there are no longer any drops—nothing -but steady streams. Did you ever see -anything like it?”</p> - -<p>“Often, and worse,” Larry answered. “This is -only an ordinary summer rain for this coast.”</p> - -<p>“Well now, I understand—”</p> - -<p>“Permit me to interrupt,” broke in Cal, “long -enough to suggest that the water in this boat is -now half way between my ankles and my knees, -and I doubt the propriety of suffering it to rise -any higher. Suppose you pass the pump, Dick.”</p> - -<p>Dick handed the pump to his companion, who -was not long in clearing the boat of the water. -Then Tom took it and fitfully renewed the pumping -from time to time, by way of keeping her clear. -After, perhaps, an hour, the rain slackened to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -drizzle far more depressing to the spirits than the -heavy downpour had been. The worst of the -matter was that the night was an intensely warm -one, and the oilskin clothing in which the boys -were closely encased, was oppressive almost beyond -endurance. Presently Dick began unbuttoning his.</p> - -<p>“What are you doing, Dick? “Tom asked as he -heard the rustle.</p> - -<p>“Opening the cerements that encase my person,” -Dick answered.</p> - -<p>“But what for?”</p> - -<p>“Why, to keep from getting too wet. In these -things the sweat that flows through my skin is distinctly -more dampening than the drizzling rain.”</p> - -<p>“I’d smile at that,” said Cal, “if it were worth -while, as it isn’t. We’re in the situation Charles -Lamb pityingly imagined all mankind to have been -during the ages before candles were invented. If -we crack a joke after nightfall we must feel of our -neighbor’s cheek to see if he is smiling.”</p> - -<p>The desire for sleep was strong upon all the company, -and one by one they settled themselves in -the least uncomfortable positions possible under the -circumstances, and became silent in the hope of -catching at least a cat nap now and then. There -was very little to be done in that way, for the moment -one part of the body was adjusted so that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -nothing hurt it, a thwart or a rib, or the edge of -the rail, or something else would begin “digging -holes,” as Larry said, in some other part.</p> - -<p>Cal was the first to give up the attempt to sleep. -After suffering as much torture as he thought he -was called upon to endure he undoubled himself -and sat upright. The rest soon followed his example, -and Cal thought it best to set conversation -going again.</p> - -<p>“After all,” he said meditatively, “this is precisely -what we came to seek.”</p> - -<p>“What? The wretchedness of this night? I -confess I am unable to take that view of it,” answered -Larry almost irritatedly.</p> - -<p>“That is simply because your sunny temper is -enshrouded in the murky gloom of the night, and -your customary ardor dampened by the drizzle. -You are not philosophical. You shouldn’t suffer -external things to disturb your spiritual calm. It -does you much harm and no manner of good. Besides, -it is obvious that you judged and condemned -my thought without analyzing it.”</p> - -<p>“How is that, Cal? Tell us about it,” said -Dick. “Your prosing may put us to sleep in spite -of the angularity and intrusive impertinence of -everything we try to rest ourselves upon. Do your -own analyzing and let us have the benefit of it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s simple enough. I indulged in the reflection -that this sort of thing is precisely what we -set out on this expedition to find, and it is so, if -you’ll only think of it. We came in search of two -things—adventure and game. Surely this mud-bank -experience is an adventure, and I’m doing my -best to persuade you fellows to be ‘game’ in its -endurance.”</p> - -<p>“That finishes us,” said Dick. “A pun is discouraging -at all times; a poor, weak-kneed, anæmic -pun like that is simply disheartening, and coming -at a time of despondency like this, it reduces every -fibre of character to a pulp. I feel that under its -influence my back bone has been converted into -guava jelly.”</p> - -<p>“Your speech betrayeth you, Dick. I never -heard you sling English more vigorously than now. -And you have regained your cheerfulness too, and -your capacity to take interest. Upon my word, -I’ll think up another pun and hurl it at you if it is -to have any such effect as that.”</p> - -<p>“While you’re doing it,” said Larry, “I’m going -to get myself out of the sweatbox I’ve been in all -night. You may or may not have observed it, -but the rain has ceased, and the tide has turned -and if I may be permitted to quote Shakespeare, -‘The glow-worm shows the matin to be near.’ In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -modern phrase, day is breaking, and within about -two hours the <i>Hunkydory</i> will be afloat again.”</p> - -<p>With the relief of doffing the oppressive oilskins, -and the rapidly coming daylight, the spirits of the -little company revived, and it was almost a jolly -mood in which they made their second meal on -hard ship biscuit and still harder smoked bolognas.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">VI</h2> - -<p class="pch">A LITTLE SPORT BY THE WAY</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> day had just asserted itself when Larry, -looking out upon the broad waters of a sound that -lay between the dory and the point at which the -dory would have been if she had not gone aground, -rather gleefully said:</p> - -<p>“We’ll be out of our trouble sooner than we -hoped. The <i>Hunkydory</i> will float well before the -full flood.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you think so, Larry?” asked Tom, -who had not yet recovered from his depression -and was still blaming himself for the mishap and -doubting the possibility of an escape that morning.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think it; I know,” answered Larry, beginning -to shift ballast in a way that would make -backing off the mud bank easier.</p> - -<p>“But how do you know?”</p> - -<p>“Because there’s a high wind outside and it’s -blowing on shore. Look at the white caps out -there where the water is open to the sea. We’re in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -a sort of pocket here, and feel nothing more than a -stiff breeze, but it’s blowing great guns outside, and -when that happens on an incoming tide the water -rises a good deal higher than usual. We’ll float -before the tide is at the full.”</p> - -<p>“In my judgment we’re afloat now,” said Dick, -who had been scrutinizing the water just around -them. “We’re resting on the marsh grass, that’s -all.”</p> - -<p>“So we are,” said Cal, after scanning things a -bit. “Let’s get to the oars!”</p> - -<p>“Better wait for five or ten minutes,” objected -Dick. “We might foul the rudder in backing off. -Then we’d be in worse trouble than we were before.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so, Dick,” answered Cal, restraining his -impatience and falling at once into his peculiarly -deliberate utterance. “That is certainly so, and I -have been pleased to observe, Dick, that many -things you say are so.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you for the compliment, Cal, and for -what it implies to the contrary.”</p> - -<p>“Pray don’t mention it. Take a look over the -bow instead and see how she lies now.”</p> - -<p>In spite of their banter, that last ten minutes of -waiting seemed tediously long, especially to Tom, -who wanted to feel the boat gliding through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -water again before forgiving himself for having -run her aground. At last the bow caught the force -of the incoming flood, and without help from anybody -the dory lifted herself out of the grass and -drifted clear of the mud bank.</p> - -<p>The centre board was quickly lowered, the sails -hoisted, the burgee run up to the masthead, and, as -the <i>Hunkydory</i> heeled over and began plowing -through the water with a swish, her crew set up a -shout of glee that told of young hearts glad again.</p> - -<p>A kindly, gentle thought occurred to Dick Wentworth -at that moment. It was that by way of reassuring -Tom and showing him that their confidence -in him was in no way shaken, they should -call him to the helm at once. Dick signalled his -suggestion to Larry, by nodding and pointing to -Tom, whose eyes were turned away. Larry was -quick to understand.</p> - -<p>“I say, Tom,” he called out, “come to the tiller -and finish your job. It’s still your turn to navigate -the craft.”</p> - -<p>Tom hesitated for a second, but only for a second. -Perhaps he understood the kindly, generous -meaning of the summons. However that might -be, he promptly responded, and taking the helm -from Larry’s hand, said, “Thank you, Larry—and -all of you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> - -<p>That was all he said; indeed, it was all that he -could say just then.</p> - -<p>Suspecting something of the sort and dreading -every manifestation of emotion, as boys so often do, -Larry quickly diverted all minds by calling out:</p> - -<p>“See there! Look! There’s a school of skipjacks -breaking water dead ahead. Let’s have some -fun trolling for them. We haven’t any appointed -hours and we’re in no hurry, and trolling for skipjacks -is prime sport.”</p> - -<p>“What are they, anyhow?” asked Dick, who -had become a good deal interested in the strange -varieties of fish he had seen for the first time on -the southern coast.</p> - -<p>“Why, fish, of course. Did you think they were -humming birds?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know that I should have been -greatly astonished if I had found them to be something -of that kind. Since you introduced me to -flying fish the other day, I’m prepared for anything. -But what I wanted to know was what sort of fish -the skipjacks are.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was it? Well, they’re what you call -bluefish up north, I believe. They are variously -named along the coast—bluefish, jack mackerel, -horse mackerel, skipfish, skipjacks, and by some -other names, I believe, and they’re about as good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -fish to eat as any that swims in salt water, by whatever -name you call them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ve eaten them as bluefish,” answered -Dick. “They’re considered a great dainty in Boston -and up north generally.”</p> - -<p>“They’re all that,” answered Larry, “and catching -them is great sport besides, as you’ll agree after -you’ve had an hour or so of it. We must have -some bait first. Tom, run her in toward the mouth -of the slough you see on her starboard bow about -a mile away. See it? There, where the palmetto -trees stand. That’s it. She’s heading straight at -the point I mean. Run her in there and bring her -head into the wind. Then we’ll find a good place -and beach her, and I’ll go ashore with the cast net -and get a supply of shrimps.”</p> - -<p>“Is it a wallflower or a widow you’re talking -about, Larry?” languidly asked Cal, while his -brother was getting the cast net out and arranging -it for use.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean, Cal? Some pestilent nonsense, -I’ll be bound.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” drawled Cal. “I was chivalrously -concerned for the unattached and unattended female -of whom you’ve been speaking. You’ve mentioned -her six times, and always without an escort.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, I see,” answered Larry, who was always -quick to catch Cal’s rather obscure jests. “Well, -by the pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her,’ I meant the good -ship <i>Hunkydory</i>. She is now nearing the shore -and if you don’t busy yourself arranging trolling -lines and have them ready by the time I get back -on board of her with a supply of shrimps, I’ll see -to it that you’re in no fit condition to get off another -feeble-minded joke like that for hours to come. -There, Tom, give her just a capful of wind and run -her gently up that little scrap of sandy beach. No, -no, don’t haul your sheet so far—ease it off a bit, -or she’ll run too far up the shore. There! That’s -better. The moment her nose touches let the sheet -run free. Good! Dick himself couldn’t have done -that better.”</p> - -<p>With that he sprang ashore, and with the heavily -leaded cast net over his arm and a galvanized iron -bait pail in his hand, hurried along the bank to the -mouth of the slough, where he knew there would -be multitudes of shrimps gathered for purposes of -feeding. After three or four casts of the net he -spread it, folded, over the top of his bait bucket to -keep the shrimps he had caught from jumping out. -Within fifteen minutes after leaping ashore he was -back on board again with a bucket full of the bait -he wanted.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Now, then,” he said to Dick and Tom, “Cal -will show you how to do the thing. I’ll sail the -boat back and forth through the schools, spilling -wind so as to keep speed down. Oh, it’s great -sport.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you shall have your share of it then,” -said Dick, carefully coiling his line. “After I’ve -tried it a little, and seen what sort of sailing it -needs, I’ll relieve you at the tiller and you shall take -my line.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” said Cal with a -slower drawl than usual by way of giving emphasis -to his words. “Not if I see you first. After -Larry has run us through the school two or three -times, missing it more than half the time, I’ll take -the tiller myself and give you a real chance to hook -a fish or two.”</p> - -<p>Dick knew Cal well enough to understand that -he was in earnest and that there would be no use -in protesting or arguing the matter. Besides that, -he hooked a big fish just at that moment, and was -jerked nearly off his feet. The strength of the -pull astonished him for a moment. He had never -encountered a fish of any kind that could tug like -that, and for the moment he forgot that the dory -was doing most of the pulling. In the meanwhile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -he had lost his fish by holding his line too firmly -and dragging the hook out of its mouth.</p> - -<p>“That’s your first lesson,” said Cal, as deliberately -as if there had been no exciting sport on hand, -and with like deliberation letting his own line slip -slowly through his tightened fingers. “You must -do it as I am doing it now,” he continued. “You -see, I have a fish at the other end of my line and I -want to bring him aboard. So instead of holding -as hard as a check post, I yield a little to the exigencies -of the situation, letting the line slip with -difficulty through my fingers at first and long -enough to transmit the momentum of the boat to -the fish. Then, having got his finny excellency -well started in the way he should go, I encourage -persistency in well doing on his part by drawing in -line. Never mind your own line now. We’ve run -through the school and Larry is heaving-to to let -Tom and me land our fish. You observe that Tom -has so far profited by his close study of my performance -that—yes, he has landed the first fish, -and here comes mine into the boat. You can set -her going again, Larry; I won’t drag a line this -time, but devote all my abilities to the instruction -of Dick.”</p> - -<p>On the next dash and the next no fish were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -hooked. Then, as the boat sailed through the -school again, Dick landed two beauties, and Tom -one.</p> - -<p>“That ends it for to-day,” said Larry, laying -the boat’s course toward the heavily wooded mainland -at the point where Cal had suggested a stay of -several days for shooting.</p> - -<p>“But why not make one more try?” eagerly -asked Tom, whose enthusiasm in the sport was -thoroughly aroused; “haven’t we time enough?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Larry, “but we have fish enough -also. The catch will last us as long as we can -keep the fish fresh, which isn’t very long in this -climate, and we never catch more fish or kill more -game than we can dispose of. It is unsportsmanlike -to do that, and it is wanton cruelty besides.”</p> - -<p>“That’s sound, and sensible, and sportsmanlike,” -said Dick, approvingly. “And besides, we really -haven’t any time to spare if we’re going to stop on -the island yonder for dinner, as we agreed, -and—”</p> - -<p>“And as at least one appetite aboard the <i>Hunkydory</i> -insists that we shall,” interrupted Cal. “It’s -after three o’clock now.”</p> - -<p>“So say we all of us,” sang Tom to the familiar -after-dinner tune, and Larry shifted the course so -as to head for an island nearly a mile away.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>There a hasty dinner was cooked and eaten, but -hasty as it was, it occupied more time in preparation -than had been reckoned upon, so that it was -fully five o’clock when the dory was again cast off.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile the wind had sunk to a mere -zephyr, scarcely sufficient to give the heavy boat -steerage way, and, late in the day, as it was, the -sun shone with a sweltering fervor that caused the -boys to look forward with dread to the prospect of -having to resort to the oars.</p> - -<p>That time came quickly, and the sails, now useless -in the hot, still air, were reluctantly lowered.</p> - -<p>A stretch of water, more than half a dozen miles -in width, lay before them, and the tide was strong -against them. But they pluckily plied the oars -and the heavy boat slowly but surely overcame the -distance.</p> - -<p>They had found no fresh water on the island, -and there was very little in the water kegs when -they left it for their far-away destination. The -hard work of rowing against the tide in a hot atmosphere, -made them all thirsty, so that long before -they reached their chosen landing place, the -last drop of the water was gone, with at least two -more hours of rowing in prospect.</p> - -<p>“There’s a spring where I propose to land,” said -Cal, by way of reassuring his companions. “As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -I remember it, the water’s a bit brackish, but it is -drinkable at any rate.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure you can find the spot in the dark, -Cal?” asked Larry, with some anxiety in his voice. -“For it’ll be pitch dark before we get there.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I can find it,” his brother answered.</p> - -<p>“There’s a deep indentation in the coast there—an -inlet, in fact, which runs several miles up -through the woods. We’ll run in toward the shore -presently and skirt along till we come to the mouth -of the creek. I’ll find it easily enough.”</p> - -<p>But in spite of his assurances, the boys, now severely -suffering with thirst, had doubts, and to -make sure, they approached the shore and insisted -that Cal should place himself on the bow, where -he could see the land as the boat skirted it.</p> - -<p>This left three of them to handle four oars. One -of them used a pair, in the stern rowlocks, where -the width of the boat was not too great for sculls, -while the other two plied each an oar amidships.</p> - -<p>In their impatience, and tortured by thirst as -they were, the three oarsmen put their backs into -the rowing and maintained a stroke that sent the -boat along at a greater speed than she had ever before -made with the oars alone. Still it seemed to -them that their progress was insufferably slow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> - -<p>Presently Cal called to them: “Port—more to -port—steady! there! we’re in the creek and have -only to round one bend of it. Starboard! Steady! -Way enough.”</p> - -<p>A moment later the dory slid easily up a little -sloping beach and rested there.</p> - -<p>“Where’s your spring, Cal?” the whole company -cried in chorus, leaping ashore.</p> - -<p>“This way—here it is.”</p> - -<p>The spring was a small pool, badly choked, but -the boys threw themselves down and drank of it -greedily. It was not until their thirst was considerably -quenched that they began to observe how -brackish the water was. When the matter was -mentioned at last, Cal dismissed it with one of his -profound discourses.</p> - -<p>“I’ve drunk better water than that, I’ll admit; -but I never drank any water that I enjoyed more.” -Then he added:</p> - -<p>“You fellows are ungrateful, illogical, unfair, -altogether unreasonable. That water is so good -that you never found out its badness till after it had -done you a better service than any other water in -the world ever did. Yet now you ungratefully revile -its lately discovered badness, while omitting to -remember its previously enjoyed and surpassing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -goodness. I am so ashamed of you that I’m going -to start a fire and get supper going. I for one -want some coffee, and it is going to be made of -water from that spring, too. Those who object to -brackish coffee will simply have to go without.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">VII</h2> - -<p class="pch">AN ENEMY IN CAMP</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">No</span> sooner was the camp fire started than Cal -went to the boat and brought away a piece of tarpaulin, -used to protect things against rain. With -this and a lighted lantern he started off through -the thicket toward the mouth of the little estuary, -leaving Dick to make coffee and fry fish, while -Larry mixed a paste of corn meal, water and a little -salt, which he meant presently to spread into -thin sheets and bake in the hot embers, as soon as -the fire should burn down sufficiently to make a -bed of coals.</p> - -<p>As Cal was setting out, Tom, who had no particular -duty to do at the moment, asked:</p> - -<p>“Where are you off to, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Come along with me and see,” Cal responded -without answering the direct question. “I may -need your help. Suppose you bring the big bait -bucket with you. Empty the shrimps somewhere. -They’re all too dead to eat, but we may need ’em -for bait.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tom accepted the invitation and the two were -quickly beyond the bend in the creek and well out -of sight of the camp. As they neared the open -water, Cal stopped, held the lantern high above his -head, and looked about him as if in search of something. -Presently he lowered the lantern, cried out, -“Ah, there it is,” and strode on rapidly through -the dense undergrowth.</p> - -<p>Tom had no time to ask questions. He had -enough to do to follow his long-legged companion.</p> - -<p>After a brief struggle with vines and undergrowths -of every kind, the pair came out upon a -little sandy beach with a large oyster bank behind -it, and Tom had no further need to ask questions, -for Cal spread the tarpaulin out flat upon the sands, -and both boys began gathering oysters, not from -the solid bank where thousands of them had their -shells tightly welded together, but from the water’s -edge, and even from the water itself wherever it -did not exceed a foot or so in depth. Cal explained -that these submerged oysters, being nearly all the -time under salt water, and growing singly, or nearly -so, were far fatter and better than those in the -bank or near its foot.</p> - -<p>It did not take long to gather quite as many of -the fat bivalves as the two could conveniently carry -in the tarpaulin and the bait pail, and as Cal was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -tying up the corners of the cloth Tom began -scrutinizing the sandy beach at a point which the -ordinary tides did not reach. As he did so he observed -a queer depression in the sand and asked Cal -to come and see what it meant.</p> - -<p>After a single glance at it, Cal exclaimed gleefully:</p> - -<p>“Good for you, Tom. This is the luckiest find -yet.”</p> - -<p>With that he placed the lantern in a favorable -position, emptied the bait pail, hurriedly knelt down, -and with his hands began digging away the sand.</p> - -<p>“But what is it, Cal? What are you digging -for?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll show you in half a minute,” said the other, -continuing to dig diligently. Less than the half -minute later he began drawing out of the sand a -multitude of snow-white eggs about the size of a -walnut. As Tom looked on in open-mouthed wonder, -he thought there must be no end to the supply.</p> - -<p>“What are they, Cal?” the boy asked.</p> - -<p>“Turtle’s eggs, and there’s a bait bucket full of -them. You’ve made the luckiest find of all, Tom,” -he said again in congratulation.</p> - -<p>“Are they good to eat?”</p> - -<p>“Good to eat? Is anything you ever tasted good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -to eat? Why, Tom, they’re about the rarest delicacy -known to civilized man. In Charleston they -sell at fabulous prices, when there happen to be -any there to sell. Now we must hurry back to the -fire, for the ash cakes must be about done and the -coffee made.”</p> - -<p>After a moment or two of silence, Tom asked:</p> - -<p>“Why did you think there was an oyster bank -down there, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“I noticed it as we came into the creek and I -took pains to remember its location. But here we -are. See, fellows, what Tom has found! Now -bring on your coffee and your ash cakes and your -fish, and we’ll feast like a company of Homer’s -warriors. It won’t take long to boil the eggs in -salt water—ten minutes is the allotted time, I believe, -in the case of turtle’s eggs, and during that -time we can be eating the other things and filling -up with fire-opened oysters.”</p> - -<p>With that he threw three or four oysters upon -the coals, removing them as soon as they opened -and swallowing them from the shell. The others -followed his example.</p> - -<p>Of course it really was an excellent supper the -boys were eating out there under the stars, but -sharp-set hunger made it seem even better than it -was, and the contrast between it and the supper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -of bologna sausages and hardtack of the night before, -added greatly to the zest of their feasting. -They rejoiced, too, in being free, out there in the -woodlands, with no dismal rain to depress their -spirits and no restraint of any kind upon their liberty.</p> - -<p>But they were all very tired after their sleepless -night before and their hard-working day, and without -argument or discussion, one by one of them -stretched himself before the fire not long after supper, -and fell asleep. Cal remained awake longer -than the rest, though he, too, was lying flat upon -his back, ready to welcome sleep as soon as it should -come to his eyelids.</p> - -<p>Before it came he was moved by jealousy or mischief -to disturb the others with an admonition.</p> - -<p>“You fellows are recklessly trifling with your -health, every one of you, and it is my duty to warn -you of the consequences. In allowing so brief a -time to elapse between the consumption of food -in generous quantities, and your retirement to your -couches, you are inviting indigestion, courting bad -dreams and recklessly risking the permanent organic -and functional impairment of your constitutions—to -say nothing of your by-laws, orders of business, -rules of procedure and other things that should be -equally precious to you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<p>“<i>Will</i> you shut up, Cal?” muttered Dick, half -awake. Tom remained unconscious and Larry responded -only with a snore.</p> - -<p>Presently even Cal’s wakefulness yielded, his -thoughts wandered, and he fell into a sound slumber.</p> - -<p>The woodlands were as still as woodlands at -night ever are; the stars shone brilliantly in a perfectly -clear sky; the brush wood fire died down to -a mass of glowing coals and gray ashes, and still -the weary ship’s company slept on without waking -or even moving.</p> - -<p>Then something happened, and Larry, who was -always alert, even in his sleep, suddenly sat up, at -the same time silently grasping the gun that lay -by his side. He was sure he had heard a noise in -his sleep, but now that he was wide awake, everything -seemed profoundly still. Nevertheless he -waited and watched. Then suddenly he brought -his gun to his shoulder, and in sharp, ringing tones -cried out:</p> - -<p>“Drop that!”</p> - -<p>Instantly all the boys were standing with their -guns in hand, not knowing what had happened, but -ready to meet whatever might come. A second or -two later Larry, still sitting and aiming his gun -over his bent knees, called out again:</p> - -<p>“Drop that, I say! Drop it instantly or I’ll -shoot. I’ve got a bead on you. Now throw up -your hands! Quick, and no fooling.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-085.jpg" width="400" height="598" id="i72" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc400"><span class="smcap">Dick, Cal, and Tom searched the man’s clothes.</span><br /> -<span class="wn"><a href="#Page_73"><i>Page 73.</i></a></span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - -<p>As he gave this command he rose and slowly -advanced toward the dory, keeping his gun levelled -from his shoulder.</p> - -<p>It was difficult to see anything, until Tom -thought to throw a bunch of dry brush upon the -coals. As it blazed up the boys saw the man whom -Larry had held up. He was standing by the boat, -his back toward them and his hands, held up in -obedience to Larry’s command.</p> - -<p>“Now, boys, see what shooting irons he has -about him,” directed Larry, who stood with the -muzzle of his shotgun less than three feet away -from the prisoner.</p> - -<p>Dick, Cal and Tom searched the man’s clothes, -but found no weapons of any sort there. Tom was -thoughtful enough to search his long-legged leather -boots, and from each of them he presently drew a -murderous-looking army revolver. Without saying -a word, the boy sprung the pistols open and -emptied them of their cartridges, which he tossed -into the creek.</p> - -<p>“Now you may let your hands down,” said -Larry, at the same time lowering his piece, but continuing -to hold it with both barrels at full cock.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Cal, take care of that box of cartridges I made -him drop, and take a lantern and look the boat -over. He may have done some damage before trying -to steal our ammunition.”</p> - -<p>Up to this time the intruder, a huge man of evil -countenance, had spoken no word. Now he suddenly -took the initiative.</p> - -<p>“Who are you fellers, anyhow, and what are you -a-doing here?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Curiously enough,” responded Cal, “those are -precisely the questions I was going to ask you. -Suppose you answer first. Who are you and what -are you doing here?”</p> - -<p>“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” -the intruder replied, truculently.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’d better reconsider that,” said Cal. -“You’re a prisoner, you know, caught in the act -of stealing our ammunition, and we are armed. -We can chuck you into our boat and take you to a -magistrate, who will provide you with jail accommodations -for a while. Give an account of -yourself. What did you come to our camp -for?”</p> - -<p>“I come,” he replied with somewhat less assurance -in his tone, “to find out who you fellers was, -and what you’re a-doin’ here where you don’t belong, -and to give you fair warnin’ to git away from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -here jest as quick as you know how. Ef you don’t, -it’ll be a good deal the worse for you.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do nothing of the kind,” broke in Larry. -“We’re on land that belongs to Mr. Hayward, a -friend of ours, and we’re going to stay here as long -as we like.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll do it at your own resk, then. You’ve -got me hard and fast, but they’s others besides me.”</p> - -<p>“Now listen to me,” said Larry, rising and -speaking sharply. “We’ve got you hard and fast, -as you say, and we could take you to jail or we -could hold you as a hostage, if you know what that -means; but we’ll do neither. We’re not afraid of -you or the ‘others’ you mentioned. We are going -to turn you loose and dare you to do your worst. -We’ve a right to be where we are, and we’re going -to stay here till we’re ready to go. We’re armed, -and we know how to shoot. But there’ll be no -holding up of hands the next time any of you invade -our camp, and there’ll be no challenging. It’ll -be quick triggers. Now go! We expect to stay -here for three or four days. Go!”</p> - -<p>The man moved off through the woods, with a -peculiar limp in his left leg, turning about when at -a little distance, and shouting:</p> - -<p>“It’ll be the worse for you! I’ve give you fair -warnin’.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">VIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">CAL BEGINS TO DO THINGS</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Wonder</span> what it all means,” said Tom, when -the man had limped away through the undergrowth -and out of hearing.</p> - -<p>“It means, for one thing,” said Cal, “that we’re -practically in a state of siege here. We must all -be on the alert and never all sleep at once.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Larry, “and that isn’t enough. We -must guard ourselves against surprise by day as -well as by night. As soon as it grows light enough -in the morning I’ll explore our surroundings and -see what may best be done. It is now a trifle after -four o’clock, and we shan’t go to sleep again. Why -not have breakfast and make a long day of it. I -want to get some game, for one thing. I wonder -if that fellow’s gang, whoever they are, have cleaned -all the wild things out of these woods.”</p> - -<p>“You can rest easy as to that,” said Cal. -“We’ll have something fit to eat for dinner to-day, -and I’ll have it here in time to cook it properly for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -that meal. What I am wondering about is who -those fellows are, and what they are doing around -here, and why they don’t want us around.”</p> - -<p>“Then you believe what that fellow said?” asked -Dick. “You believe in the existence of those others’ -with whose vengeance he threatened us?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t. There may be another man -down here with that one, fishing or hunting, but I -don’t believe in the presence of a company of -them.”</p> - -<p>“But why not, Dick?”</p> - -<p>“Simply because it is unlikely. On its face it -seems to me more likely that, as we had caught that -fellow stealing, he invented the formidable and -vengeful force theory just to scare us into letting -him go. What would there be for such a band as -he suggests to do down here in these lonely woods? -What is there here to attract such a band?”</p> - -<p>“I am not prepared to answer those questions,” -said Cal. “I can’t imagine what a gang of that -sort could be doing here, or why they are here, or -anything about it. But it is my firm conviction -that we have need to keep cartridges in our guns and -about our persons.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s of course,” answered Dick; “though -if there is any such gang and they don’t attack us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -early this morning, we needn’t look for them before -night, so we’ll have plenty of time for getting -a good supply of game.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Cal. “And by way of making -sure, as it’s coming on daylight now, I’ll go and -get that turkey gobbler I was speaking of. I’ll be -back to breakfast.”</p> - -<p>With that Cal started off, gun in hand, leaving -the rest to wonder.</p> - -<p>“How can he be so confident of finding game?” -Dick asked, with a note of incredulity in his voice.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” answered Larry, “but it’s nine -chances in ten that he’ll do it. He’s the wiliest -hunter I ever knew, and with all his chatter, he -never says a thing of that kind without meaning -it; especially he never gives a positive promise -unless he is confident of his ability to fulfill -it. So I expect to see him back here before we -have breakfast ready, with a turkey gobbler slung -over his shoulders.”</p> - -<p>“Why ‘gobbler,’ Larry?” Dick asked, looking -up from the mortar in which he was pounding the -coffee.</p> - -<p>“How do you mean, Dick?”</p> - -<p>“Why, it wasn’t just a turkey that Cal promised -us, but specifically a gobbler, and now when you -speak of it you also assume that the bird he is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -kill will be of the male sex. Why may it not be a -turkey hen?”</p> - -<p>“Why, he wouldn’t think of shooting a turkey -hen at this time of year. They’re bringing up -their chicks now and they won’t be fit to eat for a -month yet. So if he brings any turkey with him -it’ll be a bearded old gobbler as fat as butter.”</p> - -<p>At that moment a shot was heard at some distance. -The next instant there was another, after -which all was still.</p> - -<p>“I say, Larry, I don’t like that,” said Tom uneasily.</p> - -<p>“Don’t like what?”</p> - -<p>“Why, those two shots in quick succession. -Maybe Cal has met some of that gang and they’ve -shot him. Hadn’t we better go to his assistance?”</p> - -<p>“You may go if you are uneasy, Tom,” answered -Larry; “but it isn’t at all necessary I think. -Cal knows how to take care of himself.”</p> - -<p>“But how do you account for the two shots in -such quick succession?”</p> - -<p>“By the fact that Cal usually hunts with cartridges -in both barrels of his gun just as other people -do. He may have missed at the first fire. In -that case he would take a second shot if he could -get it.”</p> - -<p>Tom was somewhat reassured by this suggestion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -but he was not entirely free from anxiety -until ten minutes later when he heard the crackling -of dry branches under Cal’s big boots. A moment -afterwards Cal himself appeared, with two -huge gobblers slung over his neck.</p> - -<p>“So you got one with each barrel,” quietly commented -Larry, feeling of the birds to test their fatness.</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. That’s what I fired twice for. -Did you imagine I’d shoot the second barrel just -for fun? By the way, isn’t breakfast nearly ready? -I’m pretty sharp set in this crisp morning air.”</p> - -<p>“I must say, Cal,” said Dick, as the little company -sat on the ground to eat their breakfast, -“you’re the very coolest hand I ever saw. Why, -if I had shot two big gobblers out of one flock of -turkeys I’d be tiring the rest of you with minute -descriptions—more or less inaccurate, perhaps—of -just how I did it, and just how I felt while doing -it, and just how the turkeys behaved, and all the -rest of it.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the use?” asked Cal between sips of -coffee. “The facts are simple enough. We -wanted some turkeys and I went out to get them. -I knew where they were roosting and I got there -before time for them to quit the roost. I shot one -from the limb on which he had passed the night.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -The others flew, of course, and I shot one of them -on the wing. That’s absolutely all there is to tell. -I like to get my game when I go for it but I never -could see the use of holding a coroner’s inquest -over it.”</p> - -<p>“What puzzles me,” said Tom, “is how on -earth you knew just where those turkeys were -roosting. Did you just guess it?”</p> - -<p>“No, of course not. If I had, I shouldn’t have -been so ready to promise you a gobbler as I was.”</p> - -<p>“Then how did you know?”</p> - -<p>“I saw the roost last night.”</p> - -<p>“When, and how?”</p> - -<p>“When you and I were out after the oysters. -Do you remember that just before we came out of -the woods and upon the beach, I stopped and held -up the lantern and looked all around?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you were looking for the oyster bed -and you found it.”</p> - -<p>“I was looking for the oyster bed, of course. -But I was looking for anything else there might be -to see, too. I always do that. When I was at the -bow last night looking for the mouth of this creek -I saw the oyster bed, and marked its locality in -my mind. In the same way, when I was looking -for the oyster bed with the lantern above my head, -I saw the turkey-roost and carefully made mental<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -note of its surroundings so that I might go straight -to it this morning. Is there any other gentleman -in the company who would like to ask me questions -with a view to the satisfaction of his curiosity -or the improvement of his mind?”</p> - -<p>“I for one would like to ask you what else you -saw this morning while you were out after the turkeys,” -answered Tom. “Apparently you never -look for one thing without finding some others of -equal or superior importance. Did you do anything -of that sort this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I think so. I made two observations, in -fact, and both of them seem to me to possess a certain -measure of interest.”</p> - -<p>Cal paused in his speech at this point and proceeded -to eat his breakfast quite as if the others had -not been waiting for him to go on with whatever -it was that he had to tell.</p> - -<p>“You’re the most provoking fellow I ever saw, -Cal,” said Tom, impatiently. “When you have -nothing to say that is in the least worth saying, -you grind out words like a water mill, till you bury -yourself and the rest of us in the chaffy nonsense. -But when you have something to tell that we’re all -eager to hear, you shut up like a clam at low tide. -Go on, can’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I have always heard,” replied Cal, in leisurely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -fashion, as if his only purpose had been to prevent -the conversation from flagging, “that one of the -most necessary arts of the orator is that of getting -his audience into a condition of anxious waiting -for his words before he really says the thing they -want to hear. I cannot myself claim the title of -orator, but I’m practicing and—”</p> - -<p>“<i>Will</i> you stop that nonsense, Cal, and tell us -what you have in mind? If not we’ll duck you in -the creek.”</p> - -<p>It was Larry who uttered this threat.</p> - -<p>“I’ve had worse things than that happen to me,” -answered Cal, imperturbably. “The morning is -sunny and the sea water on this coast closely approximates -tepidity. By the way, Dick, our higher -water temperature seems to mar the edibility of -some fish that are deemed good at the North. -There’s what you call the weak fish—”</p> - -<p>He stopped suddenly, for the reason that Dick -had approached him from behind, seized his shoulders -and toppled him over upon the ground.</p> - -<p>“Now tell us what we’re waiting to hear!” Dick -commanded, still holding his comrade down upon -his back.</p> - -<p>“My mouth’s full of sand,” Cal managed to say; -“let me up and I’ll make a clean breast of it, on -honor.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - -<p>Dick loosed his hold, and as soon as Cal had -rinsed his mouth, he redeemed his promise.</p> - -<p>“Well, the first thing I discovered was that -there’s a promising young deer at present haunting -this neck of the woods, and we’re all going out to -involve it in controversy with us to-day, and then -shoot it as its just due for defying us in such impudent -fashion.”</p> - -<p>“Venison!” exclaimed Tom enthusiastically; -“how my mouth waters for a taste of its juiciness! -But how do you know about it, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t venison yet,” slowly answered the -other. “You are much too hasty in jumping at -conclusions. That deer will not be venison until -we find it and convert it into meat of that justly -esteemed sort. Now to answer your question; I -discovered its tracks and followed them far enough -to know whither it was wending its way and about -where to look for it when you fellows quit your -ceaseless talking and are ready for the chase. -There’s no great hurry, however, as the tracks were -made this morning and—”</p> - -<p>“How do you know that?” interrupted Tom.</p> - -<p>“I smelt them.”</p> - -<p>“But how? I don’t understand.”</p> - -<p>“It oughtn’t to be difficult for even you, Tom, to -make out that if I smelt the tracks, I employed my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -nose for that purpose. I usually smell things in -just that way.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw, you know what I mean. I didn’t -imagine any creature but a well-trained hound -could discover a scent in a deer’s track.”</p> - -<p>“Obviously your imagination is in need of a reinforcement -of facts then. I’ll furnish them. In -the middle of a deer’s foot there is a little spot that -bears an odor sweeter than that of attar of roses -and quite as pronounced. For that reason many -young ladies, and some who are not so young perhaps, -like to keep a deer’s foot among their daintiest -lingerie. Now, when a deer puts his foot down -it spreads sufficiently to bring that perfumed spot -in contact with the earth and the track is delicately -perfumed. When the odor is pronounced it indicates -that the track is newly made.</p> - -<p>“Now that I have fully answered your intruded, -if not intrusive question, Tom, perhaps I may be -permitted to finish the sentence you interrupted.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly, go on. Really, Cal, I didn’t -mean—”</p> - -<p>“I know you didn’t. I was saying that there is -no need of haste in going after that deer, because -the tracks were made this morning, and the marshy -thicket toward which the deer was making his way -is sufficiently rich in succulent grasses and juicy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -young cane to occupy his mind for the entire day, -and several days. A little later we’ll cut off his -retreat on the land side of the point, and if we -don’t get him the fault will be with our inexpertness -with our guns.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right, Cal,” broke in Larry, “and -I’m glad you’ve marked down the deer; but just -now I must be off to plan our defense. You’ve -taken so long to tell us about your first discovery -that I can’t wait to hear about the second.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, you can,” replied Cal. “It will save -you a lot of trouble, and I can tell it in about half -a dozen words.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead and tell it, then.”</p> - -<p>“It is simply that I have solved the whole problem -of defense.”</p> - -<p>“How? Tell us about it!”</p> - -<p>“Why, just above our camp—up the creek a -few hundred yards, there’s a big gum tree, with -an easily accessible crotch, comfortable to sit in, -from which the one playing sentinel can see everything -we want to see. He can look clear across -this point and half a mile or more up the creek, and -by turning his head he can see the camp itself and -the <i>Hunkydory</i> and even the soiled spots on your -coats. All we’ve got to do is to keep a sentinel -in that gum tree, and nobody can approach our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -camp unseen, whether he comes by land or by water. -Come on and I’ll show you.”</p> - -<p>The whole company followed Cal, and after a -minute inspection found the lookout to be quite as -satisfactory as he had represented it to be. But -Tom, who had made up his mind to acquire Cal’s -habit of observation, noticed some things about the -place that aroused his curiosity. He said nothing -about them at the time, but resolved to read the -riddle of their meaning if he could. To that end -he asked to be the first to serve as sentinel.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Larry. “You can stay here -till we’re ready to go after that deer. Then I’ll -take your place.”</p> - -<p>“But why?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, so that you may have your share in the -deer hunt.”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t either of you bother about that,” -said Cal. “Our camp can be seen all the way to -the cane brake where the deer is browsing, and also -from one of the points at which a man must stand -with his gun when we drive the deer. So we shan’t -need any other sentinel and we’ll all go. With all -of us together over there we’ll be ready to repel any -attack on ourselves, and if anybody invades the -camp we’ll swoop down upon him and exterminate -him.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<p>There was a good deal to be done at the camp -before going after the deer. The turkeys were to -be picked and dressed and one of them to be -roasted. Some fishing was to be done and it was -necessary to put up some sort of bush shelter for -use in case of rain. So, leaving Tom as sentinel, -the other boys went back to the anchorage, and -Tom began his scrutiny of the things he had observed.</p> - -<p>As a last injunction Larry said: “You can -come in to dinner, Tom, when I whistle through -my fingers. If there’s nobody in sight then, we -can risk the dinner hour without a sentry.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">IX</h2> - -<p class="pch">A FANCY SHOT</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> things that had attracted Tom’s attention -were so trifling in themselves that only a person -alertly observing would have noticed them at all. -Yet Tom thought they might have significance, and -he was bent upon finding out what that significance -was.</p> - -<p>First of all, he had observed that a little blind -trail seemed to lead westward from the tree, and -in no other direction, as if it had been made by -someone who visited the tree and then returned -by the way he had come, going no farther in any -direction. The trail was so blind that Tom could -not be sure it was a trail at all. If so, it had been -traversed very infrequently, and at rather long intervals. -If it had been the only suggestive thing -seen, the boy would probably not have given it a -thought. But he observed also that the bark of the -gum tree was a trifle scarred at two points, suggesting -that some one with heavy boots on had recently -climbed it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> - -<p>As soon as the other boys had gone back to camp, -Tom set to work to make a closer inspection of -his surroundings. He climbed the tree to the -crotch and looked about him. There was nothing -there, but from that height he could trace the little -trail through the bushes for perhaps fifty or a -hundred yards. He satisfied himself in that way -that it was really a trail, made by the passage of -some living thing, man or beast, through the dense -undergrowth.</p> - -<p>“I’ll follow that trail after a while,” he resolved, -“but I’ll say nothing about it now. I might be -laughed at for my pains. Not that I mind that, -of course. We fellows are well used to being -laughed at among ourselves. But when I say anything -about this, I want to have something to tell -that is worth telling. After all, it may be only -the path of a deer or of one of the queer little wild -horses—tackeys, they call them—that live in the -swamps. Or a wild hog may have made it. I -don’t know, and I’m not going to talk about the -thing till I can talk to some purpose.”</p> - -<p>As he wriggled around in the crotch, he dropped -his knife from his pocket.</p> - -<p>“That’s a reminder,” he reflected, “that people -sometimes drop things when they don’t intend to. -If anybody else has been roosting up here he may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -have dropped things, too. I’ll recover my knife and -then I’ll search around the tree.”</p> - -<p>He was on the ground now, and having replaced -his knife he began a minute search of the space -for ten or twenty feet around the tree. It was -thickly carpeted with the densely-growing vegetation -that is always quick to take possession of -every unoccupied inch of ground in the far southern -swamps and woodlands. Searching such a -space for small objects was almost a hopeless task, -and finding nothing, Tom was on the point of giving -up the attempt, when he trod upon something. -Examining it, he found it to be an old corncob -pipe with a short cane stem. It was blackened by -long smoking, and that side of it which had lain -next to the ground had begun to decay. But there -was half-burned tobacco in it still.</p> - -<p>From all these facts Tom thought it likely that -the pipe, while still alight, had been dropped from -the tree, and that its owner had failed to find it upon -his descent.</p> - -<p>“That means that somebody was using this tree -for a lookout a good while ago. I can’t imagine -why or wherefore, but I mean to find out if I can. -Just now I hear Larry’s whistle calling me to dinner. -I wonder how he manages to make that shrill -shrieking noise by putting two fingers into his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -mouth and blowing between them. I must get him -to teach me the trick.”</p> - -<p>It was decided at dinner that the deer hunt should -occur as soon as that meal was finished.</p> - -<p>“The deer will be lying down, chewing the cud, -at this time of day,” explained Larry to his two -guests, who had never shared a deer hunt, “and so -we shan’t disturb him in placing ourselves. What’s -the nature of the ground, Cal? Can three of us -cover it while the fourth drives?”</p> - -<p>“We must,” Cal answered. “It may give some -one of us a very long shot, but with nitro-powder -cartridges these modern guns of ours will pitch -buckshot a long way. The marsh in which the -deer is feeding is on a sort of peninsula which is -surrounded by water except on one side. That -land side is a rather narrow neck, narrow enough -for three guns to cover it, I think, if the guns are -well handled. Fortunately the marsh itself is -small. If it weren’t we might drive all day, as -we have no dogs, without routing the deer out. As -it is, I think I can start him, and I’ll do the driving -after I post you three at the three best points of -observation.”</p> - -<p>“How do you ‘drive,’ as you call it, Cal?” Dick -asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, if we had dogs and horses, as we always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -do in a regular deer hunt, the man appointed to -drive would ride around to the farther side of the -swamp, and put the dogs into it. The dogs would -scatter out into an irregular line and zigzag to one -side and the other in search of the quarry. In that -way they would advance till they found the deer -and set him running toward the line of men on the -posts. Every one of these would be intently looking -and listening till the deer should come running -at top speed in an effort to dash past his enemies -and escape. The man on the post nearest where -he breaks through is expected to bring him down -with a quick shot aimed at his side, just behind the -shoulder.”</p> - -<p>“But what if he misses?”</p> - -<p>“In that case the deer has won the game. As -we have no dogs and there are only four of us, I -mean to post you three at the points I find best -suited, and then I’ll play hounds myself. I’ll go -round to the farther side of the little swamp, invade -it as noisily as I can, whooping and hallooing -in the hope of getting the deer up. If I do, he’ll -make a dash to get out of the swamp, and if no -one of you manages to shoot him in the act, we’ll -have none of that juicy venison that you, Tom, -thought you had almost in your mouth when I first -told you that the deer was here. Now let us be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -off. We’re burning daylight. Load with buckshot -cartridges.”</p> - -<p>When the neck of the little peninsula was -reached, Cal bade his comrades wait at the point -from which their camp could be seen, while he -should go over the ground and pick out the places -to be occupied as posts.</p> - -<p>On his return he placed the others each at the -point he had chosen for him, taking care that Tom -and Dick should have the places near which the -quarry was most likely to make his effort to break -through.</p> - -<p>“Now, you must keep perfectly still,” he admonished -the two inexperienced ones, “and keep -both eyes and three ears, if you have so many, -wide open. You may see the deer without hearing -him, or you may hear him tearing through the -bushes before you see him. That will give you -notice of his coming, but don’t let him fool you. -He may not come straight on from the spot at -which you hear him. If he catches sight, sound or -smell of you, he’ll veer off in some other direction. -So if you hear him coming don’t move a muscle -except those of your eyes.</p> - -<p>“Now I’m off to drive. If I can, I’ll get him up -and away. After that everything will depend upon -you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was nearly half an hour before the boys heard -Cal’s shoutings in the distance, but slowly coming -nearer. After that, in the eager watching and -waiting, the seconds seemed minutes, and the minutes -dragged themselves out into what seemed -hours.</p> - -<p>At last, however, Dick heard the deer breaking -through bushes just ahead of him. In another second -the frightened creature burst into view and -Dick fired, missing the game, which instantly -changed its course and ran away toward its left, -with the speed of the wind. Dick, in his excited -disappointment, fired his second barrel at a hopelessly -long range.</p> - -<p>Almost immediately he heard a shot from Tom’s -gun, and after that all was still. Cal struggled -out of the swamp, while Larry and Dick made their -way toward Tom’s post, “to hear,” Cal said, “just -what excuses the novices have invented on the spur -of the moment by way of accounting for their bad -marksmanship.”</p> - -<p>“I have none to offer,” said Dick, manfully. -“I missed my shot, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“How is it with you, Tom? What plea have -you to offer?”</p> - -<p>“None whatever,” answered Tom. “Yonder -lies the deer by the side of the fallen tree. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -was taking a flying leap over it when I shot him—on -the wing, as it were.”</p> - -<p>The congratulations that followed this complete -surprise may be imagined. Cal fairly “wreaked -himself upon expression” in sounding his praises -of Tom’s superb marksmanship, and better still, his -coolness and calmness under circumstances, as Cal -phrased it, “that might have disturbed the equipoise -of an Egyptian mummy’s nerve centres.”</p> - -<p>Tom took all this congratulation and extravagance -of praise modestly and with as little show of -emotion as he had manifested while making his difficult -shot.</p> - -<p>Perhaps this was even more to his credit than -the other. For this was the first time Tom Garnett -had ever seen a deer hunt, or a live deer, either, -for that matter.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">X</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM’S DISCOVERIES</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> no attack had been made upon the camp the -boys gradually relaxed the vigilance of their guard -duty; but they still maintained a sentry at the lookout -tree at night and made occasional visits of observation -during the day, going to the tree sufficiently -often to avoid being taken by surprise.</p> - -<p>“And what if they should attack us in daytime?” -argued Dick. “We’d be here, armed and -ready for them.”</p> - -<p>There was fishing to be done, and a game of -chess or backgammon was usually in progress. -Moreover, like any other company of bright youths -accustomed to think, they had enough to talk about, -many things to explain to each other, many stories -to tell, and many questions to discuss. Thus the -daytime sentry duty was reduced to nearly no activity, -except upon Tom’s part. He was apparently -fond of going to the lookout and remaining there -sometimes for hours at a time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> - -<p>The others did not know why he should care for -that as for an amusement. Tom did, but he said -nothing. Tom was finding out something that the -others knew nothing about.</p> - -<p>On the next morning but one after the deer hunt -he had climbed to the crotch of the tree to make a -further study of the trail he had discovered. After -a little while he decided to climb farther up the -tree, in order to secure a better view.</p> - -<p>From that loftier perch he saw something at a -distance that deeply interested him. It was a sort -of hovel, so buried in undergrowth that it would -have been scarcely visible at all except to one looking -from a high place as he was.</p> - -<p>But what interested him most was that presently -he saw the lame intruder of two nights before -come out of the hovel and limp down toward the -shore, where, as Tom easily made out, there was a -small, crooked little cove running into the woods, -not from the creek, but from the broader water outside.</p> - -<p>Tom lost sight of the man when he reached the -cove, and so did not make out what he was doing -there, but after a time he saw him limp away again -and go back to the neighborhood of the hovel, -which, however, he did not enter or approach very -nearly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> - -<p>He loitered around for awhile, like one who -must remain where he is, but who has nothing to -do there during an indefinitely long and tedious -waiting time. At last he stretched himself out on -a log in the shadow of the trees, as if to pass away -the time in sleep.</p> - -<p>Tom’s curiosity was by this time master of him. -Having seen so much, he was eager to see more. -Accordingly he clambered down the tree, and, with -gun in hand, set out to follow the blind trail.</p> - -<p>He moved silently from the first, and very cautiously -toward the end of his half-mile journey. -He was careful not to tread upon any of the dry -sticks that might make a noise in breaking, and to -permit no bush to swish as he let it go.</p> - -<p>At last he reached the neighborhood of the hovel, -and, securing a good hiding place in the dense undergrowth, -minutely studied his surroundings. -The lame man lay still on his log and apparently -asleep, until after awhile the sun’s changing position -brought his face into the strong glare. Then -he rose lazily, rubbing his eyes as if the sleep were -not yet out of them. Rising at last, with muttered -maledictions upon the heat, he limped over to a -clump of palmetes and from among them lifted -a stone jug, from which he took a prolonged -draught.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s the stuff to brace a man up!” he muttered -as he replaced the jug in its hiding place.</p> - -<p>Tom observed that there were nowhere any -traces of a camp fire, present or past, a fact that -puzzled him at first, for obviously the man lived -there in the thicket, or at least remained there for -prolonged periods at a time, and, as Tom reflected, -“he must eat.”</p> - -<p>The man himself solved the riddle for him presently -by going to another of his hiding places and -bringing thence a great handful of coarse ship biscuit -and a huge piece of cold pickled beef of the -kind that sailors call “salt-horse,” which he proceeded -to devour.</p> - -<p>“Obviously,” reflected Tom, “his food, such as -it is, is brought to him here already cooked. He -makes no fire, probably because he fears its light -by night or the smoke of it by day might reveal his -presence here. But why does he stay here? What -is he here for? Who are they who bring him -food, and when or how often do they come, and -for what purpose? It’s a Chinese puzzle, but I -mean to work it out.”</p> - -<p>Having made his observation of the place as minute -as he could Tom silently crept away, not walking -in the trail, but through the bushes near enough -to let him see it and follow its winding course. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -did this lest by walking too often in the trail he -should leave signs of its recent use.</p> - -<p>When he reached the lookout tree, to his surprise -he found his three comrades there.</p> - -<p>“Hello! What are you fellows doing here?” -he asked, breaking out of the bushes and thus giving -the first sign his comrades had had of his approach, -for even to the end of his little journey he -had been at pains to travel in absolute silence as -an Indian on the war path does.</p> - -<p>“Why, Tom, where have you been?” was the -first greeting the others gave him.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been dreadfully uneasy about you,” -Larry explained, “and when I whistled through -my fingers to call you to dinner and you didn’t -come, we hurried out here to look for you. Where -<i>have</i> you been and what have you been doing?”</p> - -<p>“I say, Larry, that reminds me that I want you -to teach me the trick of whistling through my fingers -in that way. Will you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll teach you some things that are easier to -learn than that,” answered his companion, “if you -try any more of Cal’s tricks of beating round the -bush. Why don’t you tell us where you’ve been -and why, and all the rest of it? Don’t you understand -that we’ve been on tenterhooks of anxiety -about you for an hour?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, as I’m here, safe and sound, there is no -further need of anxiety, and as for your curiosity -to hear what I have to tell, I’ll relieve that while -we’re at dinner. Come on! I’m hungry and I -reckon the rest of you are, too. Anyhow, what -I’ve got to tell you is well worth hearing, and I -shall not tell you a word till we sit down on our -haunches and begin to enjoy again the flavor of that -venison, broiled on the live coals. You haven’t -cooked it yet, have you?”</p> - -<p>“No. We got the chops ready for the fire, and -then I whistled for you, so that we might all have -them fresh from the coals. As you didn’t come, -we got uneasy and went to look for you. So come -on and we’ll have a late dinner and sharp appetites.”</p> - -<p>No sooner were the juicy venison chops taken -from the fire and served upon a piece of bark that -did duty as a platter than the demand for the story -of Tom’s morning adventure became clamorous.</p> - -<p>With a chop in one hand and half an ash cake -in the other, Tom told all that he had done and -seen, giving the details as the reader already knows -them. Then, after finishing the meal and washing -his hands, face and head in the salt water of the -creek, he set forth the conclusions and conjectures -he had formed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<p>“In the first place,” he said, “I am certain that -our late visitor—he with the game leg—is the -only person anywhere around. We are in no danger -of an attack, either by night or by day, until his -comrades, whoever they may be, come here and -join him. We have no need of doing sentry duty -out there at the gum tree, except to keep a sufficient -lookout to make sure that we know when -they do come. In my opinion that will be at night -sometime.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you think so, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Simply because it is evident that they don’t -come here for any good or lawful purpose. If that -lame fellow with the whisky jug is a fair sample of -the crew, they are the sort that prefer darkness to -light because their deeds are evil.”</p> - -<p>“Who do you think they are, Tom?” asked -Cal, “and what, in your opinion, are they up -to?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, but I mean to find out.”</p> - -<p>“How, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“By watching, and, if I don’t find out sooner, by -being within sight when they do come. I’m going -to reconnoiter the place again to-night to see what -that fellow does down there. Perhaps I may make -out something from that. At any rate, it’s worth -trying.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t we all go with you?” Dick -asked eagerly. “Then if by any accident that evil-visaged -person with the lame leg should discover -you, we’ll be there in force enough to handle him -and the situation. I’ve heard that one of your -southern generals during the Civil War once said -that strategy is ‘getting there first with the most -men.’ Why shouldn’t we practice strategy?”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course, I counted on that,” Tom answered. -“I knew all you fellows would want to -go, and I reckon that’s our best plan. Anyhow, -we’ll try it.”</p> - -<p>“Now,” said Cal, “I have something to report -which I regard as of some little importance, particularly -as it means that the <i>Hunkydory</i> will have -to leave this port pretty soon—probably within the -next forty-eight hours, and possibly sooner.”</p> - -<p>“Why, what’s the matter, Cal?” asked all the -others together.</p> - -<p>“Only that our spring is rapidly drying up, and -as there is no other fresh water supply within -reach, we shall simply be obliged to quit these parts -as soon as we can get ourselves in shape to risk it.”</p> - -<p>“To risk what?”</p> - -<p>“Why, putting off in a boat on salt water. We -can’t do that without some fresh water on board.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -I’ve already begun the filling of the kegs by thimblefuls. -It promises to be a slow process, as the spring -seems unable to yield more than a gill or so at a -time.”</p> - -<p>“But, Cal,” interrupted Tom, “we can get all -the water we want by digging a little anywhere -around here. It doesn’t lie three feet below the -surface.”</p> - -<p>“Neither does the fever,” answered Cal.</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I mean that the milky-looking water you -find by digging a few feet into the soil of these low-lying -lands is poisonous. It is surface water, an -exudation from the mass of decaying vegetable -matter that constitutes the soil of the swamps. To -drink it is to issue a pressing invitation to fever, -dysentery and other dangerous and deadly diseases, -to take up their permanent residence in our -intestinal tracts.”</p> - -<p>“But why isn’t the water of our spring just as -bad?”</p> - -<p>“Because it isn’t surface water at all, but spring -water that comes from a source very different from -that of the swamp soil. You have perhaps observed -that the bottom of our spring is composed of clean, -white sand, through which the water rises. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -sand was brought up by that water from strata that -lie far below the soil.”</p> - -<p>“What makes it brackish, then?”</p> - -<p>“It is brackish because a certain measure of sea -water from the creek there sipes into it. The sea -water is filtered through the sand, losing most of -its salt in the process. You’ve noticed, perhaps, -that the spring water is more brackish at high than -at low tide. That’s because—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see all that now. I hadn’t thought of it -before. But really, Cal, it seems rather hard that -we must sail away from here just when we’ve run -up against something mysterious and interesting. -Now, doesn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Let me remind you,” answered Cal in his most -elaborate manner of mock-serious speaking, “that -I am in nowise called upon to assume responsibility -for the vagaries of a casually encountered -spring. I did not bring up that spring. I had no -part in its early education or training. Presumably -it is even my superior in age and experience. -In any case, I feel myself powerless to control or -even to influence its behavior. Moreover, I feel as -keen a disappointment as you can in the fact that -we shall have to abandon our search for knowledge -of the purposes of our neighbor with the game -leg. But it is not certain that we shall have to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -sail away with that inquiry unfinished. It will -take a considerable time to fill our water kegs, and -in the meanwhile we may penetrate the mystery -sooner than we expect. Anyhow, we’ll see what -we shall see to-night.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XI</h2> - -<p class="pch">PERILOUS SPYING</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">At</span> Dick’s suggestion the boys cut a number of -larger logs than usual and placed them on their -camp fire that evening before setting out on their -expedition.</p> - -<p>“It will avert suspicion of what we are at,” Dick -said in explanation of his proposal. “So long as -the camp fire burns up brightly nobody seeing it -from a distance will doubt that we are here. It -isn’t much trouble, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>The night proved to be an unusually dark one, -with an overcast sky, threatening rain, and on the -chance of that Cal rigged up the largest tarpaulin -the company owned and so arranged it as to conduct -all the water that might fall upon it into the -bait pail and such other receptacles as would hold -it. “If it rains hard,” he explained, “we’ll catch -enough water before morning to fill both the kegs.”</p> - -<p>Going to the big gum tree, Tom climbed to the -top of it to see if he could discover anything the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -little company might want to know. After a careful -scrutiny of the landscape to the west he came -down again, reporting that everything was quiet “in -the region of our late visitor’s country seat.”</p> - -<p>Then the party set out on their exploring expedition. -Tom, acting as guide, followed the little blind -trail, while the rest made their way through the -undergrowth on either side, keeping near enough -to the trail to hear even a whispered warning or -direction if Tom should have need to give any such.</p> - -<p>Slowly, carefully, and in profound silence, they -made their way to the point from which Tom had -watched the place during the day. Then, as had -been arranged in advance, the four stretched out -their little line, so as to see the place from different -points of view.</p> - -<p>At first there was not much to see, and on so -dark a night even that little could be seen only indistinctly -and with difficulty. The “man with the -game leg,” as the boys called him, was moving -about the place in a leisurely fashion, but what he -was doing none of the investigating party could -make out in the darkness, though they had crept -very close to the camp and were watching intently.</p> - -<p>At last their watching and waiting were rewarded -by a happening which interested them, though they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -did not understand it. The man with the game leg -went into the hovel Tom had seen, and after remaining -there for a considerable time, came out -again. As he did so the boys were easily able to -make out that he carried a dark lantern in his hand. -It was carefully closed, but there were little leaks -of light from its fastenings, as there always are -from such contrivances when they are of the common, -cheap variety as this one obviously was.</p> - -<p>Carrying it in his hand and still closed, the man -limped off down the trail that led toward the cove.</p> - -<p>No sooner had he got well clear of the camp -than the four watchers began scrambling up the -trees nearest to them for the sake of a better view. -There was nobody to hear them, but under the impulse -of that caution which their presence in such -a place required of them, they were careful to climb -as silently as possible.</p> - -<p>Very dimly, but with certainty, they could see -the glow of the closed dark lantern and in that way -trace the man carrying it throughout his brief -journey.</p> - -<p>When at last he reached the mouth of the cove -where the view opened out toward the broad inlet, -he opened his lamp for a brief second, holding it -so that its gleam should show down the inlet to his -right. A moment later he flashed it again, this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -time straight across the broad inlet. Presently he -opened it for the third time, sending the flash up -the inlet.</p> - -<p>The whole proceeding did not occupy half a minute, -and after that all remained in darkness except -that the boys could still locate the dark lantern by -the dim halo of light that surrounded it.</p> - -<p>For half an hour or more there were no further -developments. The man with the game leg seemed -to be sitting still, waiting for time to pass or for -something to happen. At last he opened the lamp -again, sending its flash down the inlet as before. -Then he showed his gleam straight out upon the -water.</p> - -<p>This time the boys in the tree tops saw a brief -answering gleam from the open water half a mile -or more from shore.</p> - -<p>It was safe for the boys to speak now, and Tom -thought it best for all of them to come down out -of the trees before the man with the game leg, who -had started slowly back toward the camp, should -reach their neighborhood.</p> - -<p>“Come down off your roosts, fellows,” he directed, -“and secrete yourselves well in the bushes. -The ‘others’ are coming to-night, sure enough. -Be careful to hide yourselves so that a flash from -that dark lantern won’t search you out. By the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -way, after they come and we see all we can, we -must get out of here. I can’t speak then, but notice -when you see me moving away, and follow my -example. Now, no more talking, even in a whisper.”</p> - -<p>The man with the game leg did not return immediately, -as Tom had expected. Instead, he made -his way up the bank of the cove and around its -bend, to a point only two or three hundred -yards away. Obviously that was to be the landing -place, hidden as it was by the bend and -the dense forest growth from all possible observation -on the part of boats in the sound outside. -The man with the game leg had gone to the mouth -of the cove only to send his signals to his companions -outside. Now that they had been seen and -answered, he had gone to the landing-place, there -to await their coming.</p> - -<p>Fortunately for the purposes of the boys, the -landing was in full view from their hiding place, -and after the man with the game leg had gone -thither they had only that one point to watch while -they waited.</p> - -<p>The wait was a long one, and perhaps it seemed -longer because a drizzling rain had set in, soaking -them to the skin. After a long time, however, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -man with the game leg turned his dark lantern and -flashed it once down the cove.</p> - -<p>By its light the watchers made out three large -boats slowly moving up the cove, apparently with -carefully muffled oars, as their strokes could not -be heard even at the short distance that now separated -them from their destination. As they approached -the landing with obvious care, there were -frequent flashes from the dark lanterns that all of -them seemed to be carrying, and by these flashes -Tom and his companions saw that the boats were -piled high with freight of some kind, so bestowed -as to occupy every inch of space except what was -necessary for the use of the men at the oars. Of -these there were only two in each boat, each plying -a single oar, while a third, perched upon a freight -pile at the stern, was steering. Thus there were -nine men in the three boats, who, with the man on -shore, constituted a rather formidable company for -four boys to face if they should decide to attack -the <i>Hunkydory’s</i> camp, as the man with the game -leg had threatened.</p> - -<p>Whence the boats had come, Tom could not in -any wise guess, and of course he could not discuss -the matter with his comrades while hiding there in -the bushes under a life-and-death necessity of keeping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -perfectly silent. Two things he was sure of: -the boats could not have come very far, with -only two oarsmen to each of them, and they could -not have traversed any but smooth waters, with -their freight piled high above their gunwales, as it -was.</p> - -<p>As soon as the boats were landed, the men began -unloading them and carrying their freight to the -camp, which was evidently to be its hiding place for -a time at least. In the main it seemed to consist -of light boxes or packages, many of them bound -together into single large bundles which one man -could carry. There were also some kegs, which -seemed pretty heavy, as the men carried them on -their shoulders. But it was difficult to make out -anything more definite than this, as the darkness -was dispelled infrequently by flashes from a dark -lantern, and then only for a fraction of a second at -a time.</p> - -<p>When the greater part of the freight had been -brought to the camp the man who seemed to be in -authority over the rest set some of them to work -bestowing it in the hovels, of which there appeared -to be several, each securely hidden in the thick undergrowth -so that a person casually passing that -way would never have suspected their existence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -Even while this work was in progress the man in -charge permitted as little show of light as possible. -When all was done a hamper of provisions was -brought from one of the boats, together with a -demijohn, and the whole crew assembled around -the midnight spread, eating and drinking in the -dark, except when now and then it became necessary -to permit a little show of light for a moment.</p> - -<p>At first they feasted in silence, too, but after -awhile the liquor they were drinking seemed to go -to their heads and they quarreled among themselves -a good deal. Some of them wandered about -now and then as if searching the bushes jealously.</p> - -<p>It was clearly time for the boys to leave the -place and they watched and listened for Tom’s beginning -of the retreat. At last they heard him -moving and, assuming that he had begun the withdrawal, -they all cautiously crept away to the rear. -As each was following a separate trail there was -no word spoken among them until Larry, Dick and -Cal came out of the bushes and joined each other -at the gum tree.</p> - -<p>“But where is Tom?” one of them asked.</p> - -<p>Nobody knew. Nobody had seen or known -anything about him since his first stirring of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -bushes had set the retreat in motion. They had -all heard a commotion in what they called “the -scoundrels’ camp,” with sounds as of angry quarreling -and fighting; but they had heard nothing -of Tom.</p> - -<p>The boys were in consternation.</p> - -<p>“Do you suppose those scoundrels can have -caught him?” asked Dick, with horror in his tones.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” Larry answered through his -set teeth. “But there’s only one thing to do.”</p> - -<p>“Only one thing,” answered Dick. “We must -go to his assistance, and if they have him prisoner -we must rescue him or all die trying. I for one will -never come back alive unless we bring him with -us.”</p> - -<p>“That’s of course,” said Cal, who for once -spoke crisply, wasting no words. “Wait a second, -Larry! How many cartridges have you—each -of you?”</p> - -<p>When they answered, Cal said:</p> - -<p>“Here, take six more apiece. You may need -’em.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he took the extra cartridges from his -pockets and hurriedly distributed them. It was -Cal’s rule in hunting never to be without abundant -ammunition.</p> - -<p>“Now then, Larry,” he said, when the others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -had pocketed the cartridges, “give your orders; -you’re the captain.”</p> - -<p>“All right! Come on at a run, but don’t trip -and fall. There’s no time to lose.”</p> - -<p>Down the trail they went, not at a run, for running -was impossible in such a tangle of vines and -bushes, but at as fast a trot as they could manage. -Suddenly there was a collision. Larry had -met Tom “head on,” as he afterwards said. Tom -was making his way as fast as he could to the -gum tree, knowing that his friends would be in -terror when they missed him, while they were hurrying -to his rescue. In the darkness and the heavy -downpour of rain he and Larry had failed to see -or hear each other till they came into actual collision.</p> - -<p>“Where on earth have you been, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Why did you fellows retreat before the -time?”</p> - -<p>These were questions instantly exchanged.</p> - -<p>“Why, you gave the signal, Tom. You began -moving off and we followed as agreed.”</p> - -<p>“I understand now,” Tom answered, resuming -the journey, “but it was a mistake of signal. -Come on out of here. Let’s go to camp and talk -it all over there. I’ve found out all about this -thing and it’s interesting.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What does it mean? Tell us!”</p> - -<p>“Not here in the downpour. We’ll go to camp -first and get under the shelter and put on some dry -clothes. My teeth are chattering and I don’t care -to imitate them. Come on!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XII</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM’S DARING VENTURE</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tom’s</span> teeth were indeed chattering when the -company reached their camp. He was chilled -“clear through,” he said, and his companions were -very uneasy. They feared, and not without reason, -that he had contracted a swamp fever, which always -begins with a chill. To avoid that, the Rutledge -boys, who knew the coast and its dangers, -had carefully kept on or very near the salt water, -and had chosen for their camp a spot where there -were no live oaks, no gray moss and no black sand. -Still Tom might have caught a fever.</p> - -<p>Cal piled wood on the fire with a lavish hand, -so that an abundance of heat might be reflected into -their dry bush shelter, the open side of which faced -the fire, and Dick busied himself searching out dry -clothes from the lockers, while Larry helped Tom -to strip himself as speedily as possible.</p> - -<p>“Now run and jump into the creek,” he directed, -as soon as the last of Tom’s clothes were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> -off. “The salt water is luke-warm or even -warmer than that. I’ll wring out your clothes -while your bath is warming you, and when you -come out we’ll give you a rub down that would -stimulate circulation in a bronze statue. Hurry -into the water, and don’t hurry out too soon.”</p> - -<p>By the time Tom had been rubbed down and -had got into dry clothes, he declared himself to -be “as warm as a toast, as hungry as a schoolgirl, -and ready to stand a rigid examination as to the -character and purposes of our scoundrel friends -down there.”</p> - -<p>“Good!” exclaimed Larry. “That’s proof -positive that you haven’t caught the fever. I was -afraid you might.”</p> - -<p>“Fever? Why, I was as cold as the Arctic circle—but -then perhaps you keep your fevers on -ice down here and serve ’em cold. You have so -many queer ways that nothing surprises me.”</p> - -<p>Larry explained, and Tom laughed at him for -his pains, for of course Tom knew what he had -meant.</p> - -<p>It was well past midnight, and the others shared -Tom’s hunger in full measure, so they were not -greatly disappointed when, in response to their -eager demands for the story he had to tell, he -answered:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you all about it when we get something -to eat. Till then my loquacity will closely -resemble that of a clam.”</p> - -<p>One of the party had killed some fat black squirrels -during the preceding day, and as these were -already “dressed for the banquet,” in Dick’s -phrase, they were spread upon a mass of coals, -and within a brief while the meal—supper -or breakfast, or post-midnight luncheon, or whatever -else it might be called—was ready to receive -their attention.</p> - -<p>“Now, Tom, tell us!” demanded Larry, when -their hunger was partially appeased.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute,” interposed Dick. “Isn’t this -rather risky?”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Why, sitting here on our haunches, rejoicing -in the genial warmth of the fire—over-genial, -I should call it, as it’s blistering my knees—and -having no sentry out to see that the scoundrels -don’t pounce down on us by surprise.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no more risk in it,” answered Tom, -confidently, “than in wearing socks, or playing -dominoes, or trying to trace out the features of the -man in the moon.”</p> - -<p>“But why not, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Because the scoundrels down there are all dead—dead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -drunk, I mean—and they have all they -can do just now in sleeping it off.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure of that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, entirely sure. You saw how they were -drinking—half a pint of rum at a dose, repeated -every five minutes. Well, they kept that up as -long as they could find the way to their mouths. -They had emptied the demijohn before you fellows -left, and not being satisfied, they got out a -keg of the fiery stuff, had a rough and tumble fight -over some question relating to it, beat each others’ -faces into something very much like Hamburger -steaks, and then decided to let the keg arbitrate the -dispute. Four or five of them had been arbitrated -into a comatose state before I left, another was -trying to sing something about ‘Melinda,’ setting -forth that he had ‘seen her at the windah,’ and was -prepared to give his hat and boots if he could -‘only have been dah.’ The rest were drunkenly -silent as they sat there by an open dark lantern -which they had forgotten to close, I suppose, and -drinking rum from tin cups whenever they could -remember to do so. They will give nobody any -trouble to-night.”</p> - -<p>“But, Tom,” interposed Dick, “how do you -know it was rum they were drinking?”</p> - -<p>“Now, see here,” said Tom, “I’d like to know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -who’s telling this story. If I’m the one the rest -of you had better let me tell it in my own way. -I was going to begin at the beginning and tell it -straight through, but your intrusive questions have -switched me off the track. Now listen, and I’ll -tell you all I know and how I know it, and what -I think of it, and what I think you think of it, and -all the rest of it.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead, Tom!” said Cal; “I’ll keep the -peace for you; you’ll bear me witness that I haven’t -spoken a word since you began. Go on!”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Tom. “I thought you were -about to give us a disquisition when you began to -say that, but you didn’t, so I’ll forgive you. Well, -you see when you fellows heard me moving out -there in the thicket and thought I was instituting -a retreat, I was only changing my base, as the military -men say. I had seen something that aroused -my curiosity, and my curiosity is like a baby after -midnight—if you once rouse it, you simply can’t -coax it to go to sleep again.”</p> - -<p>“What was it you had seen, Tom?” Larry began.</p> - -<p>“Silence!” commanded Cal. “Tom has the -floor.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I beg pardon—” Larry began apologetically.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No, don’t do even that. Go on, Tom.”</p> - -<p>“I will as soon as you two twin brothers cease -your quarreling. As I was saying, I had seen something -that aroused my curiosity. As I was peering -through the bushes, looking toward the main -body of the roisterers, I saw the limping one slip -away from the general company and sneak off. -He went very cautiously through the undergrowth -to the hovel nearest me and entered it, closing the -door after him. I could see a little pencil of light -streaming out through a crack, so I knew he -had opened his lamp in there. After a little fumbling -he came out again, but he was so drunk he -forgot to take his lamp with him, as I discovered -by the continued streaming out of that little pencil -of light.</p> - -<p>“That was what aroused my curiosity. I -wanted to know what was in that hovel, and as -the lame gentleman with the ‘load’ on had obligingly -left his lamp there for my accommodation, -I resolved to embrace the opportunity offered. I -moved cautiously upon the enemy’s works. That -is to say, I crept forward toward the hovel. -That’s what you fellows mistook for the signal to -retreat.</p> - -<p>“Now I am convinced that our temporary -neighbors, the scoundrels, are disposed to be in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -all ways obliging. At any rate they had considerately -placed the door of the hovel so that it fronted -my side of the structure and not theirs. Thus, -when I opened the door the light from the burning -lamp did not shine toward them and thus give -the alarm.</p> - -<p>“I entered the place and rather minutely examined -its contents.”</p> - -<p>“What was in there?” asked Cal, forgetting in -his eagerness that he had himself undertaken to -prevent the interruption of Tom’s narrative by -questions from any source.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you about that when I come to it. -Story first, Cal.</p> - -<p>“I had just finished my inspection when I heard -footsteps of rather uncertain purpose passing -round the hovel toward the door, which of course -I had closed behind me. As there is only one -door to that hovel and it has no windows by which -‘lovers might enter or burglars elope’—that’s -wrong end first but it’s no matter—I realized that -there was no time to lose. I hurriedly settled down -behind a pile of cigar boxes—”</p> - -<p>“Their plunder is cigars, then?” asked Dick, -forgetting.</p> - -<p>“I did not say so,” Tom answered teasingly. -“I made no mention of cigars, so far as I can remember.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> -I spoke only of cigar boxes. They -might be filled with anything, you know. At any -rate your interruption has spoiled the most thrilling -part of my narrative, which must now be continued -prosaically and without the dramatic fire -and fervor I had planned to put into it.</p> - -<p>“My concealment was hasty and at best very -imperfect. In my haste I forgot to conceal my -gun, which stuck up a foot or two above the barrier -of boxes that imperfectly hid my person. -Fortunately, however, the lame gentleman was too -blind drunk even to see double and, as he made -no mention of the matter, I refrained from alluding -to it.</p> - -<p>“Apparently he had entered the hovel with a -single purpose, namely, to close his lantern and -take it away. With what I cannot help regarding -as praiseworthy persistence, he carried out that -purpose, giving heed to nothing else. He omitted -even to close the door after him, and as the place -was without heating apparatus of any kind—except -rum for internal combustion—I took my -leave as soon as I felt confident that the lame gentleman -had either rejoined his comrades or had -fallen into dreamless slumber on his way to do -so. My next adventure was the head-on collision -with Larry in the trail.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-141.jpg" width="400" height="619" id="i126" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc400">“<span class="smcap">In my haste I forgot to conceal my gun.”</span><br /> -<span class="wn"><i><a href="#Page_126">Page 126.</a></i></span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tom paused, took another bite at the squirrel’s -leg he had been eating between sentences, and it -seemed necessary to set him going again by means -of questions.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you go on, Tom? You haven’t -told us yet what you found in the hut.”</p> - -<p>“I’m thirsty,” answered the boy. “Speaking -is dry work, as you know, if you ever read Hawthorn’s -‘A Rill from the Town Pump!’ Have -we enough water in the spring, Cal, for me to waste -it in slaking my thirst?”</p> - -<p>“We’ve caught all our things full, I reckon. -I’ll see.”</p> - -<p>When Cal returned he brought with him a small -supply of rain water.</p> - -<p>“What made you so long about it, Cal?” asked -Larry. “We’re all waiting for you.”</p> - -<p>“So I see,” answered Cal. “I make all required -apologies for having kept this distinguished -company waiting while I attended to some matters -that are even more vitally interesting to all of us -than is Tom’s promised inventory of the things discovered -by him in the tents of the wicked, if I -may so designate a slab hovel in a cane brake.”</p> - -<p>“What have you been doing, Cal? And why -didn’t you call the rest of us to help you?” asked -Dick, whose New England conscience was apt to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -scourge his spirit if he thought he had been doing -less than his share of whatever there was to do.</p> - -<p>“I’ll reply to your questions in inverse order,” -Cal replied. “I did not call for help because I -did not need help. In what I had to do one person -was as good as a dozen. I may have been a trifle -slow about it, but that is chiefly because water won’t -run through a hole faster than nature intended it -to do. As for your other question, I’ve been engaged -in a job of water-supply engineering. All -the receptacles I set to catch water were nearly -full, and as it still rains—a fact that you may -have observed for yourselves—I thought it best -to empty their contents into the water kegs and -set them to catch more. As nobody thought to -bring a funnel along, I have had to resort to simpler -methods, and I have found that it is by no -means easy to pour water from a four-gallon bait -pail into a one-inch bung hole without spilling it. -For the rest, Captain Larry, I beg to report that -one of our water kegs is now full and the other -perhaps one-third full. I hope to catch enough -more water before the rain ceases to finish filling -that keg and to serve all camp purposes during -the few hours that we shall probably remain -here.”</p> - -<p>“Why, I should think we might stay as long as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -we like, now,” said Tom; “this rain must have -filled up our spring.”</p> - -<p>“It has, and it has spoiled it for use for many -days to come.”</p> - -<p>“But how?” persisted Tom.</p> - -<p>“Let me remind you, Tom, that we are all eagerly -waiting for you to tell us some things that -are distinctly more interesting to us than the condition -and prospects of a swamp spring can be -when we’ve enough water for our present and immediate -future need. Go on with your story.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the story is finished,” Tom replied, “but -you want to hear about the contents of the hovel. -They consist in part of little kegs—three or five -gallon kegs, I should think—of Santa Cruz Rum. -At least that’s what I made out the letters branded -on them to mean. These kegs are lying on the -ground in rows that impressed me as far more -orderly than the scoundrels themselves ever think -of being. I should say there are fifteen or twenty -of the kegs in that hovel.</p> - -<p>“The rest of the stuff consists of cigars in boxes, -and the boxes are carefully tied together in parcels—thirty -boxes to the parcel. That’s the way -we all saw them carry them up from their boats.”</p> - -<p>“Where on earth can they have got all that rum -and all those cigars, anyhow? And what do they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> -bring them away down here in the woods for, I -wonder?” speculated Dick. “What’s your guess, -Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Pirates,” answered Tom; “and those things -are their plunder.”</p> - -<p>“Curious sort of pirates,” said Cal, scoffingly. -“Unlike any pirates I ever heard of. Why, Tom, -did you ever hear of pirates contenting themselves -with taking the rum and cigars they found on the -ships they overhauled? You’ve got to guess two -or three times more if you’re going to guess -right.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you think they are?” asked -Tom, a trifle disappointed to find his theory -bowled over so easily.</p> - -<p>“Smugglers,” answered Cal. “And I don’t -just think it either—I know.”</p> - -<p>“But, Cal,” interrupted Larry, “smugglers -must bring their goods from foreign ports, and -we all know enough about boats to know that those -flat-bottomed tubs of theirs wouldn’t live five minutes -in a little blow on blue water.”</p> - -<p>“No, nor five seconds either, and those precious -rascals know all that quite as well as we do. For -that reason, among others, they refrain from risking -their valuable lives by venturing upon blue -water.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Then how do they carry on their traffic?”</p> - -<p>“I have often remonstrated with you, Larry, -for your neglect to read the newspapers. But for -that you might have been as well informed on -this and other subjects as I am. About a month -ago I read in a New York newspaper that fell -in my way a somewhat detailed account of the way -in which certain kinds of smuggling is carried on -along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts wherever the conditions -are favorable, and the conditions are nowhere -so favorable as right here on this South -Carolina coast, where deep, but often very narrow -and crooked, inlets and creeks open from the -broader waters of the sounds directly into densely -wooded regions that are often wholly unpeopled -for many miles in every direction.</p> - -<p>“This is the way they do it: Schooners and -other small sea-going craft load at West Indian -ports and take out clearance papers for New York -or Halifax or some other big port which can be -best reached by skirting this coast. Under pretense -of stress of weather, or shortness of water -or provisions, they put into some harbor of -refuge like that sound out there. They make -no effort to land anything, and if questioned -by the revenue officers they can show perfectly -regular papers. Then when opportunity offers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -their shore gangs—like the one over there—slip -out in the darkness, take on full loads of -freight, and land it in some secluded spot like the -one down there, and the schooner sails away to her -destination.”</p> - -<p>“But how do they get their goods from the -woods to market?” Tom asked.</p> - -<p>“By wagons, I suppose, and a little at a time. -That doesn’t concern us very deeply. What does -concern us, is that we’ve got to get away from here -as soon as this rain stops. The clouds seem to be -breaking, by the way, and the wind has shifted to -the northwest,” said Cal, stepping out of the shelter -to observe the weather. “It will clear pretty -early in the morning, I think, and in the meantime -I for one want to get a little sleep.”</p> - -<p>“But what’s the hurry, Cal?” asked Tom. -“Why can’t we stay here a day or two longer? -I’d like to see what the smugglers do when they -come to.”</p> - -<p>“There are several reasons for getting away -at once,” answered Cal. “For one thing, we’re -running short of some necessary supplies and -must go to Beaufort to replenish our stores. Then -there’s the question of water supply. After I -finish filling the kegs we’ll have barely enough left -to get through the day on.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But how has the rain put the spring out of -commission, Cal?” asked Tom. “You promised -to explain that.”</p> - -<p>“By filling it full of surface water. It will be -a week or more before the water there is fit to -drink, at least as a steady diet.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a much better reason than that,” said -Larry.</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Why, we must hurry to put ourselves in communication -with the authorities, so that they can -come down on that place before the scoundrels -get away, or get their plunder away.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Tom, who was reluctant to leave -the place and give up the adventure, “I suppose -we ought to do that.”</p> - -<p>“Ought to? Why, we simply must. Every -decent citizen owes it as a duty to give notice of -crime when he discovers it, and to aid the officers -of the law in stopping it. Civilized life would -come to an end if men generally refused to support -the authorities in their efforts to enforce the law. -We’ve discovered a den of thieves, engaged in robbing -the Government—that is to say, robbing all -of us. So we’ll get away from here just as early -in the morning as we can. Now let’s get some -sleep.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was easy to say, “Let’s get some sleep,” but -not easy to get it in the excited condition of mind -that had come upon every member of the little -party. But, by keeping silence and lying still, the -weary fellows did manage to sleep a little after -awhile, and it was the sun shining full in their -faces that at last aroused them to a busy day.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">CAL’S EXPERIENCE AS THE PRODIGAL SON</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Breakfast</span> next morning was not a very satisfactory -meal. There was plenty of fish and -game, of course, but there was little else. The -coffee supply had been used up, but the boys regarded -that as a matter of no consequence.</p> - -<p>“Coffee is a mere luxury anyhow,” Dick said, -“and we can go without it as well as not. It isn’t -like being without bread or substitutes for bread. -If we had some sweet potatoes now, or some -rice—”</p> - -<p>“The which we haven’t,” interrupted Cal. “No -more can we get any here. As for corn meal, we -have enough for one more ash cake, but it is full of -weevil and, therefore, when we consume it we shall -be eating the bread of bitterness in an entirely literal -sense. For quinine biscuit would taste like -cookies as compared with weevely corn bread. You -were wise in your generation, Dick, when you surreptitiously -placed that tin of ship biscuit on board,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> -but your imagination lacked breadth and comprehensiveness. -It was not commensurate with our -appetites, and so the ship bread is all consumed and -would have been if you’d brought a barrel of it on -board instead of that little tin box full. You -neglected that, however, and we must endure the -consequences as best we may.”</p> - -<p>“For the present, yes,” said Larry; “but not for -long. We must make all the haste we can till we -get to Beaufort and stock up again.”</p> - -<p>“I know a trick worth two of that,” Cal said -apart to Dick, but he did not explain himself. Dick -had found out, however, that Cal’s knowledge of -the region round about them and of the tortuous -waterways that interlaced the coast in every direction -was singularly minute and accurate. It was -not until that morning, however, that Cal explained -to him how he had come to be so well versed in the -geography and hydrography of the region. It had -been decided by Captain Larry that before leaving -their present camp that day the company should -cook enough food to last for a day or two, so that -they might not have to waste any time hunting or -fishing while making as quick a trip to Beaufort as -they could. As there was very little game left after -breakfast, Cal and Dick set out with their guns to -secure a supply of squirrels and whatever else they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -could find, while Larry and Tom should load the -boat and catch some fish.</p> - -<p>During this little shooting expedition some small -manifestation of Cal’s minute information prompted -a question from Dick.</p> - -<p>“How on earth, Cal, can you remember every little -detail like that? And how did you learn so -much about things around here, anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“I got that part of my education,” Cal answered, -“partly by being a very good boy and partly by -being a very bad one. I’m inclined to think the -bad-boy influence contributed even more than the -good-boy experience to my store of information. -As for remembering things, that is a habit of mind -easily cultivated, though the great majority of people -neglect it. It consists mainly in careful observation. -When people tell you they don’t remember -things they have seen, or remember them only -vaguely, it usually means that they did not observe -the things seen. For example, I remembered where -that spring of ours was when we were all parched -with thirst, and I knew how to go to it in the dark. -That was simply because when I first saw that -spring and quenched a very lively thirst there, I decided -to remember it and its surroundings in case -I should ever have occasion to find it again. So I -looked carefully at everything round about from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -every point of view. I observed that the spring lay -just beyond the first bend of the creek and that there -was a cluster of big cypress trees very near it. I -noticed that the mouth of the creek lay between a -little stretch of beach on one side and a dense cane -thicket on the other. In short, I carefully observed -all the bearings, and having done that, of course I -could never forget how to find the spring.”</p> - -<p>“Do you always do that sort of thing when you -think you may want to find a place again?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. Indeed, I do it anyhow, -whether there is any occasion or not. For example, -when I was visiting you in Boston last year I noticed -that there was a little dent in the silver cap over the -speaking tube in the dining-room, as if somebody -had hit it a little blow. The dent was triangular, I -remember.”</p> - -<p>“That’s because the thing I hit it with had a triangular -face, for I made that dent when I was a -little fellow with a curious-looking tool that a repairer -of old furniture had in use there. It’s curious -that you should have noticed the dent, as it is -very small and your back was toward it as you sat -at table.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but not as I entered the room. It was -then that I saw it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Then that sort of close observation is a habit of -mind with you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I suppose it is partly natural and partly -cultivated. I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>The two had come by this time to that part of the -woods that Tom had named the “squirrel pasture,” -and they were soon busy with their guns. But as -they walked back toward the camp, loaded with -black and gray squirrels, Dick came back to the subject, -which seemed deeply to interest him.</p> - -<p>“I wonder, Cal,” he said, “if you would mind -telling me about those two epochs in your young life—the -good-boy and the bad-boy periods?”</p> - -<p>Cal laughed, half under his breath.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t much to tell,” he replied; “but if you’re -interested I’ll tell you about it. You see the old -families down here are a good deal mixed up in their -relationships, just as the old families in Massachusetts -are, because of frequent intermarriages. The -Rutledges and the Calhouns, and the Hugers, and -the Huguenins, and Barnwells, and Haywards, and -the rest, are all more or less related to each other. -Indeed, there is such a tangle of relationships that -I long ago gave up trying to work out the puzzle. -It is enough for you to know that the particular -Mr. Hayward who owns all this wild land around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -here and half a dozen plantations besides is my kinsman—my -mother’s uncle, I believe. Anyhow, -from my earliest childhood there was never anything -that I liked so well as visiting at Uncle Hayward’s. -Perfect candor compels me to say that I -was not particularly fond of Uncle Hayward or -of any member of the family, for that matter. -Uncle Hayward used to take me for long rides on -a marsh tackey by way of entertaining me in the -way he thought I liked best, and I resented that -whenever I wanted to do something else instead. -He is one of the best and kindliest men alive and -I am very fond of him now, but when I was a little -fellow I thought he interfered with my own plans -too much, and so I made up my mind that I didn’t -like him. As for the ladies of the family, I detested -them because they were always combing my -hair and ‘dressing me up’ when I didn’t want to be -dressed up.</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless, nothing delighted me like a prolonged -visit at Uncle Hayward’s. That was because -I particularly appreciated an intimate association -with Sam. Sam was a black boy—or young man, -rather—who seemed to me to be the most delightfully -accomplished person I had ever known. He -could roll his eyes up until only the white below the -iris was visible. He could stand on his head, walk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -on his hands, turn handsprings, and disjoint himself -in the most astonishing fashion imaginable. -He could move his scalp and wiggle his ears. His -gifts and accomplishments in such ways as these -seemed to me without limit.</p> - -<p>“As Uncle Hayward could never keep Sam out -of the woods, he made up his mind to assign him -to duty in the woods as a sort of ranger. There -was plenty for Sam to do there, for besides all these -vast tracts of wild land, Uncle Hayward had a deer -park consisting of many thousand acres of woodland -under a single fence. To watch for fires, to -keep poachers out, to catch and tame half a dozen -marsh tackeys every now and then, and a score of -similar duties were assigned to Sam.</p> - -<p>“When I was a little fellow my customary reward -for being a particularly ‘good boy’ for a season -was permission to go into the woods with Sam -and live like a wild creature for weeks at a time. -In that way, and under Sam’s tuition, I learned -much about these regions and about the waterways, -for Sam seemed always to know where a boat of -some kind lay hidden, and he and I became tireless -navigators and explorers.</p> - -<p>“That, in brief, is the history of the ‘good-boy’ -epoch. The story of the other is a trifle more -dramatic, perhaps. It occurred three or four years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -ago when Larry and I were planning to go to Virginia -to prepare for college. I was fourteen or fifteen -years old then and I had continued to spend a -part of every year down here in the woods with -Sam for guide, servant, and hunting factotum. At -the time I speak of I had some rather ‘lame ducks’ -in my studies. The fact is, I had idled a good deal, -while Larry had mastered all the tasks set him. -Accordingly, when my father and mother went -North that year—they go every summer on account -of mother’s health—Larry went up country -to visit some of our relatives there, while I decided -to stay at home and work with a tutor whom my -father had hired for me.</p> - -<p>“He and I lived alone in the house with only the -servants, and I found him to be in many ways disagreeable. -He was an Englishman, for one thing, -and at that period of my life I had not yet got over -the detestation of Englishmen which the school histories -and revolutionary legends had instilled into -my mind. He was brusque and even unmannerly -at times, judged by the standards of courtesy that -we Carolinians accept. More important than all -else, he and I entertained irreconcilable views as to -our relations with each other. He thought he was -employed to be my master, while I held that he was -hired only as my tutor. This led to some friction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -but we managed to get on together for a time until -I found that the difference of opinion between him -and me extended to other things than our personal -relations. He seemed to think himself not only my -master but master of the house also in my father’s -absence. He did not know how to treat the servants. -He gave them orders in a harsh, peremptory -way to which house servants in Carolina are -not accustomed. His manner with them was rather -that of an ox-driver toward his cattle than that of -a gentleman dealing with well-mannered and well-meaning -servants.</p> - -<p>“This grated on me, and I suppose I have a pretty -well-defined temper when occasion arouses it. The -Rutledges generally have. At any rate I one day -remonstrated with the tutor on the subject, intending -the remonstrance to be all there was of the incident, -but he answered me in that tone of a master -which I more and more resented. High words followed, -from which he learned my opinion of his -character and manners much more definitely than -I had cared to express it before.</p> - -<p>“At last he threatened me with a flogging, and -picked up a cane with which to administer it. I -was mad all over and clear through by that time. -I had never had a flogging and I certainly would -not submit to one at his hands. But my anger had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -passed beyond expression in words by that time. -I did not feel the flush of it—I felt deathly pale -instead. I was no longer hot; on the contrary I -was never cooler in my life. I did not threaten -my antagonist or give him warning as he advanced -toward me with the cane uplifted. I simply selected -a certain plank in the floor which I made up -my mind should be his Rubicon. I stood perfectly -still, waiting for him to cross it.</p> - -<p>“Presently he stepped across the line I had fixed -upon. The instant he did so I sprang upon him, -delivering my blows so fast and furiously that in -two or three seconds he went down in a heap. He -claimed to be an expert boxer, and I suppose he was, -but my attack was so sudden and so unexpected that -his science seemed to have no chance. At any rate, -he was so nearly ‘knocked out’ that he had no disposition -to renew the contest. He went to his room, -washed himself, packed his trunk, leaving it to be -called for later, and left the house.</p> - -<p>“Before leaving he wrote me a curt note, saying -that he would immediately get a warrant for my -arrest on a charge of assault and battery.</p> - -<p>“That rather staggered me. I wouldn’t have -given one inch in fear of that man. No power on -earth could have made me run away from him or -apologize to him or in any other way flinch from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -anything he might do to me. But I had a terrifying -misconception of the law and its processes. I -was only a fifteen-year-old boy, you know, and I -knew nothing whatever of legal proceedings; or -rather, I knew just enough about them to mislead -my mind. I knew that a warrant meant arrest, and -as I lay abed worrying that night I convinced myself -that if I should be arrested when my father -was not in Charleston to furnish bail for me, I must -lie in a loathsome jail until his return, forbidden to -communicate with anybody and compelled to live -on a diet of bread and water.</p> - -<p>“I saw no way out except to keep out of reach -of that warrant till my father’s return, and the only -secure way of doing that, I thought, was to run -away and live down here in the woods. So after -lying awake all night I got up at daybreak, got one -of the servants to give me breakfast and put up a -luncheon for me. Then I took a little, flat-bottomed -skiff that I owned and made my way -down here. I had some money with me, but I did -not dare go to any town, or village, or country -store, to buy anything lest the man with the warrant -should find out where I was. I learned where -all the little negro settlements were, however, and -there I bought sweet potatoes and the like as I -needed them. I had my shotgun and fish lines with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -me, of course, and so I had no difficulty in feeding -myself. For amusement I wandered about in every -direction by land and water, and in that way greatly -improved my education in coast country geography.</p> - -<p>“After a while I found myself running short of -ammunition, and I didn’t know how to procure a -fresh supply. I was afraid to go to Beaufort, or -up to Grahamville, or Coosawhatchie, or anywhere -else where there were stores, and besides that I was -in no fit condition to go anywhere. I had forgotten -to bring any clothes with me and what I had on -were worn literally to rags.</p> - -<p>“Fortunately I had got acquainted with a negro -boy who often brought me vegetables and fruit and -sold them to me for low prices. I suppose now that -he stole them, although that didn’t occur to me -then.</p> - -<p>“One day I hit upon the plan of sending him to -Beaufort for ammunition. He expressed doubt -that anybody there would sell it to him, and I shared -the doubt. But it was my only chance, so I gave -him some money and sent him. He was gone for -two days, during which I fired my last cartridge at -a deer and missed him. I had begun to think the -negro boy had simply pocketed the money and disappeared, -never to return again, but I consoled myself -with the thought that there were plenty of fish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -and oysters to be had, and that I could buy sweet -potatoes and vegetables.</p> - -<p>“That night the negro boy returned, bringing -me rather more ammunition than I had sent for, -and when I questioned him about the matter his -reply was that that was what the storekeeper had -given him for the money. Later, however, he confessed -to me that finding nobody willing to sell -cartridges to him, he had simply stolen them and, -being prepared to bring me the goods I had sent for, -he thought the money he had saved in that way -justly belonged to him. He had squandered it for -candy and in satisfaction of such other desires as -possessed him. Of course I paid the merchant afterwards, -and equally of course it was impossible -to collect the amount from the boy.</p> - -<p>“All that is an episode. One day by some chance -I encountered Sam in my wanderings, and he told -me people were looking for me—that my father -had heard of my disappearance and had hurried -back to Charleston.</p> - -<p>“I went to Beaufort, bought some sort of clothes, -and like the other prodigal son, returned to my -father. But he utterly failed to play his part according -to the story. Instead of falling on my neck, -he laughed at the clothes I wore. Instead of killing -the fatted calf, he told me to take a bath and put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -on something fit to wear. All that evening I heard -him chuckling under his breath as I related my experiences -in answer to his questions. Finally he -said to me:</p> - -<p>“‘You’ll do, Cal. I’ll never feel uneasy about -you again. You know how to take care of yourself.’</p> - -<p>“There, Dick, you’ve heard the whole story, both -of my righteousness and of my wickedness.”</p> - -<p>“And a mighty interesting story it has been to -me,” Dick replied. “Thank you for telling it.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XIV</h2> - -<p class="pch">CAL RELATES A FABLE</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Hunkydory</i> was completely loaded when Cal -and Dick returned, and there was nothing further -to do except cook the fish and game, so that there -might be no need to stop anywhere to get dinner.</p> - -<p>There was a fairly stiff breeze blowing when the -anchors were weighed, but sailing was impracticable -until the boat should be well out of the narrow -creek, so all hands went to the oars.</p> - -<p>When the land was cleared, Larry ordered that -the oars be stowed in their fastenings and the sails -raised. Without discussion or arrangement of any -kind, Cal went to the helm. It seemed the proper -thing to do in view of his superior knowledge of -the surroundings, but Cal was not thinking of that. -He had a plan and purpose of his own to carry out, -though he said nothing about the matter.</p> - -<p>There was quite an hour of sailing necessary before -the course could be laid in the direction of the -waterway that led toward Beaufort, and when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -time came for heading in that direction, Cal laid -quite a different course, heading for a shore that lay -several miles away.</p> - -<p>Larry was dozing in the forepeak and did not at -first observe on what course his brother was sailing. -When at last he did notice it, he assumed that something -in the direction of the wind made Cal’s course -desirable, but after a glance at the sails he changed -his mind.</p> - -<p>“Why are you heading in that direction, Cal?” -he asked, looking about him. “Your course will -take us several miles out of our way. Head her -toward the point of land over there where the palmettos -are.”</p> - -<p>Cal made no change and he waited a full minute -before he answered. When he did so it was in his -most languid drawl.</p> - -<p>“Larry,” he said, quite as if he had not heard -a word that his brother had uttered, “there was a -schooner sailing down the Hudson River one day. -The captain of that craft was a Dutchman of phlegmatic -temperament and extreme obstinacy. The -mate was a Yankee, noted for his alert readiness of -resource. The schooner was loaded with brick. -The captain was loaded with beer. The mate -wasn’t loaded at all. It was the captain’s business -to steer and manage things in the after half of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -ship. It was the function of the mate to manage -things forward. But when the mate saw that the -schooner’s course was carrying her straight upon -the rocks, he went aft and remonstrated with the -captain. For reply the captain said:</p> - -<p>“‘Mate, you go forward and run your end of the -schooner and leave me to run my end.’</p> - -<p>“The mate went forward and ordered the anchor -heaved overboard. Then going aft again, he -said:</p> - -<p>“‘Captain, I have anchored my end of the -schooner; you can do what you please with your -end.’”</p> - -<p>Cal ceased, as if he had finished speaking. The -others laughed at the story, and Larry said:</p> - -<p>“What’s the moral of that yarn, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Haec fabula docet</i>,” replied Cal, “that <i>I’m</i> sailing -the <i>Hunkydory</i> just now; that I know where we -are going and why.”</p> - -<p>“Would you mind telling us, then?” demanded -Larry.</p> - -<p>“Not in the least. We are heading for the -shore, on our lee; as for why, there are several -reasons: One is that the tide will turn pretty soon, -and when it does it will run out of the creek you -want me to enter as fast as it does out of the Bay -of Fundy. Another is, that the wind is falling and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -we shall have to take to the oars presently. Another -is, that I am persuaded it will be easier rowing -across the small current out here than against a tide -that rushes out of the creek like a mill tail. There -are other and controlling reasons, but I have already -given you as many as your intellectual digestion -can assimilate. The rest will keep till we’re -comfortably ashore. There, that’s the last puff of -the wind.”</p> - -<p>With that he hauled the boom inboard, let go -the halyards and left the rudder-bar.</p> - -<p>“It is now after three o’clock,” he said, while the -others were unstepping the mast, “and the distance -is about three miles or a trifle less. Rowing easily -we shall have time after we get there to settle ourselves -comfortably before nightfall.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you’re right, of course,” Larry answered, -“but it means several more meals on meat -and fish alone.”</p> - -<p>“Better not cross that bridge till you come to it, -Larry. You see we might find manna over there, -or some bread-fruit trees newly imported from Tahiti—who -knows?”</p> - -<p>The others shared Larry’s regret as to the food -prospect, but they all recognized Cal’s superior -knowledge of conditions as a controlling consideration; -so all rowed on in silence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> - -<p>When at last they reached the neighborhood of -the shore, Cal began scrutinizing it closely as if -searching for the landing place he had selected in -his mind. He was in fact looking for the very narrow -and cane-hidden entrance to a land-locked bay -that he remembered very well. Presently he turned -into it and shot the boat through a channel that one -might have passed a dozen times without seeing it. -It wound about among the dense growths for a -little way and then opened out into a considerable -little bay.</p> - -<p>Here Cal directed the landing, but instead of arranging -to anchor the boat a little way from shore -he put on all speed with the oars and ran her hard -and fast upon a gently sloping beach.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for, Cal?” asked Dick, whose -nautical instincts were offended by the manœuvre.</p> - -<p>“To save trouble,” Cal answered. “You see -this is a considerable little bay, and the entrance to -it is so very narrow that before much of a flood -tide can run into the broad basin the time comes for -it to turn and run out again, so there is never a -rise and fall of more than six or eight inches in -here. The boat will lie comfortably where she is -so long as we choose to stay here. We can reach -her without much if any wading, and we can shove -her off into deep water whenever we like.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Is there a spring about here?” asked Tom, -whose concern about water supply had become specially -active.</p> - -<p>“No, but we can make one in fifteen minutes.”</p> - -<p>Then selecting a sort of depression in the sandy -beach about sixty yards from the water’s edge, Cal -said:</p> - -<p>“We have only to scoop out a basin in the sand -here—about three feet deep as I reckon it, and -we’ll have all the water we want.”</p> - -<p>“But will it be good water?”</p> - -<p>“Perfectly good. You see, Tom, this beach is -composed of clean white sand. The water in the -bay sipes through it at a uniform level, and we’ve -only to dig down to that level in order to get at it.”</p> - -<p>“But won’t it be salt water?”</p> - -<p>“Slightly brackish, perhaps, or possibly not at -all so. You see before reaching this point it is filtered -through sixty or seventy yards of closely -packed sand, which takes up all the salt and would -take up all other impurities if there were any, as -there are not. Suppose you dig for the water, Tom, -while the other fellows make camp and pick up -wood. It’s very easy digging and it won’t take -long. I’m going off a little way to see what there -is to see—and to look for the manna I spoke of a -while ago.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> - -<p>So saying, Cal took up his gun and set out inland. -It was more than an hour before he returned and -the dusk was falling. But to the astonishment of -the others a string of young negroes followed close -upon his heels, all carrying burdens of some sort, -mostly poised upon their heads.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XV</h2> - -<p class="pch">CAL GATHERS THE MANNA</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Cal appeared at the head of his dusky -little caravan the others advanced to meet him and -bombard him with a rapid fire of questions as to -where he had been, and what the negro boys were -carrying, and where he had discovered the source -of supply, and whatever else their curiosity suggested.</p> - -<p>Instead of replying at once he asked.</p> - -<p>“Did you find the water, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, easily, and it isn’t brackish at all.”</p> - -<p>“That’s excellent, and now let us eat, drink and -be merry. I couldn’t give you that injunction till -I learned that we had the water for the drinking -part.”</p> - -<p>Without waiting for him to finish his sentence -the others busied themselves in examining what the -negroes had brought. As they did so, Cal catalogued -the supplies orally with comments:</p> - -<p>“That bag contains a half bushel of rice—enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -to serve us as a breadstuff for a long time -to come, as we require only three teacupfuls—measured -by guess—for a meal; the bag by the -side of it is badly out at elbows and knees, but it -holds a fine supply of new sweet potatoes which will -help the endurance of the rice. What’s that? Oh, -that’s a little okra, and the red-turbaned old darky -woman who sold it to me carefully explained how -to cook the mucilaginous vegetable. As she delivered -her instructions in the language of the Upper -Congo, I cannot say that my conception of the way -in which okra should be prepared for the table is -especially clear, but we’ll find some way out of that -difficulty. Yes, the big bag on the right contains -a few dozen ears of green corn, and the one next to -it is full of well-ripened tomatoes, smooth of surface, -shapely of contour and tempting to the appetite. -Finally, we have here half a dozen cantaloupes, -or ‘mush millions,’ as the colored youth -who supplied them called his merchandise. Now -scamper, you little vagabonds. I’ve paid you once -for toting the things and it is a matter of principle -with me never to pay twice for a single service.”</p> - -<p>“Where on earth, Cal, did you find all these -things?” asked Larry, the others looking the same -question out of their eyes as it were.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I found them in the garden patches where they -were grown,” he replied. “That’s what I went out -to do. They are the ‘manna,’ the finding of which -somewhere in this neighborhood I foreshadowed in -answer to your querulous predictions of an exclusively -meat diet for some days to come.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke, Cal was throwing sweet potatoes -into the fire and covering them with red-hot ashes -with glowing coals on top.</p> - -<p>“You’re a most unsatisfactory fellow, Cal,” -said Dick. “Why don’t you tell us where you got -the provender and how you happened to find so rich -a source of supply. Anybody else would be eager -to talk about such an exploit.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you,” Cal answered, “as soon as I get -the potato roast properly going. I’m hungry. -Suppose you cut some cantaloupes for us to eat -while the potatoes are cooking.”</p> - -<p>Not until he had half a melon in hand did Cal -begin.</p> - -<p>“There’s one of the finest rice plantations on all -this coast about a mile above here. Or rather, the -plantation house is there. As for the plantation -itself, we’re sitting on it now. It belongs to Colonel -Huguenin, and of course the house is closed in summer.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why?” interrupted Dick, whose thirst for information -concerning southern customs was insatiable.</p> - -<p>“Do you really want me to interrupt my story -of ‘How Cal Went Foraging’ in order to answer -your interjected inquiry? If I must talk it’s all one -to me what I talk about. So make your choice.”</p> - -<p>“Go on and tell us of the foraging. The other -thing can wait.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then; I happened to know of this plantation. -I’ve bivouacked on the shores of this bay before, -and when I turned the <i>Hunkydory’s</i> nose in -this direction I was impelled by an intelligent purpose. -I had alluring visions of the things I could -buy from the negroes up there at the quarters.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you tell us then instead of getting -off all that rigmarole about rowing against the tide -and the rest of it?” asked Larry, not with irritation, -but with a laugh, for the cantaloupe he was -eating and the smell of the sweet potatoes roasting -in the ashes had put him and the others into an entirely -peaceful and contented frame of mind.</p> - -<p>“I never like to raise hopes,” answered Cal, -“that I cannot certainly fulfill. Performance is -better than promises—as much better as the supper -we are about to eat is better than a printed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -bill of fare. Wonder how the potatoes are coming -on?”</p> - -<p>With that he dug one of the yams out of the -ashes, examined it, and put it back, saying:</p> - -<p>“Five or six minutes more will do the business. -I picked out the smallest ones on purpose to hurry -supper. Let’s set the table. Tom, if your kettle -of water is boiling, suppose you shuck some corn -and plunge it in it. It must boil from five to six -minutes—just long enough to get it thoroughly -hot through. If it boils longer the sweetness all -goes out of it. Dick, won’t you wash some of the -tomatoes while Larry and I arrange the dishes?”</p> - -<p>Arranging the dishes consisted in cutting a number -of broad palmete leaves, some to hold the supplies -of food and others to serve as plates.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry I cannot offer you young gentlemen -some fresh butter for your corn and potatoes,” said -Cal, as they sat down to supper, “but to be perfectly -candid with you, our cows seem to have deserted -us and we haven’t churned for several days -past. After all, the corn and potatoes will be very -palatable with a little salt sprinkled upon them, and -we have plenty of salt. Don’t hesitate to help -yourselves freely to it.”</p> - -<p>“To my mind,” said Dick, “this is as good a -supper as I ever ate.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s because of our sharp appetites,” answered -Larry. “We’re hungry enough to relish -anything.”</p> - -<p>“Appetite helps, of course,” said Dick, thoughtfully; -“but so does contrast. An hour ago we -had all made up our minds to content ourselves for -many meals to come with the exclusive diet of fish -and game, which has been our lot for many meals -past. To find ourselves eating a supper like this -instead is like waking from a bad dream and finding -it only a nightmare.”</p> - -<p>“It would be better still not to have the nightmare,” -answered Cal, speaking more seriously than -he usually did. “When you have a nightmare it -is usually your own fault, and pessimism is always -so. You fellows were pessimistic over the prospect -of a supper you could not enjoy. As you -have a supper that you can enjoy, the suffering you -inflicted upon yourselves was wholly needless.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know,” interposed Tom; “but we -couldn’t know that you were going to get all these -good things for us.”</p> - -<p>“No, of course not. But if you hadn’t allowed -your pessimistic forebodings to make you unhappy, -you needn’t have been unhappy at all. If things -had turned out as you expected you’d have been -unhappy twice—once in lamenting your lot and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -once in suffering it. As it is, you’ve been needlessly -unhappy once and unexpectedly happy once, -instead of being happy all the while. I tell you -optimism is the only true philosophy.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose it is,” Dick admitted, “but it leads to -disappointment very often.”</p> - -<p>“Of course. But in that case you suffer the ill, -whatever it is, only once; while the pessimist suffers -it both before it befalls and when it comes. That -involves a sheer waste of the power of endurance.”</p> - -<p>Larry had forgotten to eat while his brother delivered -this little discourse, for he had never heard -Cal talk in so serious a fashion. Indeed, he had -come to think of his brother as a trifler who could -never be persuaded to seriousness.</p> - -<p>“Where on earth did you get that thought, Cal?” -he asked, when Cal ceased to speak.</p> - -<p>“It is perfectly sound, isn’t it?” was the boy’s -reply.</p> - -<p>“I think it is. But where did you get it?”</p> - -<p>“If it is sound, it doesn’t matter where I got it, -or how. But to satisfy your curiosity, I’ll tell you -that I thought it out down here in the woods when -I was a runaway. I was so often in trouble as to -what was going to happen, and it so often happened -that it didn’t happen after all, that I got to wondering -one day what was the use of worrying about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -things that might never happen. I was alone in -the woods, you know, and I had plenty of time to -think. So little by little I thought out the optimistic -philosophy and adopted it as the rule of my life. -Of course I could not formulate it then as I do now. -I didn’t know what the words ‘optimism’ and -‘pessimism’ meant, but my mind got a good grasp -upon the ideas underlying them. There! My sermon -is done. I have only to announce that there -will be no more preaching at this camp-meeting. -I’m going to take a look at your well, Tom, and if -the water is as good as you say, I’m going to empty -the rain water out of the kegs and refill them. -Rain water, you know, goes bad a good deal sooner -than other water—especially sand-filtered water.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon Cal is right, Dick,” said Tom, when -their companion was out of earshot.</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course he is, but did you ever stub your -toe? It’s a little bit hard to be optimistic on occasions -like that.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon that’s hardly what Cal meant—”</p> - -<p>“Of course it isn’t. I was jesting.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XVI</h2> - -<p class="pch">FOG BOUND</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> boys were not tired that evening, and after -their abundant supper they sat late talking and telling -stories and “just being happy,” Dick said. -The day had been a torrid one, but in the evening -there was a chill in the air which made a crackling -camp-fire welcome. When at last they grew sleepy -they simply rolled themselves in their blankets and -lay down upon the sand and under the stars. They -had built no shelter, as it was not their purpose to -remain where they were except for a single night.</p> - -<p>It was not long after daylight when Tom, shivering, -sprang up, saying:</p> - -<p>“I’m cold—hello! What’s this? Fog?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Larry, “a visitor from the gulf -stream. And it is almost thick enough to cut, too. -What shall we do?”</p> - -<p>“Do? Why, make the best of it and be happy, -of course,” answered Cal, piling wood upon the -embers to set the camp-fire going again. “The first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -step in that direction is to get your blood circulating. -Stir around. Bring a bucket of water and -set the kettle to boil—that is to say, if you can open -a trail through this fog and find the water hole -without falling into it. Whew! but this is a marrow-searching -atmosphere.”</p> - -<p>The fog was indeed so dense that nothing could -be seen at more than twenty paces away, while the -damp, penetrating chill set all teeth chattering and -kept them at it until rapid exercise set pulses going -again. Then came breakfast to “confirm the cure,” -Dick suggested, and the little company was comfortable -again. That is to say, all of them but -Larry. He was obviously uneasy in his mind, so -much so that he had little relish for his breakfast.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Larry,” asked Tom, presently; -“aren’t you warm yet?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I’m warm enough, but there isn’t a -breath of air stirring, and this fog may last all day. -What do you think, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“I think that very likely. I’ve seen fogs like -this that lasted two or three days.”</p> - -<p>“How on earth are we to get to Beaufort while -it lasts?”</p> - -<p>The question revealed the nature of Larry’s trouble.</p> - -<p>“Why, of course we can’t do anything of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> -kind,” Cal answered. “We should get lost in the -fog and go butting into mud banks and unexpected -shoals. No. Till this fog clears away we can’t -think of leaving the altogether agreeable shore -upon which a kindly fate has cast us. But we can -be happy while we stay, unless we make ourselves -unhappy by worrying. I know what is troubling -you, Larry, and it’s nonsense to worry about it. I -often think I wouldn’t carry your conscience about -with me for thirty cents a month.”</p> - -<p>“But, Cal, you see it is our duty to notify the -revenue officers of our discovery before those smugglers -get away.”</p> - -<p>“It may relieve your mind,” Cal answered in his -usual roundabout fashion, “to reflect that they can’t -get away. If they were still there when this fog -came in from the sea, they will stay there till it clears -away again. So we are really losing no time. In -addition to that consolation, you should take comfort -to yourself in the thought that even if the revenue -officers were in possession of the information -we have, they could do nothing till the fog lifts. So -far as I know, at least, they can see no farther -through fog than other people can, and shoals and -mud banks are unlikely to respect their authority -by keeping out of the way of such craft as they may -navigate.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> - -<p>Suddenly Cal put aside his playful manner of -speech, and became thoroughly earnest.</p> - -<p>“Think a minute, Larry. We have absolutely no -official duty to do in this matter. We are doing our -best as good citizens to notify the authorities. At -present we can’t do it. There’s an end of that. -We have a pleasant bivouac here, with plenty of -food and more where it came from. Why -shouldn’t we make the best of things and be happy? -Why should you go brooding around, making the -rest of us miserable? I tell you it’s nonsense. -Cheer up, and give the rest of us a chance to enjoy -ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“You are right, Cal,” Larry answered; “and I -won’t spoil sport. I didn’t mean to, and my worrying -was foolish. By the way, what shall we do -to pass the time to-day?”</p> - -<p>“Well, for one thing, we ought to put up a shelter. -A fog like this is very apt to end in soaking -rain, and if it does that to-night, we’ll sleep more -comfortably under a roof of palmete leaves than out -in the open. However, there’s no hurry about that, -and you can let Dick wallop you at chess for an -hour or so while Tom and I go foraging. You see -I’ve thought of a good many things that I ought to -have bought last night, but didn’t. Do you want -to go along, Tom?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tom did, and as they started away, Cal called -back:</p> - -<p>“I say, Larry, suppose you put on a kettle of -rice to boil for dinner when the time comes. I -think I’ll bring back something to eat with it.”</p> - -<p>Then walking on with Tom by his side, he fell -into his customary drawling, half-frivolous mode -of speech. Tom had expressed his pleasure in the -prospect of rice for dinner—rice cooked in the -Carolina way, a dish he had never tasted before -his present visit began.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Cal, “I was tenderly and affectionately -thinking of you when I suggested the -dish. And I had it in mind to make the occasion -memorable in another way. I remember very vividly -how greatly—I will not say greedily—you -enjoyed the combination of rice and broiled spring -chicken while we were in Charleston. I remember -that at first you seemed disposed to scorn the rice -under the mistaken impression that rice must always -be the pasty, mush-like mess that they made -of it at school. I remember how when I insisted -upon filling your plate with it you contemplated it -with surprise, and, contemplating, tasted the dainty -result of proper cooking. After that all was plain -sailing. I had only to place half a broiled chicken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -upon the rice foundation in your plate—half a -chicken at a time I mean—and observe the gustatory -delight with which you devoted yourself to -our favorite Carolina dish.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, your Carolina way of cooking it -makes rice good even when you have no chicken to -go with it. If the fog would thin itself down a -bit—”</p> - -<p>“Which it won’t do in time for you to kill the -squirrels you were thinking of as a possible substitute -for chicken. Perish the thought. It is utterly -unworthy. You and I are out after spring -chickens, Tom.”</p> - -<p>“Good! Do you think we can find any?”</p> - -<p>“With the aid of the currency of our country -as an excitant of the negro imagination, we can.”</p> - -<p>“You saw chickens at the negro quarters last -night, then?”</p> - -<p>“No, I did not. But I observed a large pan on -a shelf in front of one of the cabins, and with more -curiosity than politeness I stood up on my tiptoes -and looked into it. Tom, that pan was more than -half full of chicken feed, and it was fresh at that. -Knowing the habits of persons of the colored persuasion, -I am entirely certain that no one of them -would have taken the trouble to prepare that chicken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -feed unless he was the happy possessor of chickens. -I’m going to call upon the dusky proprietor of that -pan this morning.”</p> - -<p>“That’s another case of noticing, Cal, and another -proof of its value. We are likely to have -broiled spring chickens for dinner to-day just because -you observed that pan of chicken feed. -What else did you notice up there? I ask solely -out of curiosity.”</p> - -<p>“There wasn’t much else to observe. I saw -some fig bushes but they’ve been stripped. Otherwise -we should have had some figs for breakfast -this morning. Just now I observe that the fog is -manifesting a decided tendency to resolve itself into -rain, and if it does, that we must satisfy Larry’s -conscience by getting away from our present camp -this afternoon—or as soon as the fog is sufficiently -cleared away. So you and I must hurry on if -we’re to have those broiled chickens.”</p> - -<p>As results proved, Cal was mistaken in his reckoning -of the time necessary to dissipate the fog. -It was merely taking the form of what is known -as a “Scotch mist,” which does not form itself into -rain drops and fall, but collects in drops upon whatever -it touches, saturating clothing even more -speedily than actual rain does and making all but -the sunniest dispositions uncomfortable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - -<p>But even a Scotch mist condition served to thin -the fog a little, though by no means enough to make -navigation possible. Larry watched conditions anxiously, -as Cal expected him to do, and his first -question when Cal and Tom returned with their -chickens revealed his state of mind.</p> - -<p>“What do you think of it, Cal?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Of what? If you refer to the moon, I am -satisfied in my own mind—”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw! You know what I mean. Do be serious -for once and tell me what you think of the prospect?”</p> - -<p>“Conscience bothering you again?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. We must get away from here to-day if -possible—and as soon as possible.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t you give us time to have dinner and cook -some extra food for consumption when we get -hopelessly lost out there in the fog banks that are -still rolling in from the sea?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, of course we can’t leave here till the fog -clears away. But do you think it ever will clear -away?”</p> - -<p>“It always has,” answered Cal, determined to -laugh his brother out of his brooding if he could -not reason him out of it. “In such experience as -I have had with fogs I never yet encountered one -that didn’t ultimately disappear, did you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But what do you think of the prospect?” persisted -Larry.</p> - -<p>“I can see so little of it through the fog,” Cal -provokingly replied, “that I am really unable to -form an intelligent opinion of it. What I do see -is that you haven’t begun to make our shelter yet. -In my opinion it would be well to do so, if only to -keep the chess board dry while a game is in progress. -Moreover, I have an interesting book or -two wrapped up in my oilskins, and if we are -doomed to remain here over night—”</p> - -<p>“You don’t think then that—”</p> - -<p>“Frankly, Larry, I don’t know anything about -it. Neither do you, and neither does anybody else. -We’re in a very wet fog bank. We’ve got to stay -where we are till the weather changes. Don’t you -think our wisest course is to make ourselves as -comfortable and keep ourselves as cheerful as we -can while it lasts.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course, but it’s pretty hard you know -to—”</p> - -<p>“Not half as hard as chopping wood and -‘toting’ it in from the woods over there, and that -is what Tom and I are going to do after dinner -as our contribution to the general comfort. You’ll -find yourself feeling a great deal better if you -busy yourself making a really comfortable shelter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -while we’re at the other job. It may come on to -rain torrents this afternoon, and of course we won’t -leave here in the boat if it does.”</p> - -<p>“That will do, Cal. I’m convinced, and I’m -a trifle ashamed of myself besides. I promise not -to worry any more. I decree that we shall not -leave port in a rain storm, and unless the weather -conditions become favorable before four o’clock -this afternoon we’ll not leave here any how until -to-morrow.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XVII</h2> - -<p class="pch">THE OBLIGATION OF A GENTLEMAN</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> fog held throughout the day, changing to -a deluge of rain about nightfall, but Cal and Tom -had provided an abundance of firewood, the palmete -shelter was waterproof, the long gray moss -with which it was carpeted was soft to loll upon, -and the book from which they read aloud by turns -proved to be an amusing one. Larry kept his -promise and indulged in no further impatience.</p> - -<p>When morning came the rain was still coming -down in torrents, and it was unanimously agreed -that no attempt should be made to quit the place -until it should cease.</p> - -<p>“An open rowboat in a heavy rain is about the -wettest place imaginable,” Dick said, and the experience -of the rest had been such as to confirm the -judgment.</p> - -<p>When at last a brisk westerly wind began to tear -the clouds to pieces, all agreed that Larry’s patience -had fairly earned its reward, and all hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -worked hard to get as early a start as possible. -It was two o’clock in fact when they finally set -sail, with Cal again at the helm because he knew -of a narrow but navigable passage which would -enable them to avoid the heavy ebb tide of the -channel that Larry had selected two days before. -The tide would not begin to ebb for two or three -hours to come, and by taking this short cut Cal -hoped to reach broad waters before that time.</p> - -<p>He did so in fact, but upon running out of the -little creek he was disappointed to find that a shift -had given him a headwind to contend with. There -was nothing for it but to beat to windward, and the -breeze was so light that their progress was slow. -Cal made the best of conditions as he found them, -according to his custom, but about sunset the tide -turned against him, and worse than that, the wind -went down with the sun, leaving not a breath to -fill the sails.</p> - -<p>Then Cal asked for orders.</p> - -<p>“What is your wish, Captain Larry?” he asked. -“Shall we take to the oars and push on against the -tide, or land for the night? Without a favoring -wind we can’t possibly make Beaufort to-night.”</p> - -<p>“What do the rest of you say?” asked Larry, -in some perplexity.</p> - -<p>“Never mind what anybody else says,” broke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -in Cal, before the others could answer. “This -isn’t a debating club or an advisory council of ancients, -or anything else of the kind. We’re a ship’s -company and you are the captain; so give your -orders.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, we’ll run ashore. Do you know of -a suitable place, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“No, not from personal experience in these -parts, but I’ve been watching the coast-line over -there to starboard, and I think I make out the -mouth of a small creek or inlet. The chart doesn’t -show it very distinctly, but it roughly indicates a -number of small indentations in the land, and the -soundings given for all that shore seem satisfactory.”</p> - -<p>“To the oars then,” said Larry, “and we’ll look -for a landing place somewhere over there. The -whole shore seems to be heavily wooded. Pull -away.”</p> - -<p>It was fully dark when Cal’s keen eyes found -what he was looking for, namely, the sheltered -mouth of a small creek or inlet, heavily overshadowed -by woods and a tangled undergrowth.</p> - -<p>Running into it the company landed on a small -bluff-like bit of shore and made things snug for -the night. The heavy dew, so prevalent on that -coast, was already dripping from the trees, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -the air was very chill. To avoid the dew drippings -the camp-fire was built close to the margin of the -inlet at a point where a little patch of star-studded -sky showed clear overhead.</p> - -<p>The little company sat with their backs against -a large fallen tree as they ate their supper and -planned an early start for the morrow. All were -eager to make the visit to Beaufort and have it over -with as soon as possible, for a reason which Dick -put into words:</p> - -<p>“I’m anxious to go to Quasi. The very name -of the place appeals to my imagination; the story -of it fascinates me. How long will it take us to -get there, Cal, after we finish what we have to do -at Beaufort?”</p> - -<p>“The wind bloweth where it listeth, you know,” -Cal answered; “and worse still, it doesn’t blow at -all unless it is doing a little ‘listing’; the tides are -subservient to the will of the sun and moon, and -we must reckon upon them as a frequently opposing -force; then too, there are fogs sometimes, as recent -experience has taught us, to say nothing of possible -encounters with smugglers, from which we may -not escape so easily next time as we did before. -How, then, shall I presume to set a time for our -arrival at Quasi, particularly when I do not know -how long we shall be detained at Beaufort.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, not long,” broke in Larry. “We have -nothing to do there but report to the customs authorities -and spend an hour or so buying coffee, -ship biscuit, some hams—for we’re out of bacon—and -such other supplies of a non-perishable sort -as we need. Two hours ought to cover our stay -there.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m not so certain of that,” said Cal. -“As likely as not our detention will last for two -days, or possibly two weeks, and if—”</p> - -<p>“But how, Cal?” Tom interrupted with a look -almost of consternation on his face, for he, too, -was impatient to reach Quasi and try the hunting -there.</p> - -<p>“Let Cal finish, Tom,” said Larry. “He has -something in mind.”</p> - -<p>“Something on my mind,” Cal replied; “and -it weighs heavily too. I’ve been thinking of it -ever since we turned our prow toward Beaufort.”</p> - -<p>“You must have thought it out by this time, -then; so go on and tell us about it,” said Dick, impatiently.</p> - -<p>“I wonder the rest of you haven’t thought of it -for yourselves,” resumed Cal; “but it isn’t worth -while to speculate about that. I was going to say -that we four fellows have the misfortune to be -eye-witnesses in the case of those smugglers. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -saw them bring their goods ashore. Now I don’t -know what the revenue officers do with smugglers -when they catch them. I suppose they take them -to a United States Court somewhere, though where -I don’t know. Charleston is the most likely place -in the case of men caught along this coast. In -any case I suppose they need witnesses to testify -to the smuggling, and unfortunately we are the -witnesses in this case. Is it really necessary to -set the matter forth more fully? It all comes to -this, that we may be detained for an indefinite -length of time at Beaufort, or we may even be -taken back to Charleston as witnesses. For that -reason I am reluctant to go to Beaufort at all—at -least until we’ve had our trip out.”</p> - -<p>“You’re quite right, Cal,” answered Dick; “it -would be a shame to have our jolly outing spoiled. -As for supplies, I suppose we might run down to -Bluffton and pick up the absolutely necessary -things—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, or we can do without them,” interposed -Tom, to whom every hour of their sporting trip -seemed a precious thing not to be lost on any account.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, we could get them by going a little -out of our way,” said Cal, “or we could go without. -I spent two or three months alone down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -among these woods and waters without such things, -and I can’t remember that I was the worse for it—though -I confess my breeches and my shirt and -shoes suffered. Anyhow, Larry is our captain this -time, and he must decide. He hasn’t spoken a -word yet.”</p> - -<p>“It has not seemed necessary,” Larry answered. -“Of course we shall go to Beaufort just as fast -as we can.”</p> - -<p>“But why, Larry?” asked Tom.</p> - -<p>“Simply because it is our duty.”</p> - -<p>“But why can’t we wait till we’re on our way -back?”</p> - -<p>“It would be too late then.”</p> - -<p>“But I say, Larry,” interposed Dick, “do you -really think we are under so imperative an obligation -as that?”</p> - -<p>“To do one’s duty is always an imperative obligation. -We are all of us the sons of gentlemen. -We have been trained to think—and truly so—that -a gentleman must do his duty regardless of -consequences to himself. So we are going to start -for Beaufort at daylight, no matter what annoyances -it may bring upon us.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you are right,” said Dick and Tom -in a breath. Cal said nothing until one of them -asked him why he remained silent.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’m a Rutledge,” he answered, “and what -Larry has said is the gospel in which I have been -bred. I hadn’t thought it out till Larry spoke, -that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Neither had I,” said Dick.</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” said Tom. “Of course we’ve all been -bred in the same creed, and I for one shall never -again wait to be reminded of it when a duty presents -itself.”</p> - -<p>“Your decision is unanimously sustained and approved, -Larry,” added Dick, by way of relaxing the -seriousness of the talk. “The Rutledges, the Garnetts -and the Wentworths echo your thought, if -not your words—for Echo insists upon pronouncing -them—‘Bully for you!’”</p> - -<p>At that moment something happened which -brought all four of the boys to their feet and -prompted Cal to slip the cartridges out of his gun -and substitute others carrying buckshot in their -stead. The others, observing his act, quickly imitated -it.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XVIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">FIGHT OR FAIR PLAY</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> the exchange of cartridges was in progress, -five men, all armed, approached the bivouac. They -had landed from a boat a hundred yards or so -further down the creek, and attempted to creep -upon the camp and take it by surprise.</p> - -<p>Fortunately Larry’s quick ears had caught sound -of them, and by the time the exchange of bird for -buckshot was completed they were in plain view -and not more than a dozen or twenty yards away.</p> - -<p>“Halt!” Larry cried out to them, and as they -seemed indisposed to obey the command, he called -again:</p> - -<p>“Stand where you are or we’ll shoot!”</p> - -<p>There was no doubt in Larry’s mind that these -men were a band of smugglers, or that they were -trying to spring upon his party unawares. He -had no mind to be taken by surprise by murderous -ruffians. Fortunately for all concerned, his command -was obeyed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-199.jpg" width="400" height="598" id="i182" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc400">“<span class="smcap">Stand where you are or we’ll shoot.”</span><br /><span class="wn"><a href="#i182"><i>Pag. 182.</i></a></span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Who are you and what do you want?”</p> - -<p>“That we decline to say,” said the spokesman of -the party.</p> - -<p>“Then stand off,” said Larry, “or go back to -your own place, wherever it is, or take the consequences.”</p> - -<p>Larry was quick to observe that neither the -words nor the tone of the one who had spoken -were such as the drunken, degraded, ignorant men -he had seen in the smugglers’ camp would have -used, and the fact puzzled him. After a moment’s -reflection he called out:</p> - -<p>“If you have any business with us you may -come ahead a few paces into the full light of the -fire and say what you have to say. But if one -of you raises a gun we’ll give you a volley of buckshot -straight at your breasts. Come on out of the -bushes and tell us what you want.”</p> - -<p>As the advance was made and the full firelight -fell upon the five men, Larry saw that they were -in the uniform of the revenue cutter service, with -which he was familiar.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon, Boatswain,” he said, but -without relaxing his watchfulness; “I couldn’t see -your uniforms until now, and mistook your party -for one of a very different sort. Come to the fire -and tell us what you want; your men can stay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -where they are till we understand each other better.”</p> - -<p>This last was said because of an apparent purpose -on the part of the men to move forward in a -body.</p> - -<p>“Now then, Boatswain, what have you to say -to us?” Larry asked, while the other three boys -stood watchfully by the huge trunk of the fallen -tree with their shotguns held precisely as they -would have been had their owners been alertly -waiting for a pointer to flush a flock of birds for -them to shoot on the wing.</p> - -<p>“We are men in the revenue service,” the boatswain -answered. “We were sent ashore from the -cutter that lies just off the mouth of the creek to -ask who you are and what you are doing here—in -short, to give an account of yourselves. It will -save trouble if you answer us.”</p> - -<p>“Coming from an agent of the revenue,” answered -Larry, with dignity, “your questions are -entirely proper. It was not necessary to couple an -implied threat with them. However, that was -nothing worse than a bit of ill manners, and I’ll -overlook it. To answer your questions: My -name is Lawrence Rutledge; one of the others is -my brother. We live in Charleston, and with our -two guests we are down here for a little sporting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> -trip. Is there anything else you’d like to know -about us?”</p> - -<p>“That’s a queer sort of boat you’ve got,” answered -the other.</p> - -<p>“I asked if there was anything else you wanted -to know,” said Larry, ignoring the comment on -the dory’s appearance as an impertinent one.</p> - -<p>“I guess you’ll have to talk with the lieutenant -about that. You see I’m only a warrant officer.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. Where is he?”</p> - -<p>“On board the cutter.”</p> - -<p>“Send for him then. We’ll give him any information -we can.”</p> - -<p>“I think I see myself sending for him! I’ll -have to take you on board.”</p> - -<p>“But we won’t go,” answered Larry, with eyes -snapping.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to go.”</p> - -<p>“But we won’t. We are American citizens, attending -to our honest business. If your lieutenant -or any other officer of the Government wishes to -ask us any legitimate question, we’re ready to answer. -But we will not endure insult or wrong. If -you have a warrant for our arrest we’ll not resist, -but we’ll not submit to arrest without authority.”</p> - -<p>“We don’t have to bother about warrants when -we’ve got smugglers dead to rights.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But we are not smugglers.”</p> - -<p>“That’s for you to settle with the lieutenant. -It’s my business to arrest all of you and take you -on board the cutter.”</p> - -<p>In a low voice, before the boatswain had finished -his sentence, Larry said to his comrades:</p> - -<p>“Jump over the log—we’ll make a breastwork -of it,” and instantly they obeyed, leaving him on -the side next the revenue men. Then to the boatswain -he said:</p> - -<p>“You’ve no right to arrest without a warrant. -I tell you once for all we’ll not submit to arrest.”</p> - -<p>“What’ll you do then?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll fight first,” answered Larry, delivering -the words like shots from a pistol, and leaping to -the farther side of the fallen tree as he spoke.</p> - -<p>The boatswain was bewildered. He knew, in -a vague way, that no one can legally make an arrest -without a warrant, except when he sees a person -in the act of committing crime or running -away from officers; but he had never before had an -experience of determined resistance. He was accustomed -to the summary ways of brute force that -prevail in military life, and to him it seemed absurd -for anybody to resist the only kind of constituted -authority with which he was familiar.</p> - -<p>He was sorely perplexed. He was by no means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -sure that the boys were the smugglers he had been -sent to arrest. On the contrary, their manner, -their speech and all other appearances were in their -favor. Nevertheless his superior officers had been -watching the dory’s movements for several days -and had sent him ashore in full assurance that they -had their quarry at bay. He was convinced that -he ought to arrest the party, but he had only four -men and himself for the work, and there stood -four stalwart young fellows behind the fallen tree -trunk with four double-barreled shotguns bristling -across the barrier. The creek, with a sharp -bend, lay upon their left and completely covered -their rear, while on their right was a swamp so -densely grown up in cane and entangled vines, to -say nothing of the treacherous mud below, that -passage across it would have been nearly impossible -in the broadest light of day. Clearly Larry’s -party must be assailed in front if assailed at all, -and the boatswain was not to blame for hesitating -to make an assault which would almost certainly -cost the lives of himself and all his men. Add to -this his uncertainty as to his right to make any -assault at all, and what he did is easily understood.</p> - -<p>He ordered his men to fall back to their boat, -and as they did so he stood alone where he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -been. When the men were well away, he said to -Larry:</p> - -<p>“You don’t think me a coward, do you?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not,” Larry answered.</p> - -<p>“Well, this thing may get me into trouble you -know, and if you’re the man you say you are, I -may want you to help me out as a witness. Will -you do it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly. But what’s the use of getting -into trouble? I’m willing to trust your word as -an honorable fellow; if you’ll trust mine in the -same way you and I can settle this whole matter -in ten minutes in a way that will bring you praise -instead of blame. Don’t go aboard the cutter and -report a failure and be blamed for it; stay here -and talk the matter over and then go aboard with -a report that will do you honor. What do you -say to that?”</p> - -<p>“What are your terms?”</p> - -<p>“Only that you meet me in the same spirit in -which I meet you. Give up your notion that we -are a gang of smugglers—you must see how absurd -it is—and give up your claim of a right to -arrest us without a warrant; meet me half way and -I’ll show you how to get out of a scrape that you -wouldn’t have got into but for those two mistaken -guesses. We have no feeling of enmity toward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -you and no wish to injure you. If we were ready -to fight you to the death, it was only in defense of -our rights. Give up your attempt to invade those -rights and there will be no quarrel between us. Is -it a bargain?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you speak fair anyhow. I don’t see -what else I can do than meet you half way. I’m -ready.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, then,” said Larry, emptying his gun -of its cartridges and signing to his comrades to -do likewise. “As you have sent your men away, -we’ll make things even by disarming ourselves.”</p> - -<p>With instinctive recognition of the manly generosity -thus shown the boatswain tossed his own -gun to the ground and, advancing, held out his -hand, saying:</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t -been what you say you are. I’m ready to sit down -now and talk things over.”</p> - -<p>Larry sprang over the log that separated them -and took the proffered hand. Then all sat down, -and Larry said:</p> - -<p>“I’m willing to tell you now what I never would -have told you under a threat. We have seen the -smugglers you are looking for; we know where -they are, or at any rate where they were two days -ago; we know where their plunder is hidden, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -we are prepared to go with you to the place. We -were on our way to Beaufort to report all this to -the revenue authorities when you came to arrest -us.”</p> - -<p>The two had risen and were standing now, and -the boatswain was continually shaking Larry’s -hand. He tried to say what was in his mind but -couldn’t. His wits were bewildered for the moment, -and Larry came to their rescue.</p> - -<p>“Pull yourself together, Boatswain,” he said, -“and listen to me. Hurry back to your boat, go -aboard the cutter at once, and report that you -haven’t found a smuggler’s camp but that you’ve -found somebody who can and will show your commanding -officer where one is. Tell him Lawrence -Rutledge and his companions offer their services as -guides who know where to go. Be off, quick. -We’ll wait here for his answer.”</p> - -<p>The boatswain’s wits were all in his control now -and he hurried away. He had achieved victory -where only defeat had seemed possible. He had -met with success where a few minutes before he -had hoped for nothing better than failure. He -was going on board to receive commendation instead -of the censure he had expected. Honor was -his in lieu of dreaded disgrace.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XIX</h2> - -<p class="pch">WHY LARRY WAS READY FOR BATTLE</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Larry</span>, you ought to be a major-general,” said -Dick, with enthusiasm, as soon as the boatswain was -well out of earshot. “I never saw anything better -managed than that was. From the moment -you put us behind the log, the fight—if there was -to be a fight—was all ours.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Tom, “we’d have had no difficulty -in cleaning those fellows out if it had come to that, -and the boatswain saw it as clearly as we did. But -I don’t yet understand why you did it, Larry.”</p> - -<p>“Why, simply to make sure of success in self-defense. -That seems simple enough,” responded -Larry.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, that’s simple enough, but I wasn’t -thinking about that. I meant I don’t see why you -made any objection to going aboard at first and -telling the officers there all you’re going to tell -them now. You are going of your own accord -now; why didn’t you go when he wanted you to?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Because there was a principle at stake,” answered -Larry, setting his teeth together as he recalled -the controversy. “We are going aboard -now of our own accord, as you say. That’s very -different from going aboard as prisoners, under -compulsion.”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t see what difference it would have -made when you knew the officers there would make -guests instead of prisoners of us as soon as they -heard what you had to say. It seems to me it -would have come to the same thing in the end.”</p> - -<p>“Not by a long shot,” answered Larry, speaking -with particular earnestness. “Think a minute, -Tom. We are free men, living under a free government -that exists for the express purpose of securing -liberty to all its people and protecting them -in the enjoyment of that liberty. If one man, or -one set of men, could arrest others without a warrant -from a court, there would be no security for -liberty and no liberty in fact. Whenever the people -of any country are ready to submit to any infringement -of their rights as free men, liberty in -that country is dead, and tyranny is free to work -its evil will. And in a free country it is the most -sacred duty of every man to resist the smallest as -well as the largest trespass upon his rights as a -man. Usually he can do this by appealing to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -courts of law, but in a case like ours to-night, -where there is no possibility of making such an -appeal, every man must be ready to fight for his -rights—yes, to fight to the death for them if necessary.”</p> - -<p>“But the matter was so small in this case—”</p> - -<p>“What possible difference does that make? A -principle is never small; liberty is always of supreme -consequence, and it makes no difference how -trifling the trespass upon one’s liberty is in itself, -the duty to resist it at all costs and all hazards is -just the same. Convenience and comfort do not -count in any way. The difficulty is that men are -not always ready to take trouble and endure inconvenience -in defense of their rights where the -matter in question seems to them of small moment. -They forget that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of -liberty,’ or if they remember it, they are too self-indulgent -to undertake a troublesome resistance. It -was not so that the men of the Revolutionary time -looked at the matter. Webster said that the Americans -‘went to war against a preamble,’ and perhaps -they did, but the preamble involved a fundamental -principle. It was for the principle, not for the preamble, -that they fought for seven long years. The -colonists could easily have submitted to the impositions -of a half crazy king and his tyrannical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -prime minister. It would have saved them a vast -deal of inconvenience, expense and danger to do so. -It would have been far more comfortable for them -if they had done so. But if they had, this great, -free nation of ours would never have existed, and -the people in other civilized countries would not -have enjoyed anything like the liberty they do now. -In the same way it would have saved a lot of trouble -if we had let those people arrest us to-night, -but we had no right to submit to that. It was our -duty to stand upon our rights and defend the principle -by defending them.</p> - -<p>“There! The lecture is over, and I promise not -to let it happen again,” said Larry, by way of indirect -apology for his seriousness.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Tom, “I for one am glad I heard -the lecture as you call it. I needed it badly, for I -had never thought of these things in that way. -How did you come to have all that on the tip of -your tongue, Larry?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, or, yes I do. I was born and -brought up on that gospel, and I have heard it -preached all my life. My father has taught Cal -and me from childhood that ‘the only legitimate -function of government is to maintain the conditions -of liberty,’ and that the highest duty of every -citizen is to insist that the government under which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -he lives shall do precisely that. Now let’s talk of -something else, or you fellows talk, rather, for I’ve -talked more than my share already.”</p> - -<p>“Before we do,” broke in Dick, “there’s just one -thing I’d like to ask.”</p> - -<p>“All right. Go ahead. Ask anything you -please if it isn’t a conundrum.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it isn’t a conundrum. It is only that I -wonder how you know there isn’t some law authorizing -the revenue officers to make arrests without -warrants?”</p> - -<p>“I know it simply because such a law is impossible.”</p> - -<p>“How so?”</p> - -<p>“Because there is no power on earth that can -make such a law for this country.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t Congress make it?”</p> - -<p>“No. Congress has no more power to make it -than a flock of crows has.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand. If Congress should pass -an act to that effect and the President should sign -it, what then?”</p> - -<p>“What then? Why just nothing at all. It -wouldn’t be a law. It would have no more force -or effect than the decree of a company of lunatics -that the sun shall hereafter rise in the west and set -in the east.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But why not?”</p> - -<p>“Why, simply because Congress has no power to -make any law that violates the Constitution. The -Constitution expressly secures certain rights to -every citizen. If Congress passes an act in violation -of the Constitution, or even an act that the -Constitution does not authorize it to pass, the courts -refuse to enforce it or in any way to recognize it -as a law. Now we’ve simply got to stop all this -discussion, for I hear the revenue officers coming.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XX</h2> - -<p class="pch">ABOARD THE CUTTER</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the boatswain made his report to the lieutenant -on board he did not confine himself to the -points Larry had suggested. It had been his first -thought to do so, reporting only that he had found -no smugglers but had discovered a law-abiding company -of youths who knew where the smugglers were -and were willing to act as guides to the point indicated.</p> - -<p>But on his way it occurred to him that the lieutenant -might ask him questions—how he knew the -character of the boys, and why he had not placed -them under arrest, and other things relating to the -conduct of his expedition.</p> - -<p>It would be humiliating to have the story thus -drawn out of him, and it would be awkward for -him to explain why he had not reported the whole -thing in the first place. So, upon reflection, he told -the story in full, though briefly.</p> - -<p>When he mentioned Larry’s name the lieutenant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> -gave a little start and leaning forward as if to make -sure he heard aright, asked:</p> - -<p>“What did you say his name is?”</p> - -<p>“Lawrence Rutledge is the name he gave me, -sir.”</p> - -<p>“Of Charleston?”</p> - -<p>“That’s where he said he lived, sir,” answered -the boatswain, wondering why his superior was so -closely questioning him on these points.</p> - -<p>The lieutenant resumed his upright position and -with a half laugh said:</p> - -<p>“It’s lucky for you that you chose discretion as -the better part of valor this time. If Lawrence -Rutledge is any way akin to his father, you’d have -had the tidiest little fight you ever heard of on your -hands if you’d charged him.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think there would have been any fight -at all, sir, if you’ll pardon me.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“Only that I think every man of us would have -bitten dust before we could have fired a gun. Those -fellows were ready with guns cocked and leveled.”</p> - -<p>“The moral of that is that you too should always -be ready and have your men ready. Order -the gig alongside—men unarmed.”</p> - -<p>When the gig was ready, which was almost instantly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -the lieutenant ran down the ladder, dropped -into her, took the helm, and gave the orders:</p> - -<p>“Oars!” “Let fall!” “Give way!” and the -boat shot away toward the plainly visible camp-fire.</p> - -<p>Landing, he introduced himself to Larry, who -received him cordially and in turn presented his -comrades.</p> - -<p>“I have the pleasure of knowing your father -very well, Mr. Rutledge,” he began.</p> - -<p>“Then, please,” Larry interrupted, “call me -‘Lawrence,’ or ‘Larry,’ and not ‘Mr. Rutledge,’ -Lieutenant. I’m only a boy yet, and I’ll never be -‘Mister’ to any of my father’s friends.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. ‘Larry’ it shall be then, the more -gladly because that is what I called you years ago -when, as I remember, I was telling a lot of sea -stories to you and your brother Calhoun—”</p> - -<p>“Make it Cal, Lieutenant,” said the youth mentioned. -“Larry and I are twins, you know, and always -share things evenly between us. We did so -with your stories, you know. I remember it very -well, though we were a pair of very small youngsters -then.”</p> - -<p>“So you were—so young that I didn’t think -you would remember the matter. But we’re losing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -time, and time may be precious in this case. My -petty officer tells me you young gentlemen have -seen the miscreants I’ve been hunting for and can -tell me where they are.”</p> - -<p>“We’ve seen them, and our friend Tom Garnett -here has been inside one of their caches and inspected -their goods. We can tell you where they -were two nights or so ago, and perhaps they are -there yet.”</p> - -<p>“Almost certainly they are,” broke in the lieutenant. -“It is calm weather outside, and not a -craft of any kind has put in here under plea of -weather stress since the <i>Senorita</i> sailed two or three -days ago.”</p> - -<p>“The <i>Senorita</i>?” Tom repeated; “why, that’s -the ship’s name I saw marked on some of the cigar -cases and rum kegs they had.”</p> - -<p>“Good, good, good!” said the officer enthusiastically. -“If we can get to that hiding place before -they remove the goods, I’ll telegraph to Baltimore -to nab the ship also when she comes in. We -<i>must</i> get there in time. My officer understood that -you and your party were willing to go with us. -Was his understanding correct?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Larry answered, “we’ll be glad to do -that, but we must make some provision for the -safety of our boat while we are gone.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> - -<p>“She’ll be safe enough when she rests on the cutter’s -deck. I’ll send a crew to take her alongside -and we’ll hoist her on board. When all’s over I’ll -put you in the water again at any point you choose. -Is that satisfactory?”</p> - -<p>“I should say so,” answered Larry. “We’re -ready, Lieutenant.”</p> - -<p>“Come on then, and I’ll take you aboard. I’ll -leave a man with your craft till a boat’s crew can -come and tow her alongside. Then we’ll weigh anchor -and be off.”</p> - -<p>It was less than fifteen minutes later when the -boys saw the <i>Hunkydory</i> carefully braced upon the -little steamer’s deck and closely covered with a tarpaulin.</p> - -<p>But it was nearly midnight and the lieutenant invited -the boys to sleep in the comfortable berths -provided for them until the cutter should reach the -neighborhood of the smugglers’ camp. He thought -he sufficiently recognized the locality from Cal’s description, -and probably he could have steamed to it -without further guidance. But there was no sleep -in the eyes of the boys after their adventurous night, -and they all heartily echoed Cal’s sentiment when -he answered:</p> - -<p>“What good is there in the frazzled end of a -ragged night for sleeping purposes. I for one will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> -stay up till we see this thing through, if it is going -through to-night.”</p> - -<p>The little cutter was a fleet-winged craft, built -for speed, and carrying greatly more horse power -than ordinary steamers of twice her size. Her navigator -and all her officers, indeed, knew every detail -of the waters they were traversing, and so the -lieutenant hoped that he might reach his destination -in time to descend upon the smugglers before morning.</p> - -<p>In this he was disappointed. Some accident to -the cutter’s machinery compelled a delay of two or -three hours in a narrow strait where, to add to the -annoyance of delay, a swarm of sand flies descended -upon the ship’s company. These are minute insects, -so minute that no screen or netting, however -finely woven, interferes in the least with their free -passage in or out of any opening. Their bite or -sting is even more painful than that of a mosquito, -and they come in myriads.</p> - -<p>Under the advice of the commanding officer the -boys retreated to a closed cabin below and remained -there until the ship was under way again—otherwise -for two or three hours, during which they -lolled about and managed to get some sleep in spite -of their impatience over the delay and the otherwise -excited condition of their minds.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> - -<p>By way of making themselves more comfortable, -they all drew off their boots, but they could not be -persuaded to go to the bunks assigned to their use, -because the ship might start again at any moment -and they were determined to be ready for that whenever -it should occur.</p> - -<p>Cal, as usual, was the most wakeful of the party, -and at first he was disposed to talk, but his impulse -in that way was promptly checked when Tom and -Larry each threw a boot at him and Dick, half -asleep, muttered:</p> - -<p>“I second the motion.”</p> - -<p>As a consequence of this drastic treatment Cal -closed his lips and his eyes at the same moment and -was presently breathing as only a sleeper does. -The others, tired and worn out with an excitement -that had by this time passed away, were soon in a -profound slumber which lasted until the engines -began to throb again and the ship to jar and tremble -with the rapid revolutions of the screw.</p> - -<p>The sun was well up by that time, and after going -on deck, where a sailor doused bucketfuls of salt -water over them as an eye-opener, they were invited -to breakfast with the commanding officer.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXI</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM’S SCOUTING SCHEME</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">During</span> breakfast the talk was, of course, about -the smugglers and the chances of capturing them. -In the course of it the lieutenant manifested some -confusion or uncertainty of mind as to the exact position -of the smugglers’ rendezvous and of the approaches -to it.</p> - -<p>“Won’t you please clear that up a little for me?” -he asked Larry, after a vain attempt to clear it up -for himself. “I don’t quite understand. Perhaps -you can make it plain to my dullness.”</p> - -<p>“Cal can do that better than any other member -of our party,” Larry answered. “He was all about -there three or four years ago, while the rest of us -have been there only once. Besides, Cal has a nose -for geographical detail, and he observes everything -and remembers it. Explain the thing, Cal.”</p> - -<p>“After such an introduction,” Cal replied, smiling, -“I fear I shall not be able to live up to the -character so generously attributed to me. Still, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -think I can explain the thing; it is simple enough. -May I have paper and a pencil?”</p> - -<p>These were promptly furnished, and Cal made a -hasty diagram.</p> - -<p>“You see, Lieutenant, there is a little creek or -estuary here. It is very narrow, especially at the -mouth, and it runs inland for only a few miles. I -can’t find it on the chart. Probably it is too insignificant -to be noted there. You observe that it runs -in a tortuous course, ‘slantwise’ to the shore, and -keeping always within a comparatively short distance -of the broad water, thus forming a sort of -tongue of land.</p> - -<p>“A little further along the shore of the broader -water is another little estuary or cove, only a few -hundred yards in its total length, but that length -extends toward the creek on the other side, so that -only about half a mile or less of swamp and thicket -separates the two.</p> - -<p>“Right there, about midway between the two, -those thieves have their den. They can approach -it in their boats from either side, coming up the -creek or entering the cove, and in either case landing -within less than a quarter of a mile of their thicket-hidden -rendezvous. As both the creek and the -smaller estuary make a sharp bend near their -mouths, a boat slipping into either of them is at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> -once lost to view. I wonder if I have made the -geography clear?”</p> - -<p>“Perfectly so, and I thank you. Our plan will -be to send boats up both the little waterways at -once. Can we find their mouths, think you?”</p> - -<p>“I can, and Tom knows both of them. He and -I will be your pilots.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you. But you know you may get shot -in the mêlée and you are under no sort of obligation -to take that risk.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we want to see the fun,” said Tom. “We’ll -be with you, you may depend.”</p> - -<p>“Is it your plan,” Larry asked after dinner that -day, “to attack by daylight?”</p> - -<p>“I think we must make the descent as promptly -as possible. So I intend to make it to-day, as soon -as we get to that neighborhood.”</p> - -<p>Larry made no reply and the officer observed the -fact.</p> - -<p>“What is it you have on your mind, Larry?” -he asked. “Have you any suggestion to offer?”</p> - -<p>“No, I would not presume to do that. I was -only thinking that in a daylight descent you might -miss the game.”</p> - -<p>“Go on, please. Tell me all you had in mind.”</p> - -<p>“Well, for one thing, those rascals have a lookout -tree from which they can see for miles in every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -direction. We used it for purposes of observation -when we were there. It is true that they seem to -visit it very seldom, but they might happen to climb -it just in time to see this cutter hovering around. -In that case they would probably go into hiding -somewhere. If not, they would at least keep a -sharp lookout for your boats. If you kept entirely -away from there until night you would probably -take them by surprise. But of course you know -best.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not so sure of that. What you suggest is -a matter to be considered. But I’m afraid to wait -until night lest in the meantime the rascals leave the -place.”</p> - -<p>“That is possible,” said Cal, joining in the conversation -for the first time, “but it seems to me -exceedingly unlikely.”</p> - -<p>“Why so, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ve pretty closely observed those gentry, -and they seem to me of that variety that does -most of its comings and goings under cover of darkness. -If they were in their camp this morning they -are pretty sure to remain there until to-night. -There is another point that Larry didn’t suggest. -If you attack the camp in daylight the ruffians can -easily save themselves by scattering and making -their escape through the well-nigh impenetrable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> -swamp. They would have the advantage over your -men in that, as of course they know every little -blind trail and could avoid tangles in which your -men would become hopelessly involved.”</p> - -<p>“But wouldn’t they be at still greater advantage -in a night attack?”</p> - -<p>“I think not. They will probably get blind drunk -by night, for one thing. They’re apt to sleep profoundly. -We can land without being seen, and -once ashore, we can creep clear up to their lair without -alarming them. Then we’ll be on them with -our boot heels as it were.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you think they won’t be on the alert at -night, with pickets out and all that?”</p> - -<p>“Because we’ve experimented,” answered Cal. -“We’ve crept up to the very edge of their camp -and watched them there by the hour. Tom here -even entered one of the hovels where they bestow -the smuggled goods.”</p> - -<p>The officer was much impressed with these suggestions. -He meditated for a while, and then exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“If I could only know whether they are still -there or not! I’d give ten dollars to know that!”</p> - -<p>“You can get the job done for less, Lieutenant,” -said Tom, who was always eager for perilous adventure -and almost insanely reckless in his pursuit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> -of it. “If you’ll bring the cutter to anchor somewhere -around here and let me go ashore, I’ll find -out all about it and not charge you a cent either.”</p> - -<p>“What’s your plan?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t much of a plan. It is only to go to the -smugglers’ den, see if they are there, and then come -back and tell you.”</p> - -<p>“But—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s easy enough. The smugglers can’t see -the cutter so long as she’s in this bay, even if they -climb to the top of their lookout tree. I’m sure of -that, because I’ve tried to see the bay from there -and couldn’t, although I knew just where it lay.”</p> - -<p>At this point the lieutenant interrupted:</p> - -<p>“Pardon me a moment. I’ll bring her to anchor.”</p> - -<p>Before he returned to the company a minute or -so later, the engines stopped, and as he sat down the -boys heard the chains rattle as the anchor was cast -overboard.</p> - -<p>“Now go ahead, please, and tell me all about your -plan,” the officer said with eager interest.</p> - -<p>“Well, it isn’t more than three or four miles, -I should say, from this point to the mouth of our -creek, and the tide is with me all the way. If you’ll -set our dory in the water and Cal will go with me -to help row—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We’ll all four go, of course,” said Larry.</p> - -<p>“In that case, we can put ourselves back at our -old camp in about an hour with such a tide as this -to help us. When we land there I’ll go at once to -the lookout tree, climb to the very top of it and see -what is going on. Then, if there’s anything more -to be found out, I’ll creep down to the neighborhood -of the rascals’ place and take a closer look. When -the dory gets back here I can tell you all you want -to know.”</p> - -<p>“Excellent!” exclaimed the officer. “Only, instead -of having you boys row the dory all that -way, I’ll have you taken to the place you want to -reach in a ship’s boat.”</p> - -<p>“They might see that,” objected Tom, “and -take the alarm, while if they see the dory returning -to her old anchorage they’ll think nothing about it. -Besides, we don’t mind a little rowing. The tide’s -with us going, and if necessary, we can stay up -there in the creek till it turns and is ready to help -us come back.”</p> - -<p>“There won’t be any waiting,” said Cal. “It’ll -turn just about the time we get there—or even before -that if we don’t get away from here pretty -quick.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said the lieutenant. “The plan is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> -yours, Tom, and you shall have your own way in -carrying it out.”</p> - -<p>A hurried order from the commanding officer, a -little well-directed scurrying on the part of the seamen, -and the <i>Hunkydory</i> lay alongside, ready for -her crew to drop from a rope ladder into her.</p> - -<p>They nimbly did so, and as they bent to their -oars they passed around a point and out of sight of -the cutter.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXII</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM DISCOVERS THINGS</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">By</span> advice of the lieutenant, the boys left their -shotguns on board the cutter and carried instead -the short, hard-shooting repeating rifles that he furnished -them. Armed in this way, each could fire -many shots in rapid succession, instead of the two -which alone their shotguns permitted.</p> - -<p>“We can defend ourselves now if the gang discovers -and assails us,” said Larry, with a satisfied -smile. “With these guns we’re a good deal more -than a match for those ten smugglers armed as they -are with nothing better than pistols. By the way, -Tom, what’s the plan of campaign?”</p> - -<p>“That’s for you to say,” Tom answered. -“You’re the captain.”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit of it this time,” responded Larry. -“This is <i>your</i> expedition and you must manage it -in your own way.”</p> - -<p>“That’s only fair,” said Dick. “Tom has undertaken -to go ashore, find out certain facts and report<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> -them. We’re here to help him in any way he -wishes, but he is responsible for results and must -choose his own methods.”</p> - -<p>“I congratulate you, Dick, on having another -lucid interval,” broke in Cal, who could never endure -seriousness for long. “‘Pon my word, they’re -growing more and more frequent and by the time -we get back to Charleston we’ll have to discharge -you as ‘cured.’”</p> - -<p>“Stop your nonsense, Cal,” said Larry, “and let -Tom give us our instructions.”</p> - -<p>“Fortunately, I’m under no sort of obligation -to stop my nonsense at your command, Larry, as -by your own voluntary declaration you’re not captain -of this special trip ashore, and Tom is.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Tom, laughing. “I’ll give the -order myself. Stop your nonsense till I get through -mine—for I dare say you’ll all think my plan is -nonsensical.”</p> - -<p>“All right as to that,” said Larry, “but what is -your plan? It doesn’t matter what we think of it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, my notion is not to pull the <i>Hunkydory</i> -up on shore, but to anchor her at our old landing, -so that we can handle her quickly in case of -need. Two of you are to stay by her—that will -be you and Dick, Larry. If we should be discovered, -and those rascals should want to catch us,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> -their first effort would be to get possession of our -boat and put us into a trap. So you two will stay -with the dory, and if you are in trouble, Cal and I -will come to your assistance as fast as our legs can -carry us. Cal will go with me to the lookout tree -and stay there while I creep down to the lair of the -thieves. If I get into trouble he’ll know it and signal -you by firing one shot. Then, of course, you’ll -all come to my support. How does that strike you -as a plan, Larry?”</p> - -<p>“A Lee or a Grant couldn’t make a better one. -Here we are at the mouth of the creek.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it ridiculous?” asked Cal, as they turned -into the inlet.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t what ridiculous—the creek, or its mouth, -or what?” Tom responded.</p> - -<p>“Why, the way things keep turning themselves -around. First, the gentleman with the impaired -walking apparatus, representing the smugglers, mistook -us for officers or agents of the revenue, and -sought to make prisoners of us by getting possession -of our boat, so that we had to disarm him in self-defense. -Next, the officers of the revenue mistook -us for the smugglers and we had to defend ourselves -against them. Now we are helping our later assailants -to capture our foes of an earlier date. Wonder -if we shall presently have to join the smugglers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -and assist them against the revenue people?”</p> - -<p>“That last question answers itself, Cal,” said -Tom; “and if it didn’t, there’s no time to discuss -it now, for here we are at the landing. Run her -head to the shore, fellows, and let Cal and me jump -out. Then back her out a little way and anchor -her. I leave you in charge of the ship in my absence, -Lieutenant Larry. You have your instructions; -see that you obey them to the letter.”</p> - -<p>With footsteps quickened by eager interest, Tom -and Cal were not long in making the journey to the -lookout tree. Tom climbed it to the top and very -carefully studied what lay before him. Cal, who -was watching him, observed that he seemed specially -interested by something over to the left where -the creek lay, and perhaps a little puzzled by it. -But he asked no questions as Tom hurried from -the tree-top and set off down the blind trail.</p> - -<p>He was gone for so long a time—nearly two -hours—that Cal became very uneasy about him, -but at last he came out of the thicket and set off -toward the dory’s anchorage at as rapid a trot as -the nature of the ground would permit. He said -nothing to Cal except the three words: “We must -hurry,” and as he neared the landing, he called out:</p> - -<p>“Up anchor, quick.”</p> - -<p>Then as the boat was moved toward the shore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> -he impatiently waded out to meet her in water leg-length -deep. Cal followed, though he did not know -the cause of Tom’s hurry.</p> - -<p>“Are they after us?” asked Larry and Dick, -both speaking at once.</p> - -<p>“No. But we must hurry or it’ll be too late.”</p> - -<p>In response Larry shipped his oars as the mouth -of the creek was passed and, with Dick’s assistance, -stepped the mast, hoisted sail and let the sheet run -out until the boom was almost at right angles with -the keel.</p> - -<p>“There’s a stiff wind,” he said by way of explanation, -“and it’s almost exactly astern. We can -make better time with the sails. Here, Dick, you’re -the best sailor; take the helm and get all you can -out of the breeze.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t hug the port rail so close,” Dick ordered; -“trim toward the kelson and let her heel over to -starboard; there, that will do; she makes her best -running with the rail awash.”</p> - -<p>As they sped on, nobody asked Tom what the occasion -for his hurry was. He seemed still out of -breath for one thing, and for another the rush of -the dory’s rail through the water made it difficult -to hear words spoken in an ordinary tone, for -though the wind was steadily freshening, Dick refused -to spill even a capful of it. He was sailing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> -now for speed, and he wanted to get all he could -out of the wind. But chief among the reasons for -not asking questions was the instinctive courtesy -of Tom’s comrades. They realized that he had -discovered something of importance, and they felt -that he ought to have the pleasure of himself reporting -it to the commanding officer of the cutter -before telling anybody else about it.</p> - -<p>In the same spirit, when the dory was laid along -the cutter’s side, they held back to let Tom be the -first to climb to the deck, where the lieutenant was -awaiting him.</p> - -<p>Tom’s excitement was gone, now that he had accomplished -his purpose of reaching the cutter before -dark—a thing he had feared he might not do. -His report was made calmly, therefore, and with -smiles rippling over his face—smiles of rejoicing -over his success, and other smiles, prompted by -recollections of what seemed to him the humorous -aspects of what he had seen and done.</p> - -<p>The report was utterly informal, of course; Tom -was not used to military methods.</p> - -<p>“They are all there, Lieutenant,” he began, “but -they won’t be there long after it grows dark. -They’re preparing to leave to-night, as early as they -can get the drunken ones among them sober enough -to sit on a thwart and hold an oar.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How do you know that, Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I heard the boss brute say so while he -was rousing one of the drunkest of them into semi-consciousness -by kicking him in the ribs with force -enough to break the whole basket I should think. -I won’t repeat his language—it wasn’t fit for publication—but -the substance of it was that the victim -of his boot blows had ‘got to git a move onto him’ -because ‘them boats has got to git away from here -jest as soon as it’s good and dark.’”</p> - -<p>“Why, were you near enough to hear?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes. I wasn’t more than ten paces away -from the pair at the time that interesting conversation -occurred.”</p> - -<p>“Tell us all about it, Tom—the whole story. -There’s plenty of time. It won’t be ‘good and -dark,’ as criminals reckon such things, for nearly -two hours yet. Begin at the beginning.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any story in it,” said Tom, “but -I’ll tell you what I did. When I climbed to the top -of the lookout tree, I saw first of all that our game -was still there. But I noticed that some of them—all -that weren’t drunk, I suppose—were busy. I -couldn’t make out at that distance what they were -doing, but I thought they seemed to be carrying -things, not down to the cove where we saw them -land the other night, but over toward our creek, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -we call it. I tried to see their landing place there, -but couldn’t.</p> - -<p>“Of course I had already found out all you -wanted to know, but I wanted to know something -more. My curiosity was aroused, and I determined -to gratify it. So, sliding down, I made my way to -my old hiding place in the thicket near their camp. -Then I saw what they were at. They were taking -the cigars and rum out of the little hovels they use -as caches, and carrying them over to their landing -on the creek. I wondered why, but I could not see -the landing, so I had to let that remain as an ‘unexplored -region,’ for the time being at least.</p> - -<p>“Presently the gentleman of the impaired locomotor -attachments made a final visit to the hut that -stood nearest me—the one I had myself entered -on a previous occasion. As he came out and passed -the boss bully, he said:</p> - -<p>“‘That’s all they is in there.’</p> - -<p>“‘Well, I’ll look and see for myself,’ said the -boss, seeming to doubt the veracity of his follower. -He went into the hut and presently came out, muttering:</p> - -<p>“‘Well, he told the truth for once—I didn’t -’spose he knew how.’</p> - -<p>“As he walked away from the empty hovel it -occurred to me that I might find it a safer point<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -of observation than the one I had. So I slipped -into it, and dug out one of the chinks in the log -wall, to make a peep hole. It was then that I saw -the boss making a football of his follower and heard -him say what he did about getting the boats away.</p> - -<p>“That still further stimulated my curiosity. I -wanted to see how nearly the boats were loaded, -and the sort of landing place they had, and all the -rest of it. So I determined to go over that way. -It was slow work, of course. The undergrowth -was terribly tangled, and then the smugglers were -passing back and forth with their loads. As their -path was often very near me, I had to stop and lie -down whenever I saw any of them approaching.</p> - -<p>“I got down there at last and saw the boats. -They were partly loaded, but most of the freight -was still on the bank. I suppose that was because -they wanted to get all the things there before bestowing -them. All the rum kegs that had been -brought down were in the boats, while all the cigars -were piled on the banks.</p> - -<p>“I noticed one thing that puzzled me; instead of -anchoring the boats and loading them afloat, they -had pulled them up on shore. As the tide had begun -to ebb, I wondered how they were to get them -into the water again after putting their cargoes -aboard. However, that was their business and not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -mine. I had seen all there was to see, so I slowly -crept back again till I reached the trail. Then I -hurried for fear the quarry would escape before we -could get there with your boats.</p> - -<p>“That’s all there is to tell.”</p> - -<p>The lieutenant smiled his satisfaction as he commended -Tom’s exploit, adding:</p> - -<p>“We can let it ‘get good and dark’ before -pouncing upon them. They won’t get away in a -hurry. They’ll have trouble getting their boats -afloat again. Indeed, they’ll probably wait for the -next flood tide. Anyhow, we won’t leave here till -it is thoroughly dark. You’re sure you can find -your way into the creeks in the dark? It’s cloudy, -and the night promises to be very black.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there’ll be no trouble about that,” answered -Cal.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM AND THE MAN WITH THE GAME LEG</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was very dark indeed when the ship’s boats, -well manned and with carefully muffled oars, set -out for the capture.</p> - -<p>Tom was at the bow of one of them and Cal at -that of the other, to act as pilots. It was planned -that these two boats should lead the way into the -two entrances, the others closely following.</p> - -<p>Silently the two fleets made their way to the -two points of landing. The one which passed up -the creek halted as soon as it came within sight of -the landing where the smugglers were busily and -noisily trying to get their loaded boats afloat, a task -in which they were encountering much difficulty, as -the lieutenant had foreseen that they must. It was -the lieutenant’s plan that his boats should lie there, -hidden by the darkness, until the men entering by -the cove should land, march across the neck of -swamp, and take the smugglers in the rear, thus cutting -off all possibility of their escape into the bushes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> - -<p>As soon as he saw the signal light that Tom -showed to announce the readiness of the party he -accompanied, the lieutenant rushed his boats ashore, -and the two revenue parties, without firing a shot, -seized and disarmed their foes, who, until their captors -were actually upon them, had had no dream of -their coming.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile, under the lieutenant’s previously -given orders, the cutter had slowly steamed -up toward the mouth of the creek, where, at a signal, -she came to anchor.</p> - -<p>Hurriedly the captured booty was loaded into -the ship’s boats and carried to the revenue vessel. -Then the smugglers’ camp was minutely searched -to see if any goods remained there, and the hovels -were set on fire.</p> - -<p>While all this was going on that curiosity on -Tom’s part, which had done so much already, was -again at work. Tom wanted to know something -that was not yet clear to him, and he set to work to -find out. Detaching the lame smuggler from his -companions, Tom entered into conversation with -him. Fortunately the man was sober now, and had -been so long enough to render him despondent.</p> - -<p>“You’re not fit for this sort of thing,” Tom said -to him after he had broken through the man’s -moody surliness and silence. “With your game<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -leg and the brutal way the others treat you, I should -think you’d have got out of it long ago.”</p> - -<p>“They’d ’a’ killed me if I’d tried,” the man answered.</p> - -<p>“Well, they can’t do that now,” said Tom, “for -they’re in for a term in prison.”</p> - -<p>“But they’s others, jest as I told you that night -you fellers caught me at your boat. There’s the -fellers up the creek what’s a-waitin’ this minute for -us to come up with the goods.”</p> - -<p>This was what Tom wanted to find out.</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course,” he replied; “they’ll be disappointed, -won’t they? I suppose they expect to get -the goods well inland before morning?”</p> - -<p>“No, not exactly; but they’d ’a’ got ’em hid into -a little store they’ve got up there, so’s they could -work ’em off up to Charleston or down to Savannah, -little at a time, like. Howsomever, the game’s -up now, and them what’s got all the profits out’n it’ll -play pious an’ go scot free, while us fellers what’s -done all the work an’ took all the risks has got to -go to jail.”</p> - -<p>A new thought suddenly struck Tom.</p> - -<p>“<i>You</i> needn’t, if I’m not mistaken. Anyhow, -there’s a chance for you that’s worth working for.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the good o’ talkin’ that away? Ain’t -I ketched long o’ the rest?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. I was only thinking—”</p> - -<p>“What was you a-thinkin’?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, only that the revenue people would a good -deal rather have the ‘others’ you speak of—the -men further up the creek and the men behind them—than -to have you.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon they would, but what’s that got to do -with it?”</p> - -<p>“Only that if you made up your mind to turn -Government’s witness and give the whole snap -away; they’d be pretty apt to let you off easily.”</p> - -<p>The man sat silent for a time. At last he muttered:</p> - -<p>“First place, I don’t know enough. Them fellers -ain’t no fools an’ they ain’t a-lettin’ fellers like -me into their secrets. I ain’t never seed any of ’em, -‘ceptin’ the storekeeper up that away what takes -the stuff from us, an’ pays us little enough for gittin’ -it there. ’Sides that, them fellers has got money -an’ lots o’ sense. Even ef I know’d all about it an’ -ef I give it away, ’twould be only the wuss for me. -They’d have me follered to the furdest corner o’ -the earth an’ killed like a dog at last. No, ’tain’t -no use. I’ve got to take my medicine. Time for -runnin’ away is past, an’ I ain’t got but one good -leg to run with, you see.”</p> - -<p>“What made you lame, anyhow?” asked Tom,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -by way of keeping up the conversation without -seeming too insistent on his suggestion that the man -should confess.</p> - -<p>“That bully with the red face—our captain, as -he calls hisself. He kicked my hip out’n jint one -day when I was drunk, an’ seein’s they wa’nt no -doctor anywheres about, he sot it hisself, an’ sot it -wrong somehow. Anyhow, I’d like to do him up -if I could.”</p> - -<p>Tom noted the remark and the vindictive tone in -which it was made, but he did not reply to it at -once. Instead, he said:</p> - -<p>“They must pay him better than they do the rest -of you?”</p> - -<p>“Him? You bet! He gits a lot out’n the business, -an’ he’s got dead oodles and scads o’ money -put away in the bank. He’s close in with the big -ones what’s backin’ the game. It was him what set -it up fust off—leastways him an’ Pedro Mendez.”</p> - -<p>“Who is Pedro Mendez?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s—never you mind who he is. See -here, young feller, you’s a axin’ too many questions.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-245.jpg" width="400" height="597" id="i226" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc400"><span class="smcap">“No, ’tain’t no use. I’ve got to take my medicine.”</span><br /> -<span class="wn"><a href="#Page_225"><i>Page 225.</i></a></span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not too many for your good if you have -sense enough to take my advice. Listen to me! -You know a great deal more about this lawless -business than you pretend. You know enough to -make you a very valuable witness. If you choose -to help the revenue people in getting at the bottom -of it and breaking it up, they’re sure to let you off -very easily, and as for killing you, the people in the -thing will have enough to do in looking out for -themselves without bothering about that after they -get out of jail.”</p> - -<p>Tom explained and elaborated this point, and at -last the lame man began to see hope ahead for himself.</p> - -<p>“Will they make a certain sure promise to let -me off if I tell all I know?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“No. They can’t do that, for if they did your -testimony would be worthless. But they always -do let state’s witnesses off easily, and in such a case -as this they’re sure to do so. You can be very easy -about that.”</p> - -<p>“An’ they’d bear down all the harder on the -cap’n when they found out he was one o’ the big -managers o’ the game, wouldn’t they?”</p> - -<p>“I should say they would give him the largest -dose the law allows.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it then, jest to git even with him. I’ll -do it even if they don’t reckon it up much to my -credit. How’ll I go about it?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll arrange that for you. I’ll tell the lieutenant -who is in command here that you’re ready to ‘give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> -the snap away,’ and he’ll take your statement. -Then, when the time comes you’ll only have to go -into court and tell your story over again.”</p> - -<p>“But if them fellers finds out I’ve been chinnin’ -with the lieutenant they’ll kill me right there on -board the ship.”</p> - -<p>“The lieutenant will take care of that. He’ll -see that they have no chance to get at you.”</p> - -<p>“Is that certain—sure—hard an’ fast?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—certain, sure, hard and fast,” answered -Tom, with a gleefulness that he found it difficult to -keep out of his voice and manner.</p> - -<p>Going to the lieutenant and interrupting him in -the directions he was busily giving, Tom said under -his breath:</p> - -<p>“Separate the lame man from the rest. He’ll -confess, and it’s a big story. The others will kill -him if they suspect.”</p> - -<p>The lieutenant was quick to catch Tom’s meaning -and to act upon it. Turning to a petty officer -he gave the order:</p> - -<p>“Take the prisoners aboard under a strong guard. -The rest of the freight can wait. Put the lame -man in my boat and leave him behind under a -guard.”</p> - -<p>As the boats containing the prisoners moved off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -down the creek, Tom’s curiosity again got the best -of him. Turning to Larry he said:</p> - -<p>“They’re arresting these men without a warrant, -Larry, and we’ve helped them to do the very -thing you said we ought to fight to prevent.”</p> - -<p>“No warrant is needed in this case. The gang -has been ‘caught in the act’ of committing crime, -and caught with the goods on them.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see,” said Tom. “That makes all the -difference in the world.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXIV</h2> - -<p class="pch">THE LAME MAN’S CONFESSION</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Come</span>, Tom, let’s go aboard,” said the lieutenant, -as soon as the boat that carried the prisoners -was well away down the creek. “A quartermaster -can finish up what there is to do here, and I’m anxious -to let you boys get away on your sporting trip -as soon as possible; but I simply can’t let you go -till—till we finish the matter you spoke of just -now. If we can manage that to-night I’ll send -you on your way rejoicing as early to-morrow -morning as you please.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you for all of us,” said Tom, as the -two, with the lame man and his guards, seated -themselves in the waiting boat; “but you mustn’t -think this thing has interfered with us. It has -been right in our line and strictly according to the -programme.”</p> - -<p>“How is that?” the lieutenant asked, enjoying -Tom’s evident relish for the experience he had just -gone through.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, you see we set out not merely for sport, -but with the declared purpose of seeking ‘sport -and adventure.’ This thing has been sport to us, -and you’ll not deny that it has had a distinct flavor -of adventure in it.”</p> - -<p>“Tom, you ought to be a sailor or a soldier,” -was the officer’s only reply.</p> - -<p>As soon as they went aboard the lieutenant ordered -the lame man taken to his own cabin and the -rest of the prisoners to the forehold under a strong -guard. When the other boys, who were closely -following, came over the side, he invited the four -to go with him to his quarters.</p> - -<p>“Stop a minute, though. Tell me just what -you’ve arranged, Tom, so that I may know how to -proceed.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve drawn a little information out of -the lame man and got him to promise more—all -he knows in fact, and that seems to be a good deal. -These outlaws are only the agents of conspirators -‘higher up,’ as the phrase goes—ruffians hired by -the conspirators to do the work and take the risks, -while the men higher up pocket all the proceeds -except the pittance allowed to their hired outlaws. -The red-faced bully down there, who acts as captain -of the band, seems to be an exception to all -this. According to the lame man, that burly brute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -was the originator of the conspiracy, he and some -man named Pedro Mendez.”</p> - -<p>“What? Pedro Mendez?” interrupted the lieutenant.</p> - -<p>“That’s the name the lame man mentioned. Do -you know Pedro, or know who he is?”</p> - -<p>“I should say I do. He’s—by the way, he’s -the owner of the good ship <i>Senorita</i>, from whose -cargo some of the smuggled goods came! Wait a -minute.”</p> - -<p>The officer pressed a button and a subordinate -promptly appeared to receive orders.</p> - -<p>“Tell Mr. Chisolm to get the ship under way -as soon as all the boats are aboard, and steam at -full speed for Beaufort.”</p> - -<p>When the orderly had disappeared, the lieutenant -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“I must get to a telegraph office before morning, -and we’ll have the smiling Pedro under arrest -in Baltimore before another night comes. Go on, -Tom! This is the biggest haul made in ten years -and we have you boys to thank for it. Go on, -please.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t much more for me to tell. The -lame man will tell the rest. He has a grudge -against the red-faced captain—a life and death enmity—I -should say—and it is chiefly to get his foe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -into all possible trouble that he is willing to tell -all he knows. I’ve assured him that if he gives -the information necessary to secure the capture -of the whole gang and the breaking up the business, -the authorities are pretty sure to let him off easily.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right. Now we’ll go to the cabin -and see how much our man can tell.”</p> - -<p>What the lame man told the lieutenant has no -place in this story. He knew, as Tom had supposed, -practically all that was needed, and once -started in his story he told it all.</p> - -<p>It was taken down in shorthand as he told it, -and after some difficulties with the pen the man -signed it, the four boys signing as witnesses. A -few days later the newspapers were filled with news -of a “stupendous Revenue capture” and the arrest -of a number of highly respectable men caught -in a conspiracy to defraud the Government.</p> - -<p>When the confessing prisoner had been removed -to secure quarters for the night the officer shook -hands warmly with the boys, saying:</p> - -<p>“You young men have rendered a much greater -service to the Government than you can well imagine, -and as an officer commissioned by the Government -I want to thank you for it as adequately as -I can. It is not only that some smugglers have -been captured as a result of what you have done,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -and a lot of smuggled goods seized. That, indeed, -is the smallest part of it. This capture will make -an end to this sort of smuggling for all time. I -was sent here six weeks ago expressly to accomplish -this purpose, and but for you young men and -the assistance you have given me I doubt that I -should ever have accomplished it at all, although, -as you know, a half company of marines was furnished -me in addition to the ship’s own force, in -order that I might be strong enough for any emergency.</p> - -<p>“Now if I talked all night I couldn’t thank you -enough. Let me turn to another matter. I promised -you to set you afloat at any point you wish, -and I’ll do it. But I’m taking you to Beaufort now -because I <i>must</i> get to a telegraph office. As soon -as I possibly can in the morning I’ll steam to the -point you choose.”</p> - -<p>“Beaufort suits us very well, indeed,” Larry answered. -“You see we’re short of stores and when -we’re afloat again we’ll lay our course for a region -where no stores can be had except such as we can -secure with our shotguns.”</p> - -<p>“What stores do you need?” asked the officer.</p> - -<p>“Coffee, a side of bacon to fry fish with, two -hams, and as many boxes of ship biscuit as we -can manage to stow away in our boat. That’s all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -except some salt, I think. I suppose we can buy -all such things at Beaufort. If not, we can go -without them.”</p> - -<p>“No, you can’t buy them at Beaufort or anywhere -else,” the lieutenant answered; “because I’m -going to furnish them from my own ship’s stores.”</p> - -<p>“But, Lieutenant,” said Larry, flushing, “your -stores belong to the Government, don’t they?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly. What of that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, we can’t let you give us goods that belong -to the Government.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see your scruple, but you’re wrong about -the facts. It is a part of every revenue cutter’s -duty to provision craft in distress, and—”</p> - -<p>“But pardon me, we are not in distress. It is -only that for our comfort we need certain supplies -that we are perfectly well able to buy, and when we -get to Beaufort a market will be open to us. We’ll -provision ourselves, if you don’t mind.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you’d let me do it. It is little enough, -in all conscience, considering the service you’ve rendered -the Government.”</p> - -<p>“We didn’t do that for pay,” Larry answered.</p> - -<p>“I quite understand that. Still I have full authority -to issue the stores to you, and the disposition -made of them will of course be set forth in my -official report.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Thank you, very much, for your good will in -the matter,” Larry said, in a tone that left no -chance for further argument, “but we prefer to -buy for ourselves. Then if you’ll have your men -lower our boat, we’ll say ‘Good-bye and good luck’ -to you and take ourselves off your hands.”</p> - -<p>“That is final?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—final.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. It shall be as you say. But I’m -sorry you won’t let me do even so small a thing -as that by way of showing you my gratitude.”</p> - -<p>A little later Larry sought out the lieutenant on -deck.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what you may do for us, Lieutenant, -if you are still so minded.”</p> - -<p>“Of course I am. I’ll do whatever you suggest. -What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Why, write a brief letter to Tom and let me -have it for delivery after we get away from Beaufort. -He’ll cherish that as long as he lives, and you -see after all it was Tom who did it all. He first -found the smugglers’ camp and investigated it; he -made the later reconnoissance on which you acted, -and he led the—”</p> - -<p>“Say no more,” the lieutenant answered. “I’ll -write the letter and give it to you.”</p> - -<p>The lieutenant had another thought in mind;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -he did not mention it; but when at last the boys -got back to Charleston, they found a letter awaiting -each of them, a letter of thanks and commendation. -Those letters were not from the commanding -officer of a revenue cutter, but from the Secretary -of the Treasury himself, and they were -signed by his own hand.</p> - -<p>All that occurred later, however. At present the -story has to do only with what further adventures -the boys encountered in their coast wanderings.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXV</h2> - -<p class="pch">A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Hunkydory</i> was loaded to the point of inconvenience -when, about noon, she set sail again. For -it was the purpose of the boys to make their way -to Quasi quickly now, stopping only long enough -here and there to replenish their supply of game -and fish, and they wanted to be free to stay as long -as they pleased at Quasi, when at last they should -reach that place, without being compelled to hurry -away in search of supplies. Accordingly they -bought at Beaufort all the hard bread, coffee and -other such things that they could in any wise induce -the dory to make room for.</p> - -<p>“Never mind, Dory dear,” Cal said to the boat -as he squeezed in a dozen cans of condensed milk -for which it was hard to find a place. “Never -mind, Dory dear; with four such appetites as ours -to help you out, your load will rapidly grow lighter, -and when we get to Quasi we’ll relieve you of it -altogether.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was planned to establish a comfortable little -camp at Quasi, to hunt and fish at will, to rest when -that seemed the best thing to do, and to indulge -in that limitless talk which intelligent boys rejoice -in when freed for a time from all obligation to do -anything else. In short, a considerable period of -camping at Quasi had come to be regarded as the -main purpose of the voyage. With their guns -and their fishing tackle, the boys had no concern for -their meat supply, but, as Cal said:</p> - -<p>“We can’t expect to flush coveys of ship biscuit -or catch coffee on tight lines, so we must take -as much as we can of that sort of provender.”</p> - -<p>About two o’clock on the afternoon of the third -day of their voyage from Beaufort the boat was -lazily edging her way through an almost perfectly -smooth sea, with just a sufficient suggestion of -breeze to give her steerage way. Tom was at the -tiller, with next to nothing to do there. Larry and -Dick were dozing in the shadow of the mainsail, -while Cal, after his custom, was watching the porpoises -at play and the gulls circling about overhead -and everything else that could be watched whether -there was any apparent reason for watching it or -not.</p> - -<p>Presently he turned to Tom and, indicating his -meaning by an inclination of the head toward a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -peninsula five or six miles away, which had just -come into view as the boat cleared a marsh island, -said:</p> - -<p>“That’s it.”</p> - -<p>“What’s it? and what is it?” asked Tom, too indolent -now to disentangle his sentences.</p> - -<p>“Quasi,” said Cal.</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“Over the port bow. Change your course a -little to starboard—there’s a mud bank just under -water ahead and we must sail round it.”</p> - -<p>“Quasi at last!” exclaimed Tom gleefully, as -he pushed the helm to port and hauled in the sheet -a trifle in order to spill none of the all too scanty -breeze.</p> - -<p>Instantly Dick and Larry were wide awake, and -for a time conversation quickened as Cal pointed -out the salient features of the land ahead.</p> - -<p>“How far away do you reckon it, Cal?” asked -Dick.</p> - -<p>“About five miles.”</p> - -<p>“Is it clear water? Can we lay a straight -course?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, after we clear this mud bank. A little -more to starboard, Tom, or you’ll go aground.”</p> - -<p>“We ought to make it by nightfall then,” said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -Larry—“unless this plaything of a breeze fails us -entirely.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make it sooner than that,” said Dick, -standing up and steadying himself by the mast. -“Look, Cal. There’s business in that.”</p> - -<p>Dick had seen white caps coming in between two -islands ahead, and had rightly judged that in her -present position the dory was temporarily blanketed -by a great island that lay between it and the sea.</p> - -<p>“I don’t need to stand up,” answered Cal, “and -it’s hot. I saw the sea running in ahead. I’d have -suggested a resort to the oars if I hadn’t. As it is, -we’ll toy with this infantile zephyr for half an -hour more. By that time we’ll clear the land here -and set our caps on a little tighter or have them -carried away. That’s a stiff blow out there, and -by the way, we’re catching the ragged edges of it -already. A little more to starboard, Tom, and -jibe the boom over.”</p> - -<p>“It’ll be windward work all the way,” said -Larry, as he looked out ahead.</p> - -<p>“So much the better,” said Cal, who found -something to rejoice in in every situation. “It’ll -blow the ‘hot’ off us before we make Quasi, and -besides, there’s nothing like sailing on the wind if -the wind happens to be stiff enough.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It’ll be stiff enough presently,” said Larry; -then after looking about for a moment, he added: -“I only hope we sha’n’t ship enough water to -dampen down our clothes. The dory is <i>very</i> heavily -loaded.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry,” said Dick. “She’s built to -carry a heavy load in a rough sea and a high wind. -In fact, she points up better and foots better, carries -herself better every way when she has a load -on than when she hasn’t.”</p> - -<p>“H’m!” muttered Cal, going to the helm where -Tom was manifesting some distrust of his own -skill in the freshening wind and the “lumpy” seaway -they were beginning to meet. “I’ve known -men to think they were like the <i>Hunkydory</i> in -that.”</p> - -<p>“Diagram it, Cal,” said Larry.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve seen men who thought they could do -things better with a ‘load on’ than without. Trim -ship! I’m going to take the other tack.”</p> - -<p>Then, as the boat heeled over to starboard, her -rail fairly making the water boil, Cal completed -his sentence. “But they were mistaken.”</p> - -<p>“It’s different with boats,” Dick answered; -“and besides, the dory’s ‘load’ is of quite another -sort.”</p> - -<p>Sailing on the wind with a skittish boat of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -dory type is about as exhilarating a thing, when -the wind pipes high and the sea surges white with -foam, as can be imagined. In order that the pleasure -of it might not all be his, Cal presently surrendered -the tiller to Dick, who in his turn gave -it over to Larry after his own pulses were set a-tingle. -Larry offered Tom his turn, but Tom modestly -refused, doubting the sufficiency of his skill for -such work as this.</p> - -<p>“The tools to those who can use them, is sound -philosophy, I think,” he said in refusing. “Besides, -I don’t want to be responsible if we turn turtle -before we reach Quasi, after all our trouble.”</p> - -<p>After half an hour or so of speedy windward -work the <i>Hunkydory</i> drew near enough to Quasi -for Cal to study details of the shore line somewhat. -Lying in the bow, just under the jib, he was silently -but diligently engaged in scrutinizing every feature -he could make out in a shore that lay half a mile -or a trifle more away. The others asked him questions -now and then, but he made no answer. Under -his general instructions the dory was skirting -along the shore, making short legs, so as to maintain -her half mile distance until Cal should find the -place he was looking for as a landing.</p> - -<p>Presently he turned and spoke to Dick, who was -now at the tiller again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Run in a quarter of a mile, Dick, and bring us -nearer shore,” he said.</p> - -<p>Dick obeyed, while Cal seemed to be studying -something on shore with more than ordinary interest. -Presently he said:</p> - -<p>“There’s something wrong over there. As soon -as we round the point ahead, Dick, you’ll have -fairly sheltered water and sloping sands. Beach -her there.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Cal? What’s the matter? Why -do you say there’s something wrong?” These -questions were promptly hurled at Cal’s head by his -companions.</p> - -<p>“Look!” he answered. “Do you see the little -flag up there on top of the bluff? It is flying -union down—a signal of distress. But I can’t -make out anybody there. Can any of you?”</p> - -<p>All eyes were strained now, but no living thing -could be seen anywhere along the shore. Tom -ventured a suggestion:</p> - -<p>“The flag is badly faded and a good deal -whipped out, as if it had been flying there for a -long time. Perhaps the people who put it up have -all died since.”</p> - -<p>“No, they haven’t,” answered Cal.</p> - -<p>“Why, do you see anybody?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No. But I see a little curling smoke that probably -rises from a half burned-out camp-fire.”</p> - -<p>“It’s all right then?” half asked, half declared -Tom.</p> - -<p>“You forget the flag flying union down, Tom. -That isn’t suggestive of all-rightness. Bring her -around quick, Dick, and beach her there just under -the bluff!”</p> - -<p>Half a minute more and the dory lay with her -head well up on the sloping sand. The boys all -leaped ashore except Larry, who busied himself -housing the mast and sails and making things snug. -The rest scrambled up the bluff, which was an earth -bank about twenty feet high and protected at its -base by a closely welded oyster bank.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXVI</h2> - -<p class="pch">AN UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was nobody near the half burned-out -camp-fire, but there were evidences in plenty of the -fact that somebody had cooked and eaten there -that day. There were no cooking utensils lying -about, but there was a structure of green sticks -upon which somebody had evidently been roasting -meat; there were freshly opened oyster shells scattered -around—“the beginnings of a kitchen midden,” -Dick observed—and many other small indications -of recent human presence. Especially, -Cal noticed, that some smouldering brands of the -fire had been carefully buried in ashes—manifestly -to serve as the kindlers of a fresh fire when -one should be needed. Finally, Tom discovered -a hunting knife with its point stuck into the bark -of a tree, as if its owner had planned to secure it -in that way until it should be needed again, just -as a house-wife hangs up her gridiron when done -with it for the time being.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> - -<p>As the three were discovering these things and -interpreting their meaning, Larry joined them and -suggested a search of the woods and thickets round -about.</p> - -<p>“Why not try nature’s own method first?” Tom -asked.</p> - -<p>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Yelling. That’s the way a baby does when it -wants to attract attention, and it generally accomplishes -its purpose. That’s why I call it nature’s -own method. Besides, it covers more ground than -looking can, especially in an undergrowth as thick -as that around this little open spot.”</p> - -<p>“It is rather thick,” said Larry, looking round -him.</p> - -<p>“Thick? Why, a cane brake is wind-swept -prairie land in comparison. Let’s yell all together -and see if we can’t make the hermit of Quasi -hear.”</p> - -<p>The experiment was tried, not once, but many -times, with no effect, and a search of the immediate -vicinity proved equally futile.</p> - -<p>“There seems to be nothing to do but wait,” -Larry declared, at last. “The man in distress -must have gone away in search of food. He is -starving perhaps, and—”</p> - -<p>“Not quite that,” said Cal. “He may be craving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> -a tapioca pudding or some other particular article -of diet, but he isn’t starving.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is only that he has a haunch of venison—sun-crusted -for purposes of preservation—hanging -in that tree there”—pointing—“and unless -he is more different kinds of a lunatic than the -chief engineer of any insane asylum ever heard of, -he wouldn’t starve with that on hand.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it is spoiled,” said Tom, looking up -the tree where the venison hung and where Cal -alone had seen it.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t spoiled, either,” answered Cal, with assurance.</p> - -<p>“But how can you tell when you’re ten or twenty -feet away from it?” Tom stopped to ask.</p> - -<p>“The carrion crows can tell at almost any distance,” -Cal returned, “and if it were even tainted, -they’d be quarreling over it.”</p> - -<p>Tom was not satisfied, and so he climbed the -tree to inspect. Sliding down again, he gave judgment:</p> - -<p>“Why, the thing’s as black as ink and as hard -as the bark of a white oak tree. It’s dried beef—or -dried venison, rather.”</p> - -<p>“You’re mistaken, Tom,” said Larry. “It is -sun-crusted, as Cal said, but that’s very different.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> -Inside it is probably as juicy as a steak from a -stall-fed ox.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by ‘sun-crusted,’” asked -Dick.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see,” Larry answered. “You and Tom -are not familiar with our way of preserving meat -in emergencies. When we are out hunting and -have a joint of fresh red meat that we want to keep -fresh, we don’t salt it or smoke it or do anything -of that sort to it. We just hang it out in the very -strongest sunlight we can find. In a brief while -the surface of the meat is dried into a thin black -crust as hard as wood, and after that it will keep -for days in any cool, shady place. Flies cannot -bore through the hard crust, and the air itself is -shut out from the meat below the surface.”</p> - -<p>“How long will it keep in that way?”</p> - -<p>“How long, Cal?” asked Larry, referring the -question to his brother’s larger experience.</p> - -<p>“That depends on several things,” Cal answered. -“I’ve kept meat in that way for a week or ten -days, and at other times I’ve eaten my whole supply -at the first meal. But I say, fellows, we’re -wasting precious time. The night cometh when no -man can work, and we have a good deal to do before -it comes. We must find a safe anchorage for -the <i>Hunkydory</i> and set up a camp for ourselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> -In aid of that we must find fresh water, and I have -an idea we’ll find that somewhere along under the -line of bluffs—at some point where they trend -well back from the shore with a sandy beach between. -The hermit must get water from somewhere -near, and there’s no sign of any around -here.”</p> - -<p>Cal’s conjecture proved to be right. A little -spring at the foot of the bluff had been dug out -and framed around with sticks to keep the margin -from crumbling.</p> - -<p>Obviously this was the hermit’s source of water -supply.</p> - -<p>“But why in the name of common sense,” said -Larry, “didn’t he set up his Lares and Penates -somewhere near the spring?”</p> - -<p>“I can think of two reasons,” Cal answered, -“either of which is sufficient to answer your question.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead—what are they?”</p> - -<p>“One is, that he may be a crank, and another -is, that he may be a prudent, sensible person, preferring -comfort with inconvenience, to convenience -with discomfort.”</p> - -<p>“Now, then, Sphinx, unravel your riddle.”</p> - -<p>“Its meaning ought to be obvious,” Cal -drawled, “but as it isn’t, I’ll explain it. The man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -is probably a crank. If not, he wouldn’t have set -up a signal of distress and then have gone away -and hidden himself so that if rescuers came they -couldn’t find him. To a crank like that any foolishness -is easily possible. On the other hand, if -he happens to be a man of practical common sense—as -there is equally good reason to believe—he -would very naturally pitch his camp up where it is, -rather than here where you fellows are already -fighting the sand flies that will be heavily reinforced -toward nightfall.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so!” said the others.</p> - -<p>“Of course it’s so. Anybody would know that, -after slapping his cheeks till they feel as if they -had been cured with mustard plasters, and weren’t -half well yet.”</p> - -<p>“What shall we do, Cal?” Tom asked.</p> - -<p>“Why, imitate the hermit and improve upon his -ideas.”</p> - -<p>“You mean—” began Larry.</p> - -<p>“I mean we must go up on the bluff and pitch our -camp a hundred yards or so back from the beach. -Otherwise we shall all be bored as full of holes as -a colander before we stretch our weary limbs upon -mother earth for sleep.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” said Tom, “but you haven’t -told us about the improvement upon the hermit’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> -ideas. Do you mean we should go farther back -from the water?”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t mean that, though we’ll do it. I -meant that instead of carrying water from this -brackish spring we’ll dig a well where we pitch our -tent of palmete leaves.”</p> - -<p>“But you said—”</p> - -<p>“I know I did; but that was in swampy land where -the only water to be had by digging was an exudation -from muck. It is very different here. These -bluffs and all the high ground that lies back of -them are composed of clean clay and clean sand. -Look at the bank and see for yourself. Now all -we’ve got to do to get sweet, wholesome water -anywhere on the higher land—which isn’t as high -a little way back as it is here at the face of the -bluff—is to dig down to the level of the sea. -There we’ll find sea water that has been freed from -salt and all other impurities by siping through a -mixture of clay and sand that is as perfect a filter -as can be imagined.”</p> - -<p>“Now if you’ve finished that cataract of words, -Cal,” said Larry, “we must get to work or night -will be on us before we’re ready for it. You go -and pick out a camping place, and the rest of us -will follow you with things from the boat. We -can dig the well and build a shelter to-morrow.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> - -<p>But Tom and Dick were full of enthusiasm, now -that they had at last got to Quasi, and they had -both tasted the water of the spring. Its flavor -strongly stimulated their eagerness for something -more palatable.</p> - -<p>“Why not begin the well now—as soon as we -get the things up from the boat?” asked Dick. -“There’ll be a moon nearly full, and the sea breeze -here is cool. I for one am ready to dig till midnight.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll dig all night,” said Tom, “rather than take -another swig of that stuff. If we work hard we -can get the well in commission before we use all -the water left in the kegs.”</p> - -<p>“We sha’n’t have to dig all night,” said Cal. -“I’ll pick out a place where we needn’t go down -more than eight or nine feet, and this sandy earth -is easily handled. If we’re really industrious and -don’t waste more time over supper than we must, -we’ll strike water within a few hours, and it’ll be -settled and clear by morning. But we must hustle -if we’re to do that. So load yourselves up while -I pick out a camp and I’ll join the caravan of carriers -in the next load.”</p> - -<p>It was necessary, of course, to remove everything -from the boat to the bivouac, as it was the -purpose of the company to make this their headquarters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> -for several weeks to come, or at least for as -long as they liked.</p> - -<p>It was nearly sunset, therefore, when that part -of the work was done, and it was decreed that -Larry should get supper while the rest worked at -well-digging.</p> - -<p>As there remained no fresh meat among their -stores, Larry’s first task was to go out with his gun -in search of game. Squirrels were abundant all -about the place, and very easily shot, as they had -never been hunted. As the time was short, Larry -contented himself with the killing of a dozen or so -of the fat rodents, suppressing for the time being -his strong impulse to go after game of a more elusive -and therefore more aristocratic sort. He did -indeed take one shot at a flock of rice birds, killing -a good many of them, but mutilating their tender -little butter-balls of bodies because he used -bird shot instead of the “mustard seed” size, -which alone is fit for rice-bird shooting.</p> - -<p>On his return to the bivouac to cook his game, he -found the well already sunk to nearly half the required -depth, and by the time he was ready to bid -his comrades cease their work and come to supper, -at least another foot had been added to its depth.</p> - -<p>The work was easy, not only because the sandy -soil was easily shoveled out without the use of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> -picks or spades, but because of the form Cal’s observation -of other temporary well digging had -taught him to give to the excavation.</p> - -<p>“We’re not really digging a well,” he explained -at the outset. “We’re only scooping out a basin -in order to get to water. So instead of working in -a narrow hole, we’ll take a bowl for our model—a -bowl eight or ten feet across at the top and growing -rapidly narrower as we go down. Working in -that way, we’ll not only get on faster and with less -labor, but we’ll spare ourselves the necessity of -cribbing up the sides of our water hole to keep -them from falling in. Besides, the farther down -we get the less work each additional foot of digging -will cost us.”</p> - -<p>When Larry announced supper, all the company -admitted that they “had their appetites with -them”; but Cal did not at once “fall to” as the -others did. Instead, he went into the woods a little -way, secured a dry, dead and barkless stick about -five feet long, and drove it into the bottom of the -excavation. Pulling it out again after waiting for -twenty or thirty seconds, he closely scrutinized its -end. Then, measuring off a part of it with his -hands so placed as to cover approximately a foot -of space at each application, he tossed the stick -aside and joined the others at their meal.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nobody interrupted the beginning of his supper -by asking him questions, but after he had devoured -two or three rice birds the size of marbles and had -begun on the hind leg of a broiled squirrel which -lay upon an open baked sweet potato, he volunteered -a hint of what he had been doing.</p> - -<p>“As nearly as I can measure it with my hands, -we’ll come to water about three feet further down, -boys. We’ve acquitted ourselves nobly as sappers -and miners, and are entitled to take plenty of time -for supper and a good little rest afterwards—say -till the moon, which is just now coming up out of -its bath in the sea out there, rises high enough to -shine into our hole. That will be an hour hence, -perhaps, and then we’ll shovel sand like plasterers -making mortar. It won’t take us more than an -hour or so to finish the job, and we’ll get to sleep -long before midnight.”</p> - -<p>“How did you find out how far down the water -was, Cal,” asked Tom, who was always as hungry -for information as a school boy is for green apples -or any other thing that carries a threat of stomach -ache with it.</p> - -<p>“Why, I drove a dry stick down—one that -would show a wetting if it got it—till it moved -easily up and down. I knew then that it had -reached the water-saturated sand. I pushed it on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> -down till the upper end was level with our present -bottom. Then I drew it out and measured the -dry part and six inches or so of the wet. That -told me how far down we must go for the water.”</p> - -<p>“It’s very simple,” said Tom.</p> - -<p>“I’ve noticed that most things are so when one -understands them,” said Dick. “For example—”</p> - -<p>What Dick’s example was there is now no way -of finding out, for at that point in his little speech -the conversation was interrupted by a rather oddly-dressed -man who broke through the barrier of -bushes and presented himself, bowing and smiling, -to the company.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXVII</h2> - -<p class="pch">THE HERMIT OF QUASI</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> newcomer was a man of fifty or fifty-five -years of age. He was slender, but rather -with the slenderness of the red Indian than with -that suggestive of weakness. Indeed, the boys observed -that his muscles seemed to be developed out -of proportion to his frame, as if he had been intended -by nature for a scholar and had made an -athlete of himself instead.</p> - -<p>There was not an ounce of unnecessary fat upon -his person, and yet he gave no sign of being underfed. -Instead his flesh had the peculiar hardness -of the frontiersman’s who eats meat largely in excess -of other foods.</p> - -<p>A little strip across the upper part of his forehead, -which showed as he stood there with his hat -removed, suggested that his complexion had once -been fair, but that exposure had tanned it to the -color of a saddle.</p> - -<p>His costume was an odd one, but it was made of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -the best of materials, now somewhat worn, but fit -still to hold their own in comparison with far newer -garments of cheaper quality. Perhaps they were -aided in this by the fact that they had evidently -been made for him by some tailor who knew how to -make clothes set upon their wearer as if they were -a part of him.</p> - -<p>Yet his dress was perfectly simple. He wore a -sort of Norfolk jacket of silk corduroy—a cloth -well nigh as durable as sole leather—with -breeches of the same, buttoned at and below the -knee, and covered at bottom with close-fitting calf-skin -leggings of the kind that grooms and dandy -horsemen affect.</p> - -<p>The hat he held in his hand, as he addressed the -company that had courteously risen to receive him, -was an exceedingly limp felt affair, soft to the -head, light in weight and capable of assuming any -shape its wearer might choose to give it. His -shoes were Indian moccasins.</p> - -<p>No sign of linen appeared anywhere about his -person, but just above the top button of his jacket -a bit of gray flannel shirt showed in color harmony -with his other garments.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, young gentlemen,” he said; “I -trust I do not intrude, and if I do so it shall not be -for long. My name is Rudolf Dunbar. May I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> -ask if you young gentlemen are the rescuers I have -been hoping to see during the three or four weeks -that I have been marooned on this peninsula which -nobody seems ever to visit?”</p> - -<p>“We are here to rescue you if you so desire,” -answered Larry, “but we set out with no such -purpose. We were on our way here to fish, hunt, -live in the open air and be happy in natural ways -for a time. We caught sight of your signal of -distress and hurried ourselves as much as possible, -fearing that your distress might be extreme. As -we found your camp showing no signs of starvation -or illness, and could not find you, we set to work -to establish ourselves for a prolonged stay here and -wait for you to return. It seemed the only thing to -do under the circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“Quite right! Quite right! and I thank you for -your kindly impulse. But you should have taken -possession of my camp, making it your own—at -least until you could establish yourselves more to -your liking. I don’t know, though—my camp is -bare of everything, so that you’re better off as you -are.”</p> - -<p>As he paused, Larry introduced himself and his -comrades by name, and offered the stranger the -hospitality of their camp, inviting him especially to -sit down and share their supper.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> - -<p>He accepted the invitation, and after a little -Larry said to him:</p> - -<p>“May I ask the nature of your distress here, -and how pressing it is? We are ready, of course, -to take you to the village over yonder, ten or a -dozen miles away, at any time you like. From -there you can go anywhere you please.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you very much. My distress is quite -over now. Indeed, I am not accustomed to let circumstances -distress me overmuch. I found myself -marooned here, and naturally I wanted to establish -communication with the mainland again—or the -possibility of such communication. But if it had -been necessary I could have remained here for a -year in fair contentment. Long experience has -taught me how to reconcile myself with my surroundings, -whatever they may be, and game and -fish are plentiful here. May I ask how long you -young gentlemen have planned to remain here?”</p> - -<p>“Three or four weeks, probably,” answered -Larry. “But as I said before, we’ll set you ashore -on the mainland at any time you like.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you very much. But if it will be quite -agreeable to you, I’ll remain here as long as you -do. I haven’t finished my work here, and the -place is extremely favorable for my business. If -my presence is in any way annoying—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, not at all. We shall build a comfortable -shelter to-morrow, and we’ll be glad to have you -for our guest. As you see, we’re digging a well, -and we’ll have good sweet water by morning.”</p> - -<p>“That is very wise. I should have dug one myself -if I had had any sort of implement to dig with, -but I have none.”</p> - -<p>“And so you’ve had to get on with the rather -repulsive water from the spring down there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and no. I have used that water, but I -distil it first. You see, in my peculiar business, I -must wander in all sorts of places, wholesome and -unwholesome, and it is often impossible to find good -water to drink. So for years past I have always -carried a little distilling apparatus of my own devising -with me. It is very small and very light, and, -of course, when I have to depend upon it for a -water supply, I must use water very sparingly. I -think I must bid you good evening now, as I did -not sleep at all last night. I will see you in the -morning.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll expect you to join us at breakfast,” said -Larry.</p> - -<p>“It will give me great pleasure to do so. Good -night.”</p> - -<p>With that he nimbly tripped away, leaving the -boys to wonder who and what he was, and especially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> -what the “business” was that he had not -yet finished at Quasi. Cal interrupted the chatter -presently, saying:</p> - -<p>“We’ve annexed a riddle, and you’re wasting -time trying to guess it out. Nobody ever did guess -the answer to a riddle. Let’s get to work and finish -the well.”</p> - -<p>The boys set to work, of course, but they did -not cease to speculate concerning the stranger. -Even after the well was finished and when they -should all have been asleep they could not drive the -subject from their minds.</p> - -<p>“I wonder how he got here, anyhow,” said Tom, -after all the other subjects of wonder had been discussed -to no purpose. “He has no boat and he -couldn’t have got here without one.”</p> - -<p>“What I wonder,” said Dick, “is why and how -his ‘business’ has compelled him to wander in out-of-the-way -places, as he says he has.”</p> - -<p>“<i>I</i> am wondering,” said Cal, sleepily, “when -you fellows will stop talking and let me go to sleep. -You can’t find out anything by wondering and chattering. -The enigma will read itself to us very -soon.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean he’ll tell us his story?” asked -Tom.</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why do you think he’ll do that?”</p> - -<p>“He can’t possibly help it. When a man lives -alone for so long as he has done, he must talk about -himself. It’s the only thing he knows, and the only -thing that seems to him interesting.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a better reason than that,” said Larry.</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Why, that he is obviously a gentleman. A -gentleman wouldn’t think of coming here to remain -indefinitely as our guest without letting us know -who and what he is and all the rest of it.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Finis!</i>” said Cal.</p> - -<p>Silence followed, and soon the little company -was dreaming of queerly dressed marooners carrying -flags union down.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXVIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">RUDOLF DUNBAR’S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Cal</span> and Larry were right. Both out of a sense -of duty to his entertainers and because of a not -unnatural impulse to tell of his unusual mode of -life, Dunbar began the very next morning to talk -freely of his experiences.</p> - -<p>“It is proper that I explain to you how I came -to be here without the means of getting away -again,” he said at breakfast. “Indeed, I was a -little troubled in my mind last night when I remembered -that I had received your kindly offer of rescue -without telling you that. But in my anxiety to get -away from your bivouac and let you sleep, I forgot -it.</p> - -<p>“You see my entire life is spent in the woods -or upon the water. I go wherever there is promise -of anything to reward the labors of a naturalist, -and when I heard of this long-abandoned plantation, -where for twenty-five years or so Nature has -had things all her own way, I knew a visit would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> -be richly worth while. So I purchased a little rowboat -and came over here about three or four weeks -ago. I cannot fix the time more definitely because I -never can keep accurate account of the days or weeks, -living alone in the woods as I do and having no engagements -to fulfill. I pulled my boat up on the -beach a little way, selected a place in which to live, -and proceeded to remove my things from the boat -to the place chosen. Unfortunately, just as I had -finished doing so, a peculiar moth attracted my -attention—a moth not mentioned or described in -any of the books, and quite unknown to science, -I think. I went at once in chase of it, but it led -me a merry dance through the thickets, and it was -two hours, I should say—though I carry no timepiece—before -I caught the creature. In the meanwhile -I had forgotten all about my boat, and when -I got back I saw it drifting out to sea with quite a -strong breeze to aid the tide in carrying it away. -It seems the tide had reached the flood during my -absence, setting the boat afloat, and had then begun -to ebb, carrying her away.</p> - -<p>“There was nothing to be done, of course, but -hoist my little flag, union down, and go on with -the very interesting task of studying the habits of -my new moth, of which I have since found several -specimens, besides three cocoons which I am hatching<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> -in the hope that they will prove to belong to the -species. I’ve been hard at work at that task ever -since, and I have made some very interesting discoveries -with regard to that moth’s choice of habitat. -I made the most important one the night before -you arrived. That is why I got no sleep that -night.”</p> - -<p>“Let us hope,” said Cal, “that the excitement of -it did not interfere with your rest last night.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, not at all. I am never excited, and I can -sleep whenever I choose. I have only to lie down -and close my eyes in order to accomplish that.”</p> - -<p>“Then you have a shelter or hut up there somewhere—though -we saw none?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. I never sleep under shelter of any -kind; I haven’t done so for more than twenty years -past. Indeed, that is one of the conditions upon -which I live at all. My health is good now, but it -would fail me rapidly if I slept anywhere under a -roof.”</p> - -<p>“But when these heavy subtropical rains -come?” asked Dick.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I am prepared for them. I have only to -spread one rubber cloth on the ground and a much -thinner one over my blanket, and I take no harm.”</p> - -<p>“Your specialty then is the study of butterflies -and moths?” asked Dick.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No, not at all. Indeed I have no specialty. -When I was teaching I held the chair of Natural -History, with several specialists as tutors under -my general direction. When my health broke down—pray, -don’t suppose I am going to weary you -with a profitless catalogue of symptoms—I simply -had to take to the woods. I had nobody dependent -upon me—nobody for whom it was my duty to provide -then or later. I had a little money, very little, -but living as I do I need very little, and my work -yields me a good deal more than I need or want. -The little rifle I always have with me provides me -with all the food I want, so that I am rarely under -expense on that account.”</p> - -<p>“But you must have bread or some substitute,” -said Tom.</p> - -<p>“I do not find it necessary. When I have access -to starchy foods—of which there are many in -tropical and subtropical forests if one knows how -to find and utilize them—I eat them with relish, -but when they are not to be had I get on very well -without them. You see man is an omnivorous -animal, and can live in health upon either starchy -or flesh foods. It is best to have both, of course, -unless the starchy foods are perverted as they so -often are in civilized life, and made ministers to -depraved appetites.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> - -<p>“May I ask just how you mean that?” asked -Dick.</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly. The starch we consumed last -night in the form of sweet potatoes was altogether -good for us; so is that we are taking now in these -ship biscuits. But if the flour we are eating had -been mixed with lard, sugar, eggs, milk and the -like, and made into pastry, we should be greatly -the better without it.</p> - -<p>“However, I’m not a physician, equipped to deliver -a lecture on food stuffs and their preparation. -I was betrayed into that by your question. I was -explaining the extreme smallness of my personal -needs. After food, which costs me nothing, comes -clothing, which costs me very little.”</p> - -<p>“Why certainly you are expensively dressed for -woodland wandering,” said Dick. Then instantly -he began an apology for the reference to so purely -personal a matter, but Rudolf Dunbar interrupted -him.</p> - -<p>“No apology is due. I was voluntarily talking -of my own personal affairs, and your remark was -entirely pertinent. My garments are made of very -costly fabrics, but as such materials endure all sorts -of hard usage and last for a very long time, I find -it cheaper in the end to buy only such; more important -still is the convenience of it, to one leading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> -the sort of life I do. Instead of having to visit a -tailor three or four times a year, I have need of his -services only at long intervals. The garments I -now have on were made for me in London three -years or so ago, and I have worn no others since. -In the meanwhile I have been up the Amazon for -thousands of miles, besides visiting Labrador and -the southern coast of Greenland.</p> - -<p>“That brings me to my principal item of expense, -which is the passage money I must pay in -order to get to the regions I wish to explore. That -costs me a good deal at each considerable removal, -but in the meanwhile I have earned greatly more -by my work.</p> - -<p>“But pardon me for prosing so about myself. -I’ll say not another word now, so that you young -gentlemen may be free to make whatever use you -wish of this superb day. I shall spend the greater -part of it in figuring some specimens with my colored -crayons. Good morning!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXIX</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM FINDS THINGS</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> soon as the visitor disappeared through a -tangled growth of bushes, Larry began marking -out the duties of the day.</p> - -<p>“First of all we must make ourselves comfortable,” -he said, as if reflecting.</p> - -<p>“That means a bush shelter of some sort,” interrupted -Tom.</p> - -<p>“No, it doesn’t either,” Larry answered, in a -tone of playfulness like Tom’s own.</p> - -<p>“What does it mean, then?”</p> - -<p>“It means a shelter—not ‘of some sort’ as you -say, but of a good sort. The wind blows hard here -sometimes as the place is so exposed to a broad -passage leading to the sea outside. So we must -build something that isn’t easily carried away by a -squall.”</p> - -<p>“It would mean a good many other things,” said -Cal, “if I were the architect selected to make designs, -with front elevations, floor plans, estimates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> -and all the other things they do before beginning -to put up a building.”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course, Cal, you are to direct the -work,” answered Larry. “You know more about -such things than all the rest of us combined.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, first of all, our palatial country -residence must face directly away from the sea,” -said Cal. “If it had its wide open side in any -other direction we’d be drenched inside of it every -time a rain came in from the sea, and that is where -nearly all the hard rains come from here. Then, -again, if the hovel faced the wrong way it would -be filled full of smoke every time a sea breeze blew, -and in this exposed place that is nearly all the time. -There are seventeen other good and sufficient reasons -for fronting the structure in the way I have -decreed, but the two I have mentioned are sufficient -to occupy and divert your young minds as we -go on with the work. Now let all hands except -Larry busy themselves chopping crotched poles of -the several dimensions that I’ll mark here in the -sand, for lack of other and more civilized stationery.”</p> - -<p>With a sharpened stick Cal began writing in the -sand.</p> - -<p>“Four poles, 12 feet long, and three or four -inches thick.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But what do you want me to do, Cal?” asked -Larry.</p> - -<p>“Go fishing,” said Cal. “We must have some -dinner after awhile. See if you can’t bring in a -sheepshead or some other fish weighing five or six -pounds and fit for roasting.”</p> - -<p>In an instant Larry was off with cast net, shrimp -bucket and some fish lines.</p> - -<p>Cal resumed his sand writing, cataloguing the -various sorts and sizes of poles wanted. Presently -he stopped short, muttering:</p> - -<p>“But then we’re not lumbermen, and the only -tool we have to chop with is our one poor little -hand ax. It won’t take three of us to wield that toy. -Say, Tom, suppose you take your gun and see if -you can’t get us some game. We’ll do well enough -with fish for dinner, but we must have some meat -for to-night. So go and get some. I know you’re -half crazy to be off in the woods shooting. Dick -and I will work at the poles and palmetes—that’s -apt alliteration, but it was quite accidental, I assure -you. One can use the ax and the other cut palmete -leaves with his jackknife, exchanging jobs -now and then. We’ll need a great stack of the -palmetes with which to cover the roof and three -sides of our mansion.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course, and fortunately they grow very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -thick just out there in the woods,” said Dick. “I -saw them early this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know. I saw them yesterday when I -picked out a place for the camp. Our need of them -was one of the considerations I had in mind. By -the way, Dick”—the two were busily at work now—“what -do you think of the professor’s plan of -sleeping?”</p> - -<p>“It saves him a lot of trouble,” Dick answered.</p> - -<p>“Yes, in one way. But if he had anything with -him that water would spoil, it would make more -trouble than it saves. As he has nothing of the -kind—”</p> - -<p>“How about his reserve ammunition? A man -who depends upon his gun for all his food must -have a lot of cartridges somewhere.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so, but his rifle is probably of very small -calibre, so that a good many cartridges can be -packed in a small space. Of course we can’t ask -him.”</p> - -<p>At that moment “the professor,” as Cal had -called him, appeared, with profuse apologies.</p> - -<p>“It was really inexcusable,” he protested, “for -me to go away as I did when you young gentlemen -had a shelter to build. I should have stayed to -help in the work, as I am to share in its advantages. -But I am so unused to providing shelter for myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> -that I quite forgot your larger necessities. Fortunately -I heard the blows of your ax and was reminded -of my duty. I have come at once to assist -you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you mustn’t think of that, Professor,” answered -Cal. “We really need no assistance. My -brother and Tom have gone off for supplies of meat -and fish, but they’ll be back presently, and meanwhile -we two can use the only tools we have for this -kind of work. Besides, you have something of -your own to do.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that may not be as well done at another -time. I must insist upon bearing my share -of the work of constructing a camp which you have -been courteous enough to invite me to share.”</p> - -<p>“But you don’t sleep under a roof—even a -flimsy one of palmete leaves,” objected Dick. -“We invited you to join us here only because we -like good company.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you for the compliment. No, I do not -sleep under a roof, but your roof will be a great -convenience and comfort to me in other ways.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see—” Cal began, but Dunbar broke -in.</p> - -<p>“You don’t see how? No, of course not. How -should you? But that is only because you know so little -of my tasks. I must write my scientific reports<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -and articles carefully and voluminously, and I must -make accurate color drawings of my specimens to -accompany my text. I am badly behind with my -work in these ways, and the very best time to bring -up the arrears is of long, rainy days, when the living -things I must study—all of them except the -fishes—are hidden away in such shelters as they -can find. But I cannot sit in the rain and write or -draw. That would only be to spoil materials of -which I have all too little already. So the rainy -days are lost to me, or have been, hitherto. Now -that I am to enjoy your hospitality, I shall sit in -your shelter when it rains, and get a world of writing -and drawing done.”</p> - -<p>“Well, at any rate, we shall not need your help in -this work, and we have no tool for you to work with -if we did. As to our little hospitality, it mustn’t and -doesn’t involve any obligation on your part. If it -did it wouldn’t be hospitality at all, but something -very different. Why not put in your time on your -own work?”</p> - -<p>“I would, if my head didn’t object,” the man -of science answered rather dejectedly, Cal thought, -but with a smile.</p> - -<p>“Have you a headache, then?” the youth asked, -putting as much sympathy into his tone as was possible -to a robust specimen of young manhood who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -had never had a headache in his life. “It must -be very distressing.”</p> - -<p>“No, I haven’t a headache,” the professor answered. -“I wish it was only that. No, my head -isn’t clear to-day, and when I try to work it gets -things jumbled up a bit. I tried this morning to -write a scientific account of the habits of a certain -fish that these waters bear, and somehow I got him -out into the bushes using wings that I had never -observed before. Now I must go and catch another -specimen of that fish and examine it carefully -to see if the wings are really there or not. You -see in cases of doubt a scientist dares not trust anything -to conjecture or memory. He must examine -and make sure.”</p> - -<p>So saying, the professor started off to catch the -fish he wanted. He had spoken in a half jocular -tone and with a mischievous smile playing about -his lips, though his words were serious enough.</p> - -<p>“What do you think, Dick?” Cal asked as soon -as the man was well beyond earshot; “is he a -trifle ‘off’? has he lost some of his buttons?”</p> - -<p>“Possibly, but I doubt it.”</p> - -<p>“But what nonsense he talked!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know. But did you observe his smile? -He was only doing in his way what you so often -do in yours. Your smile often contradicts your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> -words—making its bow, as it were, to the nonsense -you are uttering. Yet we don’t suspect you of -having slipped your cable.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose that’s it,” said Cal, “but allow me to -suggest that our chatter cuts no palmetes, and -we’re in need of a great number.”</p> - -<p>By the time the needed poles and crotch sticks -were cut and sharpened for driving into the ground, -Larry returned, bringing with him one huge fish -and a bucket full of croakers and whiting, all of -which he had dressed on the shore.</p> - -<p>He wrapped the large fish in a mass of wet sea -weed and buried it in the hot ashes and coals to -bake. After setting such other things to cook as -he thought necessary, he joined the others in the -work of setting up the poles and fastening their -ends securely together with vines as flexible as -hempen rope. The wetter parts of the woodlands -yielded such vines in abundance, and as somewhat -experienced sailors the boys all knew how to tie -knots that no strain could loosen.</p> - -<p>By the time that the dinner was cooked the -framework of the shelter was more than half done.</p> - -<p>“We’ll knock off for dinner now,” Larry suggested, -“and after dinner the whole force will set -to work finishing the framework and covering it. -There are bunks to be made, too, and filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> -long gray moss, so we’ll have a very full afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, Professor,” asked Cal, as the man -of science rejoined the group, “are you quite sure -you won’t let us make a bunk for you?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes—quite sure.”</p> - -<p>“Did you catch the fish you wanted to examine, -or did he take to his wings and fly away?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was only my poor little jest. You -didn’t take it seriously, did you?”</p> - -<p>Then, interrupting the reply that Cal had begun -to make, he said rapidly:</p> - -<p>“But I did want to make another examination -of the fish in question. You see, when I examined -a specimen a few days ago, my attention was concentrated -upon certain definite points, and when I -casually observed something that suggested the possibility -of its having a sense of taste, I went on -with the other questions in my mind and quite forgot -to satisfy myself on this point. But when I -sat down this morning to write notes of my observations, -the point came back to my mind, and I -saw that I must examine another specimen before -writing at all. That is what I meant by saying, in -figurative speech, that my fish went flying away -among the bushes, or whatever else it was that I -said.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But, Professor,” said Larry, “something you -said about a fish’s sense of taste just now awakens -my curiosity. May I ask you—”</p> - -<p>“Not now,” said Dick. “Let’s reserve all that -for this evening after supper. You see Tom isn’t -here now, and he will want to hear it all. Maybe -the professor will let us turn loose our tongues to-night -and ask him the dozen questions we have in -our minds.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—a thousand, if you wish,” Dunbar answered. -“I have studied fish with more interest, -perhaps, than I ever felt in investigating any other -subject, and naturally I like to air the results of my -inquiries.”</p> - -<p>Larry busied himself taking the dinner from the -fire, and as he did so Tom returned.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Tom!” called out Cal as the boy was -struggling through the bushes back of the camp. -“Just in time for dinner. Did you get anything -worth while?”</p> - -<p>“Judge for yourself,” he replied, entering the -open space and dropping a huge turkey gobbler on -the ground. “Isn’t that a beauty? Got him on -the wing, too. But I forgot, Cal, you don’t approve -of post-mortem chatter over game. One -thing I must tell you, anyhow. I found a patch of -these and brought home some samples in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -pockets to see if it’s worth while to go after -more.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he drew out a number of sweet potatoes -and cast them down.</p> - -<p>“Are there more to be had?” Larry asked -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, bushels of them—growing wild.”</p> - -<p>“Good! Tom, you’ve a positive genius for finding -precisely what we want. Our supply of bread -and bread substitutes is very scant, or was before -you made this discovery, and with all due respect -for your opinion, Professor, I am satisfied that we -need a considerable proportion of starchy foods to -go with our meat.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I agree with you as to that,” quickly answered -the professor. “I have never doubted it. -I only said that man, being an omnivorous animal, -can live upon an exclusive diet of meat just as he -can live on the starchy foods alone. I think I stated -distinctly that he is better off with both than with -either alone.”</p> - -<p>“You certainly did say that, Professor,” said -Dick; “it is only that Larry was inattentive at the -time of your lecture. But I say, Tom, is it far to -your potato patch?”</p> - -<p>“Only about half a mile or a little less.”</p> - -<p>They were all busily eating dinner now, and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> -a minute there was nothing more said. Presently -Tom spoke:</p> - -<p>“I say, Larry, which of you fellows can best -be spared to go with me after dinner, and help me -bring in the deer?”</p> - -<p>“What deer?” asked all in a breath.</p> - -<p>“Why, the one I shot an hour or so ago. I -managed to hang him up in a tree out of reach of -other animals, I think, but I suppose he ought to be -brought to camp pretty soon.”</p> - -<p>Cal rose threateningly.</p> - -<p>“I am strongly tempted to throw things at you, -Tom Garnett,” he began. “But there isn’t anything -to throw except the ax, and if I threw that I -might incapacitate you for walking, and without -your assistance we might not be able to find that -deer. What do you mean, sir, by interrupting us -at dinner with a surprise like that? Don’t you -realize that it is bad for the digestion? In plain -language that even your intelligence can perhaps -grasp, why in the name of all that is sensible, didn’t -you tell us about the thing when you first came?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve associated with you, Cal, too long and too -intimately to retain a just appreciation of what is -sensible. Anyhow, I wanted the fun of springing -the thing on you in that way. If you’ve finished -your dinner, we’ll be off after the venison. It -isn’t half a mile away.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXX</h2> - -<p class="pch">DUNBAR TALKS AND SLEEPS</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> required nearly all the afternoon for Tom and -Cal to bring the deer to camp and dress it. In the -meantime Larry, Dick and Dunbar—who insisted -upon helping and did his part very cleverly—worked -upon the shelter and the bunks inside. As -a result the hut was ready for use that night, though -not quite finished in certain details.</p> - -<p>By Larry’s orders no further work was to be -done after supper, but supper was to be late, as -there was the turkey to be roasted, and he wanted -to roast it right. While he was preparing the bird -for the fire, Dick was rigging up a vine contrivance -to serve in lieu of a spit, and Tom and Cal employed -the time in bringing a bushel or two of Tom’s wild -sweet potatoes to camp.</p> - -<p>The turkey was suspended by a long vine from -the limb of a tree, so hung as to bring the fowl immediately -in front of a fire built at that point especially -for this roasting. Dick had bethought him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> -to go to the dory and bring away a square of sheet -copper, carried for boat-repairing purposes. This -he scoured to brightness with sand, after which he -fashioned it into a rude dripping pan, and placed -it under the turkey to catch the juices for basting -purposes. There was nothing remotely resembling -a spoon in the camp or the boat, but Dick was -handy with his jackknife, and it did not take him -long to whittle out a long-handled wooden ladle -with which to do the basting.</p> - -<p>By another device of his the roasting fowl was -kept turning as fast or as slowly as might seem -desirable. This device consisted of two very slender -vines attached to the supporting vine at a point -several feet above the fire. One of the “twirlers,” -as Dick called the slender vines, was wrapped several -times around the supporting vine in one direction -and the other in the opposite way.</p> - -<p>Sitting on opposite sides of the fire, and each -grasping a “twirler,” Dick and Larry kept the turkey -turning first one way and then the other.</p> - -<p>While they were engaged in this, an abundant -supply of Tom’s sweet potatoes were roasting in -the ashes.</p> - -<p>“Now we are at Quasi,” said Cal, just before -the turkey was declared “done to a turn”—“at -Quasi, the object of all our hopes, the goal of our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> -endeavors, and the guiding star of all our aspirations -during a period of buffetings, trials and sore -afflictions. We are securely at Quasi, and our residence—which -prosaic people might call a hut, -hovel or shanty, but which is to us a mansion—is -practically finished. It is only meet and fit, and -in accordance with Homeric custom, that we -should celebrate the occasion and the toilsome -achievements that have made it possible, by all -possible lavishness of feasting. All of which -means that I am going to make a pot of robust and -red-hot coffee to drink with the turkey and -‘taters.’”</p> - -<p>It was a hungry company that sat down on the -ground to eat that supper, and if there was anything -lacking in the bill of fare, such appetites as -theirs did not permit the boys to find out the fact.</p> - -<p>“It is an inflexible rule of good housewives,” -drawled Cal, when the dinner was done, “that the -‘things’ as they call the dishes, pots, pans, and the -like, shall be cleared away and cleansed. So here -goes,” gathering up the palmete leaves that had -served for plates and tossing them, together with -the bones and fragments of the feast, upon the -fire, where they quickly crackled into nothingness. -“There aren’t any cooking utensils, and as for -these exquisitely shaped agate iron cups, it is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> -function of each fellow to rinse the coffee out of -his own. Oh, yes, there’s the coffee pot I forgot -it, and by way of impressing the enormity of -my fault upon a dull intelligence I’ll clean that -myself. A hurried scouring with some sand and -water, followed by a thorough rinsing, ought to do -the business finely.”</p> - -<p>“I say, Cal,” said Dick, “I wish you would remember -that this is your off night.”</p> - -<p>“I confess I don’t understand. Do you mean -that I shall leave the coffee pot for some other member -of the company to scour?”</p> - -<p>“No. I mean this is your off night for word-slinging. -The professor is going to tell us some -things and we want to hear him. So, ‘dry up.’”</p> - -<p>“I bow my head in contriteness and deep humiliation. -You have the floor, Professor.”</p> - -<p>“May I ask you young gentlemen not to call me -‘professor’?” Dunbar asked very earnestly.</p> - -<p>“Why, of course, we will do as you like about -that,” answered Larry; “we have been calling you -‘professor’ merely out of respect, and you told -us you were or had been a professor in a college.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know, and I thank you for your impulse -of courtesy. I used the word descriptively -when I told you I had been a ‘professor’ of Natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> -History. Used in that way it is inoffensive -enough, but when employed as a title—well, you -know every tight-rope walker and every trapeze -performer calls himself ‘professor.’”</p> - -<p>“Well, you must at least have a doctorate of -some kind,” said Dick, “and so you are entitled -to be addressed as ‘Dr. Dunbar.’”</p> - -<p>“No, not at all. Of course a number of colleges -have offered me baubles of that cheap sort—asking -to make me ‘LL.D.,’ or ‘Ph. D.,’ or -‘L. H. D.,’ or some other sham sort of a doctor, -but I have always refused upon principle. I hate -shams, and as to these things, they seem to me to -work a grievous injustice. No man ought to be -called ‘Doctor’ unless he has earned the degree -by a prescribed course of study and examinations. -Honorary degrees are an affront to the men who -have won real degrees by years of hard study. -With two or three hundred colleges in this country, -each scattering honorary degrees around and -multiplying them every year, all degrees have lost -something of their value and significance.”</p> - -<p>“How shall we address you then?” asked -Larry.</p> - -<p>“Simply as ‘Mr. Dunbar.’ The President of -the United States is entitled to no other address -than ‘Mr. President.’ In a republic certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> -‘Mr.’ ought to be title enough for any man. Call -me ‘Mr. Dunbar,’ please.”</p> - -<p>“Well, now, Mr. Dunbar, won’t you go on and -tell us what you promised?”</p> - -<p>“What was it? I have quite forgotten.”</p> - -<p>“Why, you said you had been led to suspect -that your fish—the kind that takes wing and flies -away into the bushes—had a sense of taste. Did -you mean to imply that fishes generally have no -such sense?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly. There are very few fishes that -have capacity of taste. They have no need of it, -as they bolt their food whole, and usually alive. -There are curious exceptions, and—”</p> - -<p>“But, Mr. Dunbar,” interrupted Tom, “is it -only because they swallow their food whole that -you think they have no sense of taste? Is there -any more certain way of finding out?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. The sense of taste is located -in certain nerves, called for that reason ‘gustatory -nerves,’ or ‘taste goblets.’ Now, as the fishes generally -have no gustatory nerves or taste goblets, -we know positively that they do not and cannot -taste their food. That is definite; but the other -reason I gave is sufficient in itself to settle the -matter. The gustatory nerves cannot taste any -substance until it is partially dissolved and brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> -into contact with them in its dissolved state. You -can test that for yourself by placing a dry lump -of sugar in your mouth. Until the saliva begins -to dissolve it you can no more recognize any taste -in it than in a similar lump of marble.”</p> - -<p>“But why do they eat so voraciously then? -What pleasure do they find in it?” asked Dick.</p> - -<p>“Chiefly the pleasure of distending the stomach, -but there is also the natural craving of every living -organism for sustenance, without which it must -suffer and die. That craving for sustenance is -ordinarily satisfied only by eating, but it may be -satisfied in other ways. Sometimes a man cannot -swallow because of an obstruction in the canal -by which food reaches the stomach. In such cases -the surgeons insert a tube through the walls of -the body and introduce food directly into the -stomach. That satisfies the desire for sustenance, -though the patient has not tasted anything. -When a fish takes a run and jump at a minnow -and swallows it whole at a gulp, he is doing for -himself much the same thing that the surgeon does -for his patient.”</p> - -<p>“But, Mr. Dunbar,” Tom asked, “why is it then -that the same species of fish will take a particular -kind of bait at one time of year and won’t touch it at -other times? In the very early spring I’ve caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> -lots of perch on worms, while a little later they -would take nothing but live bait, and still later, -when they were feeding on insects on the surface, -I’ve known them to nose even live bait out of their -way, refusing to take anything but the insects. -If they don’t taste their food, why do they behave -in that way?”</p> - -<p>“Frankly, I don’t know,” Dunbar answered. -“I have formed many conjectures on the subject, -but all of them are unsatisfactory. Perhaps somebody -will solve the riddle some day, but at present -I confess I can’t answer it.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar stopped as if he meant to say no more, -and Tom became apologetic.</p> - -<p>“Won’t you please go on, Mr. Dunbar? I’m -sorry I interrupted.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but you must interrupt. If you don’t interpose -with questions, how am I to know whether -I’ve made my meaning clear or not? And how -am I to know what else you wish to hear? No, -no, no. Don’t withhold any question that comes -into your mind, or I shall feel that I’m making a -bore of myself by talking too much.”</p> - -<p>“You spoke,” said Dick, “of certain fishes that -are exceptions to the rule.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; thank you. I meant to come back -to that but forgot it. The chief exception I know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> -of is the bullhead, a small species of catfish that -abounds in northern waters, particularly in the -Adirondack lakes. The bullhead has gustatory -nerves all over him. He can taste with his tail, -or his side, or his head, as well as with his mouth. -Of course there’s a good reason for the difference.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so, but I can’t imagine what it is,” -said Larry.</p> - -<p>“Neither can I,” echoed Tom and Dick. Cal -continued the silence he had not broken by a word -since Dunbar had begun. Observing the fact, -Dick was troubled lest his playful suppression of -Cal at the beginning had wounded him. So, rising, -he went over to Cal’s side, passed his arm -around him in warm friendly fashion, and said -under his breath:</p> - -<p>“Did you take me seriously, Cal? Are you hurt -or offended?”</p> - -<p>“No, you sympathetically sublimated idiot, of -course not. It is only that I want to hear all I -can of Mr. Dunbar’s talk. You know I’ve always -been interested in fish—even when they refuse to -take bait. Hush. He’s about to begin again.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is obvious enough when you think about -it,” said Dunbar. “It is a fundamental law of -nature that every living thing, animal or vegetable,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> -shall tend to develop whatever organs or functions -it has need of, for defense against enemies or for -securing the food it needs. You see that everywhere, -in the coloring of animals and in a thousand -other ways. The upper side of a flounder is -exactly the color of the sand on which he lies. -That is to prevent the shark and other enemies -from seeing him and eating him up. But his under -side, which cannot be seen at all by his enemies, -is white, because there is no need of color in it. -I could give you a hundred illustrations, but there -is no need. Your own daily observation will supply -them.”</p> - -<p>Again Dunbar paused, as if his mind had wandered -far away and was occupying itself with other -subjects. After waiting for a minute or two Cal -ventured to jog his memory:</p> - -<p>“As we are not familiar with the bullhead—we -who live down South—we don’t quite see the -application of what you’ve been saying, Mr. Dunbar. -Would you mind explaining?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, certainly not,” quickly answered the man -of science, rousing himself as if from sleep. “I -was saying—it’s very ridiculous, but I’ve quite -forgotten what I was saying. Tell me.”</p> - -<p>“You were telling us about the bullhead’s possession—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I remember now. You see fishes generally -hunt their prey by sight, in the clear upper -water and in broad daylight. They quit feeding -as soon as it becomes too dark to see the minnows -or other things they want to eat. As they hunt -only by sight, they have no need of the senses of -smell and taste, and so those senses are not developed -in them. With the bullhead the thing is -exactly turned around. He never swims or feeds -in the upper waters. He lives always on or very -near the bottom of comparatively deep water, in -thick growths of grass, where sight would be of -little use to him for want of light. He feeds almost -entirely at night, so that those who fish for -him rarely begin their sport before the dusk falls. -In such conditions Mr. Bullhead finds it exceedingly -convenient to be able to taste anything he -may happen to touch in his gropings. So with -him the sense of taste is the food-finding sense, -and in the long ages since his species came into -being that sense has been developed out of all proportion -to the others. He has very little feeling -and his nervous system is so rudimentary that if -you leave him in a pail without water and packed -in with a hundred others of his species, he seems -to find very little to distress him in the experience. -You may keep him in the waterless pail for twenty-four<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> -hours or more, and yet if you put him back -into the pond or lake he will swim away as unconcernedly -as if nothing out of the ordinary had -happened. But then all species of fish are among -the very lowest forms of vertebrate creatures, so -that they feel neither pain nor pleasure at all -keenly.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly Dunbar ceased speaking for a minute. -Then he seemed to speak with some effort, saying:</p> - -<p>“There are many other things I could tell you -about fish, and if you’re interested, I’ll do so at -another time. I’m very sleepy now. May I pass -the night here?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly. I’ll bring you some moss—”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t at all necessary,” he answered, as he -threw himself flat upon the earth and fell instantly -into a slumber so profound that it lasted until Cal -called him to breakfast next morning.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXI</h2> - -<p class="pch">DUNBAR’S STRANGE BEHAVIOR</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dunbar</span> was very silent during breakfast. He -answered courteously when spoken to, as he always -did, and there was no suggestion of surliness -in his silence. In response to inquiries he declared -that he had slept well and hoped the boys had done -the same. But he added no unnecessary word to -anything he said, and made no inquiries as to -plans for the day. His manner was that of a person -suffering under grief or apprehension or both.</p> - -<p>As soon as breakfast was over he started off -into the woods in a direction opposite to that in -which his camp lay. He took neither his rifle nor -his butterfly net with him. He simply walked -into the woodlands and disappeared.</p> - -<p>At dinner time he was nowhere to be found. -As evening drew near the boys agreed to postpone -their supper to a later hour than usual in anticipation -of his return. But late as it was when at -last they sat down to their evening meal, he was -still missing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> - -<p>The boys were beginning to be alarmed about -him, for they had already learned to like the man -and regard him as a friend.</p> - -<p>“We must do something at once,” suggested -Dick.</p> - -<p>“But what can we do?” asked Larry. “I confess -I can think of few possibilities in the way of -searching for him at this time of a very dark night—for -the clouds completely shut out the moonlight. -Has anybody a suggestion to offer? What -say you, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“First of all,” was the reply, “we must carefully -consider all the possibilities of the situation. -Then we shall be better able to lay plans of rescue -that may result in something. Let’s see. To begin -with, he hasn’t left Quasi. He hasn’t any boat -and there is absolutely no land communication with -the main. So he is somewhere on Quasi plantation.</p> - -<p>“Secondly, what can have happened to him? -Not many things that I can think of. Old woods -wanderer that he is, it isn’t likely that he has succumbed -to any woodland danger, if there are any -such dangers here, as there aren’t. There isn’t any -wild beast here more threatening than a deer or a -’possum. He had no gun with him, so he cannot -have shot himself by accident. He may have got<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> -lost, but that is exceedingly unlikely. He is used -to finding his way in the woods, and it is certain -that he thoroughly explored Quasi during the time -he was marooned here and flying his distress signal. -If by any possible chance he is lost, he’ll soon -find himself again. The only other thing I think -of is that he may have tripped and fallen, breaking -something.”</p> - -<p>“I should doubt his doing that,” said Larry, -“for he’s as nimble as any cat I ever saw. Still, -there’s the chance. What shall we do to meet -it?”</p> - -<p>“We can’t scatter out and search the woods and -thickets in the dark,” suggested Dick.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Tom; “if we did he would have to -go in search of four other lost fellows if he should -happen to turn up. But we can keep up a big fire -and we can go out a little way into the woods, fire -our shotguns, give all the college yells we know, -and then listen.”</p> - -<p>“Good suggestion, that about shooting and yelling,” -said Cal. “Besides, I like to yell on general -principles. But we shan’t need to keep up a bonfire, -and the night is very hot.”</p> - -<p>“But he might see the bonfire,” answered Tom -in defense of his plan, “and he’d come straight to -it, of course, if he’s lost.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We’ll put up something else that he can see -farther and better.”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“A fat pine torch.”</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“Did you observe a catalpa tree that stands all -alone over there on the highest part of the bluff, -which is also the highest point in the whole land -of Quasi?”</p> - -<p>“Of course, if you mean over there, near the -<i>Hunkydory’s</i> anchorage.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I mean that. There isn’t another tree -anywhere near it. I can’t imagine how it came to -grow out there on that bald bluff, unless somebody -planted it. However, that’s no matter. The tree -is there and a torch fixed in the top of it could be -seen from almost every nook and corner of Quasi, -while here we are in a pocket of trees and thick -growths of every kind. A bonfire here could be -seen a very little way off.”</p> - -<p>Cal’s modification of Tom’s plan was promptly -approved as the best possible for that night. The -company went into the woods, pausing at several -points to fire their guns and to yell like demons.</p> - -<p>No results following, they returned and set to -work making huge torches of fat pine, one of which -was kept burning in the tree-top throughout the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> -night, a fresh one being lighted whenever an old -one burned out.</p> - -<p>It was all to no purpose. Morning came and -still there was no sign of Dunbar.</p> - -<p>Breakfast was cooked and eaten, together with a -reserve supply of food for the boys to carry with -them on the search of the plantation, which they -had decided to make that day. Still no sign of the -missing man!</p> - -<p>“Now, Cal,” said Larry, “this thing is becoming -serious. We must find poor Mr. Dunbar to-day -whatever else happens. We must scour the place -till we accomplish that. We must scatter, but we -must see to it that we get together again. Suppose -you suggest a plan of procedure. You’re better -than any of us at that.”</p> - -<p>“I will,” said Cal, who had lost all disposition -to be facetious. “He may be along the shore -somewhere, so two of us had better follow the sealine, -one going one way and the other in the opposite -direction. They can cover double ground by -going through the woods and open glades, only -keeping near enough the shore to see it well. The -other two will need no directions. Their duty will -be to search the woods and thickets. Where the -woods are open they can cover the ground rapidly, -and also in the old fields wherever they haven’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> -grown up too thickly. But the denser woods and -canebrakes must be searched. Look particularly -for trails. No one can possibly pass into or through -such growths without leaving a trail behind. Look -for trails and follow them; don’t bother about the -unbroken growths. Now as to getting back here. -We must all come back well before nightfall. No -matter where we may be on Quasi, it will be easy -to find some point near from which the lone catalpa -tree can be seen. Make for that all of you and -nobody will get lost. Finally, if any of you find -Mr. Dunbar and need help, fire three shots about -half a minute apart and we’ll all go to the point of -firing. Now let’s be off.”</p> - -<p>It was nearly sunset when Tom reached the -catalpa tree on his return. He had not found Dunbar, -but for reasons of his own he waited rather -impatiently for the coming of his comrades. They -were not long delayed, but the blank, anxious face -of each as he appeared was a sufficient report to -the others.</p> - -<p>“The search is a failure!” said Larry, dejectedly.</p> - -<p>“Absolutely,” answered Cal.</p> - -<p>“No, not absolutely,” said Tom, feeling in his -pocket. “I found something, and I’ve waited till -you should all be here before speaking of it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What is it? Tell us quick.”</p> - -<p>“This,” answered Tom, drawing forth a letter, -“and this,” producing a pruning knife with a curved -blade, which they had all seen Dunbar use. “The -letter was pinned to a tree with the point of the -knife blade.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that,” said Larry, impatiently; -“read the letter.”</p> - -<p>Tom read as follows:</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“I expect to be with you young gentlemen very soon. But -in case I never see you again, please don’t think me ungrateful -for all your kindnesses. There are times when I cannot endure -a human presence—even the—”</p> - -<p class="p1">Tom stopped reading, and explained:</p> - -<p>“It breaks off right there, and there is no signature, -or address, or anything else.”</p> - -<p>The boys stared at each other in amazement, and -for a time uttered no word. When they begun -talking again it was only to wonder and offer conjectures, -and the conjectures seemed so futile that -at last the little company ceased to try to read the -riddle. Then Larry said:</p> - -<p>“Come on. There’s nothing more to be done to-night -and we’re all half famished. We must have -a good hearty supper, and then perhaps we’ll think -of something more that we can do.”</p> - -<p>“I doubt that,” said Cal; “but I say, Tom, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> -have a positive genius for finding things—turtles’ -eggs, smugglers’ camps, sweet potato patches, letters -hidden in the woods, and everything else. Perhaps -you’ll find poor Mr. Dunbar yet.”</p> - -<p>“I was just thinking of some other things that -we ought to find, and that right away.”</p> - -<p>“What things?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Mr. Dunbar’s. You know he has never -brought any of them to our camp, and we know -he writes and draws and all that. He must have -some place up near his old bivouac where he can -keep his papers and drawings and specimens dry. -It seems to me we ought—”</p> - -<p>“Of course we ought,” broke in Cal. “There -may be something there to give us a clue. What -do you say, Larry?”</p> - -<p>“It is a good suggestion of Tom’s, and we’ll act -upon it at once.”</p> - -<p>Turning in a direction opposite to that which led -to their own camp the boys visited the spot where -Dunbar had lived before they came to Quasi. They -searched in every direction, but found no trace of -any of the man’s belongings. It was rapidly growing -dark when at last they gave up the work of exploring, -and decided to resume it again in the -morning.</p> - -<p>As they approached their camp through the woods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> -and thickets, they were surprised to see their camp-fire -blazing up briskly, though none of them had -been near it since the early morning. As they came -out of the bushes, they were still more astonished -to see Dunbar busying himself with supper preparations. -Larry had just time enough before Dunbar -saw them to say to the others in an undertone:</p> - -<p>“Not a word about this, boys, until he asks.”</p> - -<p>“Good evening, young gentlemen,” was Dunbar’s -greeting, delivered in a cheery voice; “I have -taken the liberty of getting supper under way in -anticipation of your coming. I am sure you must -be tired and hungry after a hard day’s shooting. -By the way, a cup of tea is always refreshing when -one is tired, and fortunately I have a little packet -of the fragrant herb among my things. I’ll run up -there and fetch it.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he started off briskly and nimbly.</p> - -<p>“Evidently he isn’t tired, anyhow,” suggested -Dick.</p> - -<p>“And evidently he has some dry place in which -to keep his things,” added Cal, “and I mean to ask -him about it.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t,” said Larry, earnestly. “That would -be grossly impertinent.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all, if it’s done in the proper way,” Cal -replied, “and I’ll do it in that way.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> - -<p>And he did. When Dunbar returned, he carried -the tea, closely sealed up in tin foil.</p> - -<p>“Is that thin tin foil sufficient to keep tea dry?” -Cal asked.</p> - -<p>“If you keep the packet in a dry place it is,” Dunbar -answered. “The tin-foil prevents the delicate -aroma of the tea from escaping, and at the same -time forbids the leaves to absorb moisture from the -air. When I’m moving about in a boat I carefully -wrap any tea I may have in my waterproof sheets, -but that is apt to give it an undesirable flavor, so -my first care upon landing is to provide a dry storage -place for my tea, my ammunition, my papers -and whatever else I may have that needs protection. -By the way, I’ve never shown you my locker up -there. I’ll do so to-morrow morning. I’ll not forget, -as I must go there for writing and drawing -materials. I have some things in my mind that I -simply must put down on paper at once.”</p> - -<p>At that moment he thrust his hand into his pocket -and felt there for some seconds. Then he said:</p> - -<p>“That’s very unfortunate. I’ve managed to lose -my knife.”</p> - -<p>“I think I must have found it, then,” said Tom, -holding it out; “isn’t that it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, thank you. I’m particularly glad to get -it again, as it is the only one I have at Quasi. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> -usually buy half a dozen at a time, and so the loss -of one doesn’t annoy me. But just now I have only -this one.”</p> - -<p>He did not ask where or when Tom had found -the knife, nor did he seem in the least surprised -that it was found. The circumstance did not seem -to remind him of his letter or of anything else.</p> - -<p>The boys were full of wonder and curiosity, but -they asked no questions.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXII</h2> - -<p class="pch">A RAINY DAY WITH DUNBAR</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dunbar</span> was in excellent spirits that evening. -He seemed indeed like one who has had some specially -good fortune happen to him, or one suddenly -relieved of some distress or sore annoyance.</p> - -<p>Throughout the evening he talked with the boys -in a way that greatly interested them. He made -no display of learning, but they easily discovered -that his information was both vast and varied, and -better still, that his thinking was sound, and that -he was a master of the art of so presenting his -thought that others easily grasped and appreciated -it.</p> - -<p>When at last the evening was completely gone, -he bade his companions a cheery good night, saying -that he would go over to the bluff and sleep -near the catalpa tree.</p> - -<p>“You see there are no sand flies to-night,” he explained, -“and I like to smell the salt water as I -sleep.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What do you make of him, Larry?” Dick asked -as soon as their guest was beyond hearing.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I’m puzzled. What’s your opinion?”</p> - -<p>“Put it in the plural, for I’ve a different opinion -every time I think about it at all.”</p> - -<p>“Anyhow,” said Tom, “he must be crazy. Just -think—”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” interrupted Cal, “but just think also how -soundly he thinks. Let’s just call him eccentric -and let it go at that. And who wouldn’t be eccentric, -after living alone in the woods for so -long?”</p> - -<p>“After all,” Dick responded, “we’re not a commission -in lunacy, and we’re not under the smallest -necessity of defining his mental condition.”</p> - -<p>“No,” Cal assented; “it’s a good deal better to -enjoy his company and his talk than to bother our -heads about the condition of his. He’s one of the -most agreeable men I ever met—bright, cheerful, -good natured, scrupulously courteous, and about the -most interesting talker I ever listened to. So I for -one give up trying to answer conundrums, and I’m -going to bed. I wouldn’t if he were here to go on -talking, but after an evening with him to lead the -conversation, I find you fellows dull and uninteresting. -Good night. Oh, by the way, I’ll slip away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> -from here about daylight and get some pan fish for -breakfast.”</p> - -<p>Early as Cal was in setting out, he found Dunbar -on the shore ready to go with him.</p> - -<p>“I hope to get a shark,” the naturalist said, “one -big enough to show a well-developed jaw, and -they’re apt to bite at this early hour. I’ve a line in -the boat there with a copper wire snell.”</p> - -<p>“Are you specially interested in sharks?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, not ordinarily. It is only that I must -make a careful drawing or two, illustrative of the -mechanical structure and action of a shark’s jaw -and teeth, to go with an article I’m writing on the -general subject of teeth in fishes, and I wish to -draw the illustrations from life rather than from -memory. It will rain to-day, and I’m going to avail -myself of your hospitality and make the drawings -under your shelter.”</p> - -<p>“Then perhaps you’ll let us see them?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course, and all the other drawings I -have in my portfolio, if they interest you.”</p> - -<p>“They will, if you will explain and expound a -little.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar gave a pleased little chuckle as he answered:</p> - -<p>“I’ll do that to your heart’s content. You know,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> -I really think I like to hear myself talk sometimes.”</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t you? Your talk would delight -anybody else.”</p> - -<p>“Here’s my shark,” excitedly cried Dunbar, as -he played the fish. “He’s nearly three feet long, -too—a bigger one than I hoped for. Now if I can -only land him.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll help you,” said Cal, leaning over the rail -with a barbed gaff hook in his hand. “Play him -over this way—there, now once more around—here -he is safe and sound.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he lifted the savage-looking creature -into the boat and Dunbar managed, with some little -difficulty, to free the hook from his jaws without -himself having a thumb or finger bitten off.</p> - -<p>“Not a tooth broken!” he exclaimed with delight. -“I’ll dissect out the entire bony structure -of the head to-day and make a drawing of it. Then -I’m going to pack it carefully in a little box that -I’ll whittle out, and present it—if you don’t mind—to -young Wentworth. He may perhaps value it -as a souvenir of his visit to Quasi.”</p> - -<p>Cal assented more than gladly, and the two busied -themselves during the next half hour completing -their catch of whiting and croakers for breakfast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> -When they reached the camp the rain Dunbar had -predicted had set in.</p> - -<p>As soon as breakfast was over Dunbar redeemed -his promise to show the boys his lockers.</p> - -<p>“I’m going over there now,” he said, “to get -some paper, pencils and drawing board. Suppose -you go with me, if you want to see some of my -woodland devices.”</p> - -<p>They assented gladly. They were very curious -to see where and how their guest cared for his perishable -properties, the more because their own -search for the lockers had completely failed.</p> - -<p>The matter proved simple enough. Dunbar led -them a little way into the woods and then, falling -upon his knees, crawled into the end of a huge hollow -log. After he had reached the farther end of -the hollow part he lighted a little bunch of fat -pine splinters to serve as a torch, and invited his -companions to look in. They saw that he had -scraped away all the decaying wood inside the log, -leaving its hard shell as a bare wall. In this he had -fitted a number of little wooden hooks, to each of -which some of his belongings were suspended.</p> - -<p>It was a curious collection. There were cards -covered with butterflies, moths and beetles, each impaled -upon a large pin. There were the beaks and -talons of various birds of prey, each carefully labeled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> -There were bunches of feathers of various -hues, some dried botanical specimens and much else -of similar sorts.</p> - -<p>From the farther end of the hollow he brought -forth several compact little portfolios, each so arranged -that no rain could penetrate it when all -were bound together and carried like a knapsack.</p> - -<p>“I’ll take two of these portfolios with me to your -shelter,” he said, taking them under his arm. “One -of them contains the writing and drawing materials -that I shall need to-day. The other is filled with -my drawings of various interesting objects. Some -of them may be interesting to you during this rainy -day, and each has a description appended which will -enable you to understand the meaning of it.”</p> - -<p>But the boys had a rather brief time over the -drawings that day. They ran through a part of the -portfolio while Dunbar was writing, but after an -hour he put his writing aside and began dissecting -the shark’s head, stopping now and then to make a -little sketch of some detail. After that the boys -had no eyes but for the work he was doing and no -ears but for the things he said.</p> - -<p>“You see there are comparatively few species of -fish that have any teeth at all. They have no need -of teeth and therefore have never developed them.”</p> - -<p>“But why is that,” asked Tom; “I should think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> -some of the toothless varieties of fish would have -developed teeth accidentally, as it were.”</p> - -<p>“Development is never accidental in that sense, -Tom. It is Nature’s uniform law that every species -of living thing, animal or vegetable, shall tend to -develop whatever is useful to it, and nothing else. -That is Nature’s plan for the perpetuation of life -and the improvement of species.”</p> - -<p>After pausing in close attention to some detail of -his work, Dunbar went on:</p> - -<p>“You can see the same dominant principle at -work in the varying forms of teeth developed by -different species. The sheepshead needs teeth only -for the purpose of crushing the shells of barnacles -and the like, and in that way getting at its food. -So in a sheepshead’s mouth you find none but -crushing teeth. The shark, as you see, has pointed -teeth so arranged in rows that one row closes down -between two other rows in the opposite jaw, and -by a muscular arrangement the shark can work one -jaw to right and left with lightning-like rapidity, -making the saw-like row of teeth cut through almost -anything after the manner of a reaping machine. -Then there is the pike. He has teeth altogether -different from either of the others. The -pike swallows very large fish in proportion to his -own size, and his need is of teeth that will prevent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> -his prey from wriggling out of his mouth and escaping -while he is slowly trying to swallow it. Accordingly -his teeth are as small and as sharp as -cambric needles. Moreover, he has them everywhere -in his mouth—on his lips, on his tongue, -and even in his throat. However, this is no time -for a lecture. If you are interested in the subject -you can study it better by looking into fishes’ -mouths than by listening to anybody talk or by -reading books on the subject.”</p> - -<p>Again Dunbar paused in order that his attention -might be closely concentrated upon some delicate -detail of his work.</p> - -<p>When the strain upon his attention seemed at -last to relax, Cal ventured to say something—and -it was startling to his comrades.</p> - -<p>“Of course you’re right about the books on such -subjects,” he said. “For example, the most interesting -of all facts about fish isn’t so much as mentioned -in any book I can find, though I’ve searched -through several libraries for it.”</p> - -<p>“What is your fact?” asked Dunbar, suspending -his work to listen.</p> - -<p>“Why that fish do not die natural deaths. Not -one of them in a million ever does that.”</p> - -<p>“But why do you think that, Cal? What proof -is there—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, the thing’s obvious on its face. A dead -fish floats, doesn’t it? Well, in any good fishing -water, such as the Adirondack lakes, where I fished -with my father one summer, there are millions of -fish—big and little—scores of millions, even hundreds -of millions, if you count shiners and the other -minnows, that of a clear day lie in banks from the -bottom of the water to its surface. Now, if fish -died natural deaths in anything like the proportion -that all other living things do, the surface of such -lakes would be constantly covered with dead fish. -Right here at Quasi and in all these coast waters -the same thing is true. Every creek mouth is full -of fish and every shoal is alive with them, so that -we know in advance when we go fishing that we -can catch them as fast as we can take them off the -hook. If any reasonable rate of natural mortality -prevailed among them every flood tide would strew -the shores with tons of dead fish. As nothing of -the kind happens, it seems to me certain that as a -rule fish do not die a natural death. In fact, most -of them have no chance to do that, as they spend -pretty nearly their entire time in swallowing each -other alive.”</p> - -<p>“You are a close observer, Cal. You ought to -become a man of science,” said Dunbar with enthusiasm. -“Science needs men of your kind.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” answered Cal. “I imagine -Science can get on very comfortably without any -help of mine.”</p> - -<p>“How did you come to notice all that, anyhow, -Cal?” asked Dick.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it didn’t take much to suggest that sort of -thing, when the facts were staring me in the face. -Besides, I may be all wrong. What do you think -of my wild guess, Mr. Dunbar?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t a wild guess. Your conclusion may be -right or wrong—I must think of the subject carefully -before I can form any opinion as to that. But -at any rate it is a conclusion reasoned out from a -careful observation of facts, and that is nothing -like a wild guess.”</p> - -<p>Thus the conversation drifted on throughout the -long rainy day, and when night came the boys were -agreed that they had learned to know Dunbar and -appreciate him more than they could have done in -weeks of ordinary intercourse.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXIII</h2> - -<p class="pch">A GREAT CATASTROPHE</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the next fortnight or so the association -between Dunbar and the boys was intimate and -constant. When it rained, so that outdoor expeditions -were not inviting, he toiled diligently at his -writing and drawing, keeping up an interesting conversation -in the meanwhile on all manner of subjects. -In the evenings especially the talk around the -fire was entertaining to the boys and Dunbar seemed -to enjoy it as much as they. He was fond of -“drawing them out” and listening to such revelations -of personal character and capacity as their unrestrained -discussions gave.</p> - -<p>On fine days he made himself one of them, joining -heartily in every task and enthusiastically sharing -every sport afloat or afield. He was a good, -strong oarsman and he could sail a boat as well as -even Dick could. In hunting, his woodcraft was -wonderfully ingenious, and among other things he -taught the boys a dozen ways of securing game -by trapping and snaring.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You see,” he explained, “one is liable sometimes -to be caught in the woods without his gun -or without ammunition, and when that happens it is -handy to know how to get game enough to eat in -other ways than by shooting.”</p> - -<p>During all this time he had no more of his strange -moods. He never once fell into the peculiar slumber -the boys had observed before, and he never absented -himself from the company. Indeed, his enjoyment -of human association seemed to be more -than ordinarily keen.</p> - -<p>Little by little his comrades let the memory of -his former eccentricity fade out of their minds, or -if they thought of it at all they dismissed it as a -thing of no significance, due, doubtless, to habitual -living in solitude.</p> - -<p>One rainy afternoon he suddenly turned to the -boys and asked:</p> - -<p>“Does any one of you happen to know what day -of the month this is? By my count it must be -somewhere about the twenty-fifth of August.”</p> - -<p>“My little calendar,” said Cal, drawing the card -from a pocket and looking at it attentively for a -moment, “takes the liberty of differing with you in -opinion, Mr. Dunbar. It insists that this is the -thirty-first day of August, of the year eighteen hundred -and eighty-six.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> - -<p>Dunbar almost leaped to his feet in surprise. After -a brief period of thought he turned to Larry and -asked:</p> - -<p>“I wonder if you boys would mind sailing with -me over to the nearest postoffice town early to-morrow -morning.”</p> - -<p>“Why, you know, Mr. Dunbar,” Larry answered, -“to-morrow morning is mortgaged. We’re all -going out after that deer you’ve located. Won’t -the next day answer just as well for your trip?”</p> - -<p>“Unfortunately, no. I gave my word that I -would post certain writings and drawings to the -publisher not later than noon on September 1, and -the printers simply must not be kept waiting. Of -course, if you can’t—”</p> - -<p>“But we can and will,” answered Larry. “Your -business is important—the deer hunt is of no consequence. -But you’ll come back with us, will you -not?”</p> - -<p>“I shall be delighted to do so if I may,” he answered. -“I’m enjoying it here with you, and my -work never before got on so well with so little toil -over it. I shall like to come back with you and stay -at Quasi as long as you boys do.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good news—altogether good. How -long are you likely to be detained at the village?”</p> - -<p>“Only long enough to post my letter and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> -manuscript—not more than half an hour at the -most.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, then. We shall want to buy all the -bread and that sort of thing there is to be had over -there, but we can easily do that within your half -hour. We’ll start about sunrise, and if the wind -favors us we’ll be back by noon or a little later, and -even if we have no wind, the oars will bring us -back before nightfall.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar at once set to work to arrange and pack -the drawings he wished to send by mail, and as -there were titles to write and explanatory paragraphs -to revise, the work occupied him until supper -time. In the meanwhile the boys prepared the -boat, filled the water kegs, bestowed a supply of -fishing tackle, and overhauled the rigging to see -that every rope was clear and every pulley in free -running order.</p> - -<p>After supper there was not a very long evening -for talk around the fire, for, with an early morning -start in view, they must go early to their bunks.</p> - -<p>They all rolled themselves in their blankets about -nine o’clock and soon were sleeping soundly—the -boys under the shelter and Dunbar under the starry -sky—for the rain had passed away—by that side -of the fire which was opposite the camp hut.</p> - -<p>Their slumber had not lasted for an hour when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> -suddenly they were awakened by a combination of -disturbances amply sufficient, as Dick afterwards -said, “to waken the denizens of a cemetery.”</p> - -<p>The very earth was swaying under them and -rocking back and forth like a boat lying side on to a -swell. Deep down—miles beneath the surface it -seemed, there was a roar which sounded to Cal like -“forty thousand loose-jointed wagons pulled by -runaway horses across a rheumatic bridge.”</p> - -<p>As the boys sprang to their feet they found difficulty -in standing erect, and before they could run -out of their shelter, it plunged forward and fell -into the fire, where the now dried palmete leaves -which constituted its roof and walls, and the resinous -pine poles of its framework, instantly blazed -up in a fierce, crackling flame.</p> - -<p>“Quick!” cried Dunbar, as Larry, Dick and Cal -extricated themselves from the mass, “quick—help -here! Tom is entangled in the ruins.”</p> - -<p>The response was instantaneous, and before the -rapidly-spreading flames could reach him, the other -four had literally dragged their comrade from the -confused mass of poles and vines in which he had -been imprisoned. If the work of rescue had been -prolonged for even a minute more, it would have -been too late, and Tom would have been burned to -a crisp. As it was, he was choking with smoke, -coughing with a violence that threatened the rupture -of his breathing apparatus somewhere, and -so nearly smothered for want of air as to be only -half conscious.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/ill-341.jpg" width="400" height="612" id="i320" - alt="" - title="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="pc"><span class="smcap">A minute more, it would have been too late</span>.<br /><span class="wn"><i>Page 320.</i></span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p> - -<p>A bucket of water which Dunbar had dashed over -him “set him going again,” as he afterwards described -the process of recovering breath and consciousness, -and as the paroxysms of coughing slowly -ceased he stood erect by way of announcing a recovery -which he was still unable to proclaim in -words.</p> - -<p>At that moment a second shock of earthquake -occurred, a shock less violent than the first, but sufficient -to topple Tom and Larry off their feet again.</p> - -<p>It did no harm, chiefly because there was no -further harm to do, and the little company busied -themselves saving what they could of their belongings -from the burning ruins.</p> - -<p>After they had worked at this for ten minutes, a -third shock came. It was feebler than either of the -others, but just as the boys felt the earth swaying -again there was an explosion under the burning -mass, followed by a rapid succession of smaller explosions -which scattered shot about in a way so -dangerous that at Cal’s command all the company -threw themselves prone upon the ground.</p> - -<p>This lasted for perhaps a minute, and fortunately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> -nobody received a charge of shot in his person from -the bursting cartridges that had made the racket. -Fortunately, too, the box of cartridges thus caught -in the flames and destroyed was the only one involved -in the catastrophe. The rest had been kept, -not in the hut, but in the <i>Hunkydory’s</i> lockers.</p> - -<p>But when they came to take account of their -losses, which they did as soon as the first excitement -had passed away, they found that the damage -done had been considerable.</p> - -<p>For one thing, their entire supply of meat was -destroyed; so was their bread and their coffee.</p> - -<p>“We shall not starve, anyhow,” Cal decided. -“We can kill as much game as we need and as the -bottom doesn’t seem to have dropped out of the sea, -we can still catch fish, oysters, shrimps and crabs. -As for bread, we still have Tom’s sweet potato -patch to draw upon. There wasn’t more than a -pound of coffee left, so that’s no great loss.”</p> - -<p>For the rest, the very few clothes the boys had -brought with them in addition to what they wore, -were all lost, but they decided that they could get -on without them—“Mr. Dunbar’s fashion.” Tom -was the worst sufferer in that respect, as the garments -he wore had been badly torn in his rescue -from the fire, but he cheerfully announced:</p> - -<p>“I can manage very well. I’ll decline all dinner,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> -dance and other invitations that require a -change from every-day dress. I’ll have some cards -engraved announcing that ‘Mr. Thomas Garnett -is detained at the South and will not be at home -to receive his friends until further notice.’ Then -I’ll borrow some of your beetle-detaining pins, Mr. -Dunbar, and pin up the worst of the rents in my -trousers.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do better than that, Tom,” the naturalist -answered. “I’ve quite a little sewing kit tucked -away in my log locker. You shall have needles, -thread and a thimble whenever you wish to use -them.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mr. Dunbar; but please spare me -the thimble. I never could use a contrivance of -that kind. Every time I have tried I have succeeded -only in driving the needle into my hand and -breaking it off well beneath the skin.”</p> - -<p>“Boy like,” answered Dunbar. “You’re the -victim of a traditional defect in our system of education.”</p> - -<p>“Would you mind explaining?” asked Cal.</p> - -<p>“Certainly not. I hold that the education of -every human being ought to include a reasonable -mastery of all the simple arts that one is likely to -find useful in emergencies. We do not expect girls -to become accountants, as a rule, but we do not on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> -that account leave the multiplication table out of a -girl’s school studies. In the same way we do not -expect boys generally to do much sewing when they -grow to manhood, but as every man is liable to meet -emergencies in which a little skill in the use of -needle, thread and scissors may make all the difference -between comfort and discomfort, every boy -ought to be taught plain sewing. However, we -have other things to think of just now.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed we have,” answered Cal, “and the most -pressing one of those other things is to-morrow -morning’s breakfast. Does it occur to any of you -that, except the salt in the dory’s locker, we haven’t -an ounce of food of any kind in our possession?”</p> - -<p>“That is so,” “I hadn’t thought of that;” “and -we’ll all be hungry, too, for of course we shall not -sleep”—these were the responses that came quickly -in answer to Cal’s suggestion.</p> - -<p>“We’ll manage the matter in this way,” said Cal, -quite as if no one else had spoken. “When ’yon -grey streaks that fret the clouds give indication of -the dawn,’ Mr. Dunbar will go fishing. As soon as -it grows light enough for you to walk through the -woods without breaking more than two or three -necks apiece, the rest of you can take that big piece -of tarpaulin, go out to Tom’s potato patch, and -bring back a large supply of sweet potatoes. After<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> -breakfast one or two of us can go for some game, -while the rest repair damages here. It will take two -or three days to do that.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he looked about him as if to estimate -the extent of the harm done.</p> - -<p>“Hello!” he cried out a moment later. “That’s -bad, very bad.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Why, our well has completely disappeared—filled -up to the level by the surrounding earth, which -seems to have lost its head and in that way got -itself ‘into a hole,’ just as people do when they forget -discretion. That means that we’ve got to dig -out the well to-day, and in the meantime drink that -stuff from the spring down under the bluff. Our -day’s work is cut out for us, sure enough.”</p> - -<p>Tom had disappeared in the darkness while Cal -was speaking, and as Cal continued to speak for -a considerable time afterwards, marking out what -Dick called a “programme of convenience,” he had -not finished when Tom returned and in breathless -excitement announced that the spring under the bluff -was no more.</p> - -<p>“The whole of that part of the bluff has slumped -down to the beach,” he said, “and even the big -catalpa tree is uprooted and overturned. Of course -the spring is completely filled up, and we’ll all be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> -half famished for water before we get the well dug -out again.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t indulge in too hopeless a grief over the -loss of the spring, Tom,” said Cal in his most confidently -optimistic tone. “We can make another -just as good anywhere down there in half an hour -or less. That puddle held nothing but sea water -that had leaked through the sand, partly filtering -itself in doing so. We can dig a little hole anywhere -down that way, and if we choose the right -sort of place we’ll get better water than the spring -ever yielded. I’ll look after that when Mr. Dunbar -and I go fishing. We’ll have the sand out of this -well by noon, too—it’s very loose and easily handled.”</p> - -<p>“But, Cal,” interrupted Tom; “we haven’t a -thing to dig with. The two shovels we had were in -the hut.”</p> - -<p>The others stood aghast; Cal faced the situation -with hopeful confidence.</p> - -<p>“That’s bad,” he commented. “Of course the -handles are burned up, but the iron part remains, -and even with the meagre supply of cutting tools we -have—which is to say our jackknives and the little -ax—we can fashion new ones. It will take -valuable time, but we must reconcile ourselves to -that.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, we must get to work at something—it’s -hard to know where to begin,” said Larry in a -despondent tone. “What’s the first thing to be -done, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“The first thing to be done is to cheer up; the -next thing is to stay cheered up. You fellows are -in the dumps worse than the well is, and you’ve got -to get out of them if you have to lift yourselves out -by the straps of your own boots. What’s the matter -with you, anyhow? Have we lived a life of easy -luxury here at Quasi for so long that you’ve forgotten -that this is an expedition in search of sport -and adventure? Isn’t this earthquake overthrow an -adventure of the liveliest sort? Isn’t the loss of -our belongings by fire a particularly adventurous -happening?”</p> - -<p>“After all,” broke in Tom, who had a genuine -relish for danger, difficulty and hardship, “after -all, we’re not in half as bad a situation as we were -when we faced the revenue officers from behind our -log breastwork. Our lives were really in danger -then, while now we have nothing worse than difficulty -to face.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and a few months hence we’ll all remember -this thing with joy and talk of it with glee.”</p> - -<p>“You’re right about that,” said Dunbar, “and it -is always so. I have gone through many trying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> -experiences, and as I recall them the most severely -trying of them are the ones I remember with the -greatest pleasure. Besides, in this case the way of -escape, even from such difficulties as lie before you, -is wide open. The dory is at anchor down there -and if you are so minded you can sail away from -it all.”</p> - -<p>“What! Turn tail and run!” exclaimed Tom, -almost indignantly.</p> - -<p>“No, we’re not thinking of that,” said Cal. -“We’ll see the thing out, and, by the way, it’s growing -daylight. Come, Mr. Dunbar! We have a -pressing engagement with the fish and we must have -an early breakfast this morning on all accounts. -We have a lot to do, and you mustn’t be later than -noon in reaching the postoffice, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve abandoned that,” responded Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“But why?” asked Larry. “Of course we can’t -go with you as we planned, but you can take the -dory and make the trip for yourself. And perhaps -you won’t mind taking some money along and buying -out whatever food supplies the country store -over there can furnish. We need bread especially, -and coffee and—”</p> - -<p>“And a few pounds of cheese won’t come amiss,” -added Dick.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But I tell you I am not going,” said Dunbar. -“I have accepted and enjoyed your hospitality when -all was going well with you; do you suppose I’m -going to abandon you even for a day, now that -you’re in trouble and need all the help you can get?”</p> - -<p>“Your reasoning is excellent,” said Cal, purposely -lapsing into his old habit of elaborate -speech, by way of relieving the tension that had -made his comrades feel hurried and harassed; -“your reasoning is excellent, but your premises -are utterly wrong. You can help us mightily by -sailing up to that postoffice town and bringing back -the supplies we need, while you cannot help us at -all by remaining here. We four are more than -enough to keep the few tools we have left constantly -busy. With a fifth person included in the -construction gang, there would always be one of us -who must idly hold his hands for want of anything -to work with. No, Mr. Dunbar, the best service -you can render to the common cause is to sail up to -the village, redeem your promise by mailing your -papers, and bring back all you can of provisions -adapted to our use. So that’s settled, isn’t it, -boys?”</p> - -<p>Their answer left no room for further argument, -and as the daylight was steadily growing stronger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> -the party separated, Cal and Dunbar going in -quest of fish for breakfast, and the others struggling -through tangled thickets toward the wild -sweet potato field.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXIV</h2> - -<p class="pch">MAROONED AT QUASI</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was a bright, sunny day that followed—a -day offering no suggestion of the convulsion of the -night before. There was a good sailing breeze -blowing in from the sea. It gave Dunbar the wind -over the starboard quarter for his voyage to the -village, and promised to be nearly abeam for his -return.</p> - -<p>“The dory will take me there and back by noon -or a little later,” he called to the others as the sails -filled and the boat heeled over to port.</p> - -<p>The Rutledge boys had urged him to take the -money they offered him for the purchase of supplies, -but he had declined.</p> - -<p>“I have a plenty of my own,” was his answer, -“and whatever I can buy up there I’ll bring back -as my contribution to the general welfare.”</p> - -<p>It was idle to argue the matter, and not very -safe either, Dick thought, for in their intercourse -with him the boys had learned that with all his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> -kindly good-nature, Dunbar was exceedingly proud -and very sensitive.</p> - -<p>When the dory had gone, the boys set to work -with a will upon the task of re-establishing Camp -Quasi. Tom was sent out after game. Dick, who -was the cleverest of them all in using tools, and -especially his jackknife, busied himself in fitting -new handles into their two shovels. With these -and the bait pails for excavating tools, the three -who remained in camp toiled diligently in removing -the sand from their well.</p> - -<p>Tom returned a little before noon, bringing in -game enough of one kind and another to keep the -company in meat for two days to come.</p> - -<p>There was no sign of Dunbar and the dory as -yet, and as the rest were hungry, it was decided -that Cal should cook dinner at once, while Tom -worked at the well in his stead. The cooking occupied -a considerable time, and it was two o’clock -in the afternoon when the tired boys finished eating. -They had not slept since the earthquake at ten -o’clock the night before; they had worked hard -during the night in an endeavor to save what they -could of their belongings, and they had worked -still harder ever since dawn. Moreover, the excitement -had been even more wearying than the -work. Now that it had passed away and its victims<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> -had eaten a hearty dinner, the desire for rest -and sleep became irresistible.</p> - -<p>Cal had made measurements and reported that -two hours more of digging, or perhaps even less -than that, would give them a water supply once -more. At Larry’s suggestion, therefore, the worn-out -fellows decided to sleep for an hour or two.</p> - -<p>“We’ll do the rest of the well-digging in the -cool of the late afternoon,” he said between a succession -of yawns.</p> - -<p>“Let’s hope,” said Tom, “that Mr. Dunbar won’t -get here and wake us up before we’re ready.”</p> - -<p>“There’s not much danger of that,” answered -Cal.</p> - -<p>“Why not, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“You’d know without asking if you were as -observant to-day as you usually are. I suppose -you didn’t notice that the wind died out before -noon, and there hasn’t been a sailing breath since.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” said Tom, “and he’ll have to row -the whole way. I ought to have thought of that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, please don’t apologize now. It would -only keep us awake when every moment is precious -for slumber. I give notice now that I’m asleep and -you can’t pull another word out of me with a corkscrew.”</p> - -<p>When the weary fellows waked the afternoon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> -was nearly gone, but before resuming their work, -and by way of refreshing themselves for it, they -went down to the beach and took a plunge into the -sea.</p> - -<p>“No sign of Mr. Dunbar yet,” said Tom, who -was beginning to be uneasy.</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Larry, “but we needn’t bother -about him. He’ll turn up quite unexpectedly when -he gets ready. He always does that you know. -What we’ve got to do is to finish our well in the -shortest possible time. So, on with your duds, and -let’s get to work.”</p> - -<p>“You’re ‘mighty right,’ Larry,” said Dick. -“I’ve quenched my thirst with sour wild grapes -till my teeth have an edge like those of a buck-saw, -and I begin to crave some unseasoned water.”</p> - -<p>“I imagine we’re all in the same condition,” said -Cal, as they hurried back to the ruins of the camp, -“and it is altogether well that we are so.”</p> - -<p>“How’s that, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Why, stimulated by thirst and encouraged by -a sure prospect of reward, we’ll stop fooling away -our time and do a little real work.”</p> - -<p>Two hours later there was an abundant water -supply in the well, and it had so far “settled” that -the boys drank it freely with their late supper.</p> - -<p>When the meal was over they all strolled down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> -to the shore again and listened for the sound of -oars in the direction from which Dunbar was expected. -Nobody had suggested this. No word of -uneasiness had been uttered, but every member of -the company was in fact uneasy about the missing -member of the group. After their return to camp -this feeling was recognized as something in the -minds of all. Presently Tom offered a suggestion:</p> - -<p>“What do you think, Larry? Won’t it be just -as well to show a light down that way, in case he -should have trouble in finding the landing during -the night?”</p> - -<p>“That’s a good idea, Tom, but we’re so nearly -out of oil now—indeed, we haven’t any except -what is in the lanterns—that it must be a -torch—”</p> - -<p>“Or a camp-fire,” suggested Cal. “There are -no sand flies to-night, and there’s nothing to keep -us here. Why not move down to the bluffs and -build a camp-fire there? Then we can sleep by it -and keep it going all night.”</p> - -<p>This plan was carried out, but it resulted in nothing. -When the boys returned to their work of -rebuilding the shelter the next morning, Dunbar had -not yet made his appearance, nor was anything to -be seen of the dory in such of the waterways as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> -were open to view between the mud marshes that -dotted the great bay or inlet in every direction.</p> - -<p>But as the boys busied themselves with their work -on the hut, their minds were occupied and their -anxiety as to Dunbar was less than during the -night before.</p> - -<p>When another day had passed, however, and still -Dunbar did not return, that anxiety became very -keen indeed. They built their fire again on the -bluff, and they tried hard to sleep by it, but with -little success. They would resolve to stop talking -and go to sleep, and for a few minutes all would be -quiet. Then one after another would grow restless -and sit up, or walk about, or say something that -set the talk going again.</p> - -<p>Presently, when all had given up the attempt to -sleep, Larry made a final end of all efforts in that -direction by saying:</p> - -<p>“You see, boys, this thing is really very serious. -We are all anxious about Mr. Dunbar’s safety, but -we’ve got our own to think about also.”</p> - -<p>Every one of the company had thought of that, -but until now all of them had avoided mentioning -it.</p> - -<p>“You see it isn’t Mr. Dunbar alone that is missing; -the dory is gone too, and if he doesn’t return -the dory won’t.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No, and in that case,” commented Dick, “our -situation will be really very serious. We are here -on what is practically an island that nobody ever -visits; we are without a boat, and there is no possible -way of escape from here without one.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t we build some sort of craft that will -answer our purpose?” asked Tom, hopefully.</p> - -<p>“What with?” Larry responded. “We have -no materials and no tools except the one little ax. -There isn’t so much as a nail anywhere on Quasi -plantation, and if there were kegs full, we haven’t -a hammer to hit them with.”</p> - -<p>“We might drive nails with stones,” suggested -Dick.</p> - -<p>“We might if we had one of your Massachusetts -quarries to furnish the stones. But on all this -coast there isn’t a rock or a stone as big as a filbert. -No, we have no tools and no substitutes for tools.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” growled Cal, who alone was lying down -with closed eyes in an endeavor to get to sleep, -“and you fellows are doing all you can to wear -out the strength we need for the emergency by -profitless chatter, when we ought to be sleeping and -refreshing ourselves to meet conditions as they -arise. Don’t you see the folly of that? Don’t you -realize that you aren’t bettering things, but making -them worse?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The very worst preparation for meeting difficulties -is to fall into a panic about them. Besides, -there’s no occasion for panic or for melancholy -brooding; Dunbar may turn up with the dory safe -and sound. If he doesn’t, I grant you we’ll have -some problems to wrestle with and we’ll need the -clearest heads we can keep on our shoulders. -You’re doing all you can to muddle them.”</p> - -<p>“But, Cal, it is necessary to face this situation -and think of ways in which—”</p> - -<p>“That’s precisely what you’re not doing. Not -one of you has offered a single suggestion that is -worth while. Besides, this isn’t the time for that. -Troubles always look worse at night than by daylight. -The best we can do now is to make up our -minds to two things.”</p> - -<p>“What are they, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“First, that if we’re in a hole, we’ll find some -way of getting out of it, and, second, that it is -high time to go to sleep.”</p> - -<p>“Have you thought of any plans, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Not exactly; but I have some ideas that may -be worthy of attention on the part of this distinguished -company, if this distinguished company -will individually and collectively stop gabbing and -let sleep respond to the wooing of closed eyelids. -Silence in camp!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXV</h2> - -<p class="pch">AGAIN TOM FINDS SOMETHING</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> morning came all the boys admitted that -Cal had been right in saying that troubles exaggerate -themselves at night and seem far less hopeless -when faced by daylight. The situation was the -same that morning that it had been at midnight, -but it did not seem so bad. Dunbar had not appeared -and every hour that passed made it less -probable that he ever would return. But somehow -even that prospect did not altogether appal the boys -when they thought of it by daylight.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, their minds were greatly disturbed -as they waited throughout that day for Cal to unbosom -himself of the ideas and suggestions he -had promised to offer. They hoped he would do -so at breakfast, but he talked instead of plans for -that day’s work in rebuilding the hut. While they -were engaged in building it there was no opportunity -for him to set forth his views; they could -not get together to hear his plans without delaying -the work, and they were agreed that nothing must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> -be permitted to interrupt that. They looked forward -to dinner as the opportunity he would probably -seize upon for explaining, but when during -that meal some one threw out a hint that that was -as good a time as any, Cal replied:</p> - -<p>“We’ll wait till evening; we must give Mr. Dunbar -till then to return. If he doesn’t put in an -appearance by sunset to-day we may as well give -up looking for him. Then will be the time for discussing -the situation and planning ways out of it. -Now we’ll all get to work again.”</p> - -<p>There was something in Cal’s manner and in his -general cheerfulness which comforted his comrades, -though it would have puzzled them to say how or -why. It was evident at any rate that Cal had not -lost hope. It was obvious that he saw nothing in -the situation that should suggest despair, and his -manifest confidence was in some degree contagious.</p> - -<p>The sun was still an hour high when suddenly -Cal called out:</p> - -<p>“Suppose we let it go at that, boys. The thing’s -good enough as it stands and we can get on with -it for the few weeks that remain of our stay at -Quasi.”</p> - -<p>“Then you really see a way out?” asked Larry. -“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Come on over to the bluff and we’ll have a last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> -look for Mr. Dunbar. If he isn’t within sight we’ll -give him up and make up our minds that we shall -never see the <i>Hunkydory</i> again. Then we’ll talk -the thing over and see what is to be done.”</p> - -<p>They set out for the bluff, restraining their impatience -to hear what Cal might have to say with -a good deal of difficulty, and only because they -must. They knew he would say nothing until he -should be ready, and that if they hurried him he -would remain silent the longer.</p> - -<p>No sign appearing of Dunbar or the dory, Cal -sat down with the others and seemed ready to say -what was in his mind.</p> - -<p>“This is a situation that we didn’t reckon upon, -but it is by no means hopeless, and we shall enjoy -talking about it as the crowning event in our trip -to Quasi when we come to think of it only as a -memory.”</p> - -<p>“But we’re not out of it yet,” interrupted Larry, -“and I for one see no prospect of getting out.”</p> - -<p>“There speaks despair, born of pessimism,” Cal -smilingly said. “‘Hope springs eternal in the human -breast,’ you know, and my breast is altogether -human and hopeful. But let us suppose your despair -is well founded, and see what then. At worst -we shall not starve to death. There is plenty of -game—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, and fish too,” Tom interjected.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and fish too. It won’t be easy to get -them without a boat, but we’ll manage in some -way.”</p> - -<p>“We can easily make a raft to fish from,” suggested -Dick.</p> - -<p>“I had thought of that,” resumed Cal, “but it’s -impracticable.”</p> - -<p>“Why so?”</p> - -<p>“Because we have no anchor and nothing that -will serve as a substitute for one. Of course the -tide would quickly sweep our raft away from any -bar we might try to fish upon. No, what fish we -get will have to be caught with the castnet at low -tide, and in the mouths of sloughs where mullets -feed, particularly at night. But there is game, and -there are oysters, and no end of crabs. We shall -not starve to death. We have no bread left, and -Tom’s sweet potato patch is about exhausted, but -we can live on the other things for the two or three -weeks that we must stay here.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve said something like that several times, -Cal,” said Larry, with a touch of impatience. -“What do you mean by it?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that this is the beginning of September; -that the college session will begin on the first of October—less -than a month hence; that our honored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> -parents expect us to be in attendance at that time; and -that if we don’t get home in time to pack our trunks -they will send out and search for us; and finally, -that as Major Rutledge, of Charleston, whom I -have the honor to call father, knew in advance that -we intended to visit Quasi on this trip, Quasi will -be the place at which he will first look for us. So -we’ll have our little frolic out and it will be great -fun to tell the fellows at college about it after we -get acquainted with them.”</p> - -<p>The spirits of the boys responded promptly to -Cal’s confident prophecy, which indeed was not so -much a prophecy as a statement of simple facts -known to all of them, though in their half panic-stricken -mood they had not thought of them before.</p> - -<p>Presently Dick had something to say that added a -new impulse to activity.</p> - -<p>“Of course, Cal is right, and we’ll be rescued -from Quasi before the end of the month, but I for -one would like us to get away without being rescued. -Think of the alarm and distress our mothers -will suffer if we do not turn up in time, especially -as this earthquake has happened. They will think -we’ve come to grief in some way and—I say, boys, -we simply <i>must</i> get away from here before they -take the alarm.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We certainly ought to if there was any way,” -said Cal, “but of course there isn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there is,” answered Dick, confidently. -“You’re the pessimist this time, Cal.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead and tell us your plan,” responded -Cal. “I’m always ready for the hopeful prospect -if I can find it. What do you propose, Dick?”</p> - -<p>“To build a sort of catamaran. It can’t be -much of a craft because we have no tools and no -fit materials, but these waters are so closely land-locked -that all we need is to make something that -will float. We can paddle it to the village up there, -ten miles or so away, and from there we can walk -to the railroad.”</p> - -<p>“So far, so good,” said Cal, when Dick ceased -to speak. “Go on and tell us the rest.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Why the ‘how’ of it all. What is the plan -of your catamaran, and how are we to make it?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be sceptical, Cal, till you’ve—”</p> - -<p>“I’m not sceptical—not a bit. I’m only asking -what we are to do and how, so that we may get to -work at it early in the morning, or to-night, for -that matter, if there’s anything that can be done -by fire light. You spoke of our parents awhile ago, -and of the alarm they must feel if we don’t get -back on time. I’ve been thinking of my mother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> -ever since. She’s an invalid, you know, and a -shock of that sort might kill her. So I’m ready -to work by night or by day, or both, if it will help -to spare her. Go on and tell us your plan.”</p> - -<p>“I will. You know, of course, what a catamaran -is, so I need not explain that. We will cut -two logs, about twelve or fourteen feet long, one -of them eight or ten inches thick and the other a -mere pole. We’ll hew their ends sharp—boat-fashion—and -lay them parallel to each other, -seven feet or so apart. We’ll fasten them securely -in place with stout poles at the bow and stern and -amidships, binding the poles in place with limber -vines. That will complete our framework. Then -we’ll place a light pole longitudinally on the cross -braces and about three feet inside the larger of our -two logs. From the log to this pole we’ll construct -a light deck of cane on which to stand as we paddle -and push the craft along. Of course it will be -a rude thing, very hard to manage, but as no part -of it will be in the water except the two logs—one -a mere pole—it will offer very little resistance, -not half as much as a raft would.”</p> - -<p>“No, not a tenth,” answered Larry.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” said Cal. “We’re burning daylight. -This job is yours, Dick, and you are to -boss it, but I’ll be foreman of the gang and keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> -myself and the rest of you at work. We’ll let supper -go till after dark, and utilize what’s left of the -daylight in cutting cane, vines, poles and whatever -else you need. Then we’ll be ready in the -morning to cut the logs and begin the work of -construction. Hoop la! We’ll be afloat again before -the week’s up! Dick, you’re a dandy, and -I’ll never accuse you of pessimism again. ‘Look -up and not down, forward and not back, out and -not in, and lend a hand.’ Dr. Hale put all there -is of sound philosophy into that one sentence.”</p> - -<p>After the darkness made an end of work for -that day the boys sat down gleefully to their supper, -and hopefully laid plans for the morrow. -Presently Larry jestingly turned to Tom:</p> - -<p>“It’s your turn now, Tom. You are credited -in this company with something like a genius for -finding things at the critical moment when we need -them most. Why don’t you bring your abilities -to bear on the present situation and find something—a -chest of tools or a keg of nails, or something -else useful?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I will,” answered Tom. “Anyhow, -I’m going out now to see what I can find in three -traps I set yesterday. There have been coon tracks -over that way every morning recently, and the gentleman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> -who made them may have walked into one -of my traps.”</p> - -<p>The boys kept a number of torches ready for -lighting, now that the lack of oil rendered the lanterns -useless, and taking one of these with him, -Tom set out to inspect his traps. He was gone for -so long that his comrades were wondering what -had become of him, when suddenly he appeared, -coming from the direction of the bluff, though he -had gone quite the opposite way.</p> - -<p>“Did you get your coon?” asked Larry.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Tom; “but I found something.”</p> - -<p>“What was it, and where is it?”</p> - -<p>“Be patient and I’ll tell you about it. After I -had looked at my traps it occurred to me that I -might as well come back by way of the bluffs, on -the chance—”</p> - -<p>“Ah, I guess it all,” interrupted Cal. “You -found the dory at anchor there and Mr. Dunbar -busy polishing his finger nails preparatory to his -return to camp. Or perhaps you found a—”</p> - -<p>“Stop your nonsense, Cal,” commanded Larry. -“Don’t you see that Tom really has something to -tell us!”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead, Tom; I’m as mum as the Sphinx,” -answered Cal, who found it difficult to keep his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> -jubilant spirits within bounds now that he had -something to do which promised results.</p> - -<p>Tom resumed:</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether it means anything or -not, but it’s interesting at any rate and I may as -well tell you about it. As I was passing the uprooted -catalpa tree, my foot sank into wet sand, -and as the sand there had always been as dry as -powder, I looked about to see what it meant. To -my surprise I saw water trickling out from under -the roots of the tree, and I went close up to inspect. -As I was looking at the new-born spring -my eye was caught by something curiously entangled -among the upturned roots of the tree. It -was so wound about by the roots and so buried in -sand that I could make out its shape only in part, -and that with difficulty. To make matters worse -my torch was burned out by that time, so that I -had only my fingers to explore with. I felt of the -thing carefully, and made out that it is a keg of -the kind that people sell gunpowder in. But I -could get at only a small part of the chine, so I -could learn no more about it. We can cut the roots -away and dig it out to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll cut the roots away and dig it out to-night,” -answered Cal, rising and lighting a torch.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> -“We have work to do to-morrow and can’t spare -time. Besides, this is a mystery and we sha’n’t sleep -till we solve it; grab a cold torch each of you and -come on. I’ll carry the little ax.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXVI</h2> - -<p class="pch">WHAT THE EARTH GAVE UP</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tom’s</span> account of the way in which the powderkeg -was entangled in the roots of the catalpa tree -was more than borne out by the fact as the boys -found it. It seemed to them a wonder that Tom -had discovered it at all, so completely was it -wrapped up in the knotted mass of root growths.</p> - -<p>After digging away the earth until the whole -root entanglement was exposed to view, the boys -set Dick Wentworth at work cutting away the roots -with his jackknife, a thing at which only one person -could work at a time. When Dick’s hand -grew tired, another of the boys relieved him at the -task and the work was hurried as much as possible, -not so much because it was growing late as because -the little company’s curiosity was intense.</p> - -<p>“Wonder how on earth anybody ever got the -thing under the roots of a tree that way?” ventured -Tom, as he toiled with his knife.</p> - -<p>“Simple enough,” answered Cal. “He didn’t -do it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How did it get there, then?”</p> - -<p>“Why, the tree grew there after the keg was -buried, of course. Somebody stuck a catalpa bean -in the ground directly over the keg. Probably the -man who buried the thing did that; he wanted to -provide a landmark by which to find the spot again, -and probably he knew there wasn’t another catalpa -tree on all Quasi plantation.”</p> - -<p>“But that tree has been standing here a long -time—twenty or twenty-five years I should say.”</p> - -<p>“That only means that the keg was buried here -twenty or twenty-five years ago at the least, and -’pon my word, it looks it.”</p> - -<p>“What I’m wondering about,” interposed Larry, -“is what the keg contains. It must be something -important or nobody would have taken the pains to -bury it and plant a tree over it.”</p> - -<p>“And yet,” argued Dick, “if it is anything important, -why did anybody bury it away out here -and never come back for it?”</p> - -<p>“It all depends,” answered Cal, “on just what -you mean by ‘important.’ Things are important -sometimes and utterly unimportant at others; important -to one person and of no consequence to -anybody else. At this moment I feel that my -breakfast in the morning is becoming a thing of -very great importance to me; but I don’t suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> -poor Dunbar, wherever he is, cares a fig about it.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, what can have become of the -poor fellow? I wonder if he managed to fall out -of the dory and get drowned?”</p> - -<p>It was Tom who asked the question. Cal, who -had thought a great deal about the matter, answered -it promptly:</p> - -<p>“That isn’t likely,” he said. “Indeed, it is -scarcely possible. Dunbar was too good a boatman -to fall overboard, and too good a swimmer to -drown if he did. He would have climbed back -into the dory with no worse consequence than a -ducking in warm sea water.”</p> - -<p>“What’s your theory then, Cal?”</p> - -<p>“Why, that he has had one of his peculiar -‘spells.’ You remember that when he was missing -from camp the last time he wrote us a letter, -but when his lost knife was returned to him he -seemed to remember nothing about it. More than -that, he seemed to think the day he returned -was the same as the day he went away. In -other words, his memory was a blank as to the -time he was away. Then, too, you remember that -when we first found him here he couldn’t remember -whether he had come three weeks or four weeks -before. Still again, you remember how badly he -was mixed up about the date just before he went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> -away this time, and that too in spite of the fact -that he had important papers to post before a given -time.”</p> - -<p>“Then you think he’s crazy?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about that, because I’m not a -doctor or an alienist, or anything else of the kind. -But I think he has a way of losing himself now -and then, though at ordinary times his head is a remarkably -clear one.”</p> - -<p>“I have read of such cases,” said Dick. “They -call it ‘double consciousness,’ I believe. I don’t -know whether it is regarded as a kind of insanity -or not. Then you think, Cal—”</p> - -<p>“I hardly know what I think. You see I don’t -know the facts in this case. We know absolutely -nothing of what Dunbar did or what happened to -him after he passed out of sight behind the marsh -island over there. So we haven’t enough facts to -base any thinking at all upon. But it has occurred -to me that after he left us one of his fits of self-forgetfulness -may have come on, and it may have -lasted ever since.”</p> - -<p>At this point the discussion of Dunbar’s case -was brought to an end by an unexpected happening. -As Tom tugged hard at one of the larger roots in an -effort to loosen its hold, the keg suddenly fell to -pieces. The oaken staves and headings seemed still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> -to be fairly sound, but the iron hoops that had held -the keg together had been so eaten with rust that -they fell into fragments under the strain and the -staves tumbled together in a loose pile.</p> - -<p>From among them Tom drew forth something, -and all the boys held their torches close while examining -it.</p> - -<p>“What is it, anyhow?” was the question on -every lip.</p> - -<p>“It’s very heavy for its size,” said Tom, poising -it in his hand.</p> - -<p>“Of course it is,” answered Cal. “Lead usually -is heavy for its size. But that’s a box, made of -lead. If it were solid it would be a good deal -heavier. Open it, Tom.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t. It doesn’t seem to have any opening -or any seams of any kind. Look at it for yourself, -Cal.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he handed the thing to his comrade. -It was an oblong mass, seemingly hollow, but showing -no sign of an opening anywhere. It was about -ten or eleven inches in length, a little more than -four inches wide, and about two inches thick from -top to bottom. The surface was much corroded, -but Larry thought he discovered a partly obliterated -inscription of some kind upon it.</p> - -<p>“We must stop handling the thing carelessly,” he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> -said. “Corroded as the surface is we might rub -the inscription off, and in that way rob ourselves of -the means of making out the meaning of the thing. -We’ll carry it carefully to camp, quicken up the fire -with plenty of light wood, and then make a minute -examination of the curious find. Tom, you may -have found a fortune for yourself this time, who -knows?”</p> - -<p>“Or a misfortune,” suggested Dick, who in his -childhood had been a firm believer in all the mysteries -and wonder workings recorded in the Arabian -Night’s Entertainments, and still recalled them upon -the smallest suggestion. “Shut up as it is, with no -sign of an opening, who knows but that it bears -Solomon’s seal on it? The inscription may be Solomon’s -autograph, put there to hold captive some -malicious genie. We all know what happened to the -fisherman who let the smoke out of the copper -vase.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ll take my chances on that sort of thing,” -laughingly answered Tom, who, as the discoverer, -was recognized by his comrades as the rightful -owner of the box and the person entitled to say what -should be done with it.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said Cal. “Genii don’t play tricks -in our time and country. They’re afraid of the constable.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span></p> - -<p>The boys had reached the camp now, and a few -minutes later a pile of blazing fat pine made the -space around it as light as day. For an hour, perhaps, -the boys minutely examined the queer casket. -There was, or had been, an inscription cut upon its -upper surface with the point of a penknife, but the -corroding of the surface had so far obliterated it -that the boys succeeded only in doubtfully guessing -at a half-effaced letter here and there and in making -out the figures 865 at the end of the writing.</p> - -<p>“That’s the date,” said Larry—“1865, the -figure one obliterated. Obviously the inscription -tells us nothing. What next, Tom?”</p> - -<p>Tom was minutely examining the sides of the -case, scraping off the rust with his thumb nail. -Presently, instead of answering Larry’s question, -he cried out:</p> - -<p>“Eureka! See here, boys! This box was made -in two pieces exactly alike, one top and the other -bottom. The two have been fitted together and -then a hot iron has been drawn over the seam, completely -obliterating it. It’s the nicest job of sealing -a thing up water tight and air tight that I ever saw, -but I’m going to spoil it.”</p> - -<p>With that he opened his jackknife and very -carefully drew its point along the line where the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> -upper and lower halves of the casket had been -joined. After he had traced the line twice with -the knife point the two halves suddenly fell apart, -and some neatly folded and endorsed papers were -found within.</p> - -<p>Tom began reading the endorsements, but before -he had run half through the first one he leaped up, -waving the documents over his head and shouting -“hurrah!” in a way that Cal said was “like the -howling of a demon accidentally involved with the -accentuations of a buzz saw.”</p> - -<p>After a moment the excited boy so far calmed -his enthusiasm as to throw the bundle of papers -into Larry’s face, shouting:</p> - -<p>“I’ve found the Quasi deeds! I’ve saved Quasi -to its rightful owners! Why don’t you all hurrah -with me, you snails, you dormice or dormouses, -whichever is the proper plural of dormouse? There -are the papers and it was Tom Garnett who found -them! For once prying curiosity has served a good -turn. Now, all together! Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!”</p> - -<p>The others joined heartily in the cheering that -seemed necessary for the relief of Tom’s excitement, -and half-spoken, half-ejaculated congratulations -occupied the next five minutes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span></p> - -<p>After that the whole party sat down to hear the -results of the more thorough examination of the -papers, which Larry was delegated to make.</p> - -<p>“Yes, these are the deeds,” he reported, “uninjured -by time or damp or anything else, thanks to -our grandfather’s care in sealing that leaden box. -They were executed in May, 1861, and see, down in -a corner of each is written:</p> - -<p>“‘Recorded in the clerk’s office of Beaufort District, -liber 211, pp. 371, 372, 373. J. S., Clerk.’</p> - -<p>“And here’s a memorandum in our grandfather’s -handwriting and signed by him. It is on a separate -sheet, dated in February, 1865, and—”</p> - -<p>“Read it!” suggested Cal.</p> - -<p>“I will,” and he read as follows:</p> - -<p>“‘The clerk’s office in which these deeds were recorded -at the time of their execution has been destroyed, -together with all the books of record. It -is vitally necessary therefore that these original -deeds shall be preserved. In these troublous times -there is no place of deposit for them which can be -deemed reasonably safe. I am sealing them in this -leaden box, therefore, and will bury them upon the -abandoned plantation of Quasi, to which they give -title. I shall plant a catalpa bean above them as a -sure means of identifying the spot, there being no -other catalpa on the plantation. I shall send my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> -daughters a detailed statement of what I have done, -with instructions as to the way of finding the papers. -I place this memorandum in the box with -the deeds themselves, so that if anyone finds it he -may know to whom its contents belong. The address -of my daughters will be found endorsed upon -the deeds themselves.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="p4">XXXVII</h2> - -<p class="pch">TOM’S FINAL “FIND”</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Tom</span>,” said Cal, taking the Virginia boy by the -hand and warmly greeting him, “you have crowned -this expedition—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, bother!” interrupted Tom. “You fellows -are daffy. I’ve had the good luck to find the -deeds, but it was by sheer accident, and anybody -else might have—”</p> - -<p>“But ‘anybody else’ didn’t, and that makes all -the difference. Now listen. I have the floor. I -have restrained my natural impulse to do all the -talking lately until I’ve had to let out two holes in -my belt. I was going to hurl my best speech at your -head, but you interrupted, and now the graceful -periods have slipped from memory’s grasp. I’ll -leave the task of adequate expression to my father. -He’ll do it quite as well as I can. But there’s one -thing to which I must ask the attention of the company -here assembled.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Cal?” Dick asked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, simply that Tom has added another to -the purposes with which this expedition was undertaken. -Our objects were sport and adventure. -We have had both, and now Tom has added a third—achievement.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all very well,” answered Tom, “but we -haven’t made the achievement yet. That will be -when we deliver the deeds to your father, and not -till then. And we’ll never, never do that unless -you stop your nonsense and let us get to work on -the catamaran, or raft, or whatever else you call -it. Our present job is to get away from Quasi -with the golden fleece. I suppose we ought to -sleep now, but—”</p> - -<p>“But glue wouldn’t stick our eyelids together,” -broke in Dick. “Work’s the thing for us now. -Let’s get at it. Oh, I say, Cal, what of the tides? -When will they set in strongly toward that little -town up there?”</p> - -<p>Cal reckoned the matter up and named the hours -at which the young flood tides would begin to run. -Then Dick thought a little and asked:</p> - -<p>“Is it all land-locked water from here to the town, -or are there openings to the sea?”</p> - -<p>“All closely land-locked—all creeks,” Cal answered.</p> - -<p>“Then if we work hard we can have the catamaran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> -ready by to-morrow noon—she won’t need -to be much of a craft for such waters—and we -can make our start when the tide turns, about that -time. Let’s see; the distance is only ten or twelve -miles, and the tide will run up for six hours. That -ought to take us there with no paddling or poling -except enough to keep the craft headed in the right -direction.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do it,” declared Cal. “Now to work, all -of us. Tell us what to do, Dick.”</p> - -<p>“Let one fellow make a lot of fresh torches,” -the Boston boy answered. “The rest of us can -keep busy till daylight dragging bamboos, big cane -stalks and the cross braces down to the shore. As -soon as it is light enough in the morning we’ll fashion -the two larger timbers, and get them into the -water. After that two or three hours’ work will -finish the job.”</p> - -<p>“An excellent programme, so far as it goes,” -muttered Cal, as if only thinking aloud.</p> - -<p>“Go ahead, Cal, what’s lacking?”</p> - -<p>“Seems to me,” Cal responded, “that every member -of this company is in the habit of carrying a -digestive apparatus somewhere about his person. -That’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Right, Cal!” Larry broke in. “We must have -breakfast and dinner, and I think I remember hearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> -that experienced navigator, Richard Wentworth, -say, once upon a time, that one should never venture -upon salt water without carrying a supply of -provisions along.”</p> - -<p>“I humbly submit to the rebuke,” answered Dick, -with a laugh. “It was forgetfulness, but forgetfulness -is never quite pardonable. Some one must -go for game immediately after breakfast. We have -enough on hand for that meal.”</p> - -<p>“I delegate you to that task, Tom,” said Larry. -“Your habit of finding things may hasten the -job.”</p> - -<table id="t1" summary="tb1"> - - <tr> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - </tr> - -</table> - -<p>It was a little past noon when the company pushed -away from Quasi on the rude raft that served them -for a ship, and were driven by the strong flood tide -through the maze of broad and narrow passages -among the marsh islands that lay between them and -the town on the mainland.</p> - -<p>There was some discussion before they left Quasi -as to what they should do with the rifle and other -things in Dunbar’s log lockup.</p> - -<p>Larry settled the matter, saying:</p> - -<p>“We’ll leave his belongings just where he placed -them. We are not likely to find him now, -and—”</p> - -<p>“And if he finds himself,” Tom broke in, “he’ll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> -come to Quasi after them. Wonder where the poor -fellow is, anyhow, and what’s the matter with him.”</p> - -<p>Nobody could offer a conjecture that had not -been discussed before, and so the subject was -dropped in favor of more immediate concerns.</p> - -<table id="t2" summary="tb2"> - - <tr> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - <td class="tdc">✶</td> - </tr> - -</table> - -<p>The tide ran strong, and Dick’s “palatial passenger -craft,” as Tom called the raft, proved to be -cork-like in its ability to float almost as fast as the -tide itself flowed. About five o’clock the last of -the marsh islands was passed, and the little town, -perched upon high bluffs, appeared. As the raft -neared it, Tom suddenly called out:</p> - -<p>“I’ve found something else! There’s the -<i>Hunkydory</i> riding at anchor in that little bay over -yonder! Now, maybe the next find will be Mr. -Dunbar.”</p> - -<p>While Larry was sending a telegram to his father, -the others went to the boat and with permission of -the man in charge, examined it. No accident had -happened to it and nothing about it gave the least -hint that Dunbar had merely abandoned it. The -sail was neatly lashed to the boom; the mast and -the rudder had been unshipped and bestowed in -the bilge. Every rope was coiled and every pulley -block ran free.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span></p> - -<p>More significant still was the fact that the lockers -were all filled with food stuffs.</p> - -<p>“Obviously he intended to return to Quasi,” Cal -argued, “and laid in supplies for us as he had -promised. Whatever happened to him must have -occurred after that and just before the time he had -set for sailing. Let’s go up into the town and see -what we can learn about him.” Then pausing, he -turned to the man in charge of the boat and asked:</p> - -<p>“Has she been lying at anchor and taking the -chance of rain all this time?”</p> - -<p>“No,” the man answered. “She’s been in that -there boat house, but to-day the squire tole me to -anchor her out in the sun for an hour or two, an’ -that’s what I’m a doin’.”</p> - -<p>On their way they met Larry, who had telegraphed -his father both at the North and at Charleston, -uncertain whether or not the earthquake had -hurried his home-coming. In his dispatches Larry -had said:</p> - -<p>“Quasi deeds found by Tom Garnett, now in my -possession and in perfect order. Dory sails for -Charleston immediately.”</p> - -<p>Two hours later there came two telegrams from -Major Rutledge in Charleston, one of them addressed -to Larry and the other to Tom Garnett. -The one to Larry sent congratulations and asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> -him to hurry home as fast as he could. What was -in Tom’s none of the boys ever knew. Tom’s eyes -were full of tears as he read it, though his face was -a gladly smiling one as he replaced the paper in its -envelope and carefully bestowed it in his pocket.</p> - -<p>While waiting for these dispatches the boys made -diligent inquiries concerning Dunbar. He had arrived -at the town about three o’clock on the day of -his leaving Quasi. He had intelligently addressed -and posted his manuscript and drawings. After -that he had bought camping supplies of every kind -that the town could furnish, and had loaded them -very carefully into the dory. An hour later he had -been found sitting under a big tree and seemingly -in distress of some kind. He was unable to tell -who he was, in answer to inquiries. His mind -seemed an absolute blank. Papers found on his -person gave a sufficient clue to his identity and the -addresses of his nearest friends. Telegrams were -sent to them, and as soon as possible they came and -took the poor fellow away with them, a magistrate -meanwhile setting a deputy constable to care for the -boat and cargo till its owners should appear.</p> - -<p>The young doctor whom Dunbar’s friends -brought with them explained to the old doctor of -the town that for many years past Dunbar had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> -the victim of a rather rare mental malady, causing -occasional complete lapses of memory.</p> - -<p>“This present attack,” he added, “is lasting -longer than usual. He has hitherto been allowed -to roam at will, to live in the woods and pursue his -investigations. Now, however, I shall strongly advise -his friends to keep him under some small restraint -for the sake of his own safety.”</p> - -<p>“That ends the Dunbar incident,” said Larry -when the old doctor finished his relation of the -facts. “Now we must be off for Charleston. -What do you say, boys? There’s a moon to-night -and we might as well get a little start before it -sets.”</p> - -<p>“My own judgment,” ventured Dick, “is that -as we worked all of last night, we’d better stay -here till morning and get some sleep. But ‘I’m in -the hands of my friends’ as the politicians say.”</p> - -<p>Dick’s suggestion was approved, and the sun was -just rising the next morning when the <i>Hunkydory</i> -set sail. When the boys stepped ashore at the Rutledge -boathouse on the Ashley River, Major Rutledge -was there to greet them.</p> - -<p>“We feared you boys might be in serious difficulty -down at Quasi,” he said, warmly shaking -hands all round for the second time, “and I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> -about setting out to rescue you, when Larry’s telegram -came.”</p> - -<p>“We rescued ourselves, instead,” Cal replied; -“and to us that is more satisfactory.”</p> - -<p>“It is very much better,” answered the father, -catching Cal’s meaning and heartily sympathizing -with the proud sense of personal achievement that -lay behind.</p> - -<p>“Come on home now, and over a proper dinner -tell your mother and me all about what happened at -Quasi.”</p> - -<p class="pc4 lmid">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="bord"> -<h2>George Cary Eggleston’s Juveniles</h2> -<p class="pc1 large">The Bale Marked Circle X</p> -<p class="pc">A Blockade Running Adventure</p> -<p class="reduct">Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated -cover, $1.50.-</p> -<p>Another of Mr. Eggleston’s stirring books for youth. In -it are told the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate -Service who are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage -from Charleston to the Bahamas, conveying a strange bale of -cotton which holds important documents. The boys pass -through startling adventures: they run the blockade, suffer -shipwreck, and finally reach their destination after the -pluckiest kind of effort.</p> -<p class="pc1 large">Camp Venture</p> -<p class="pc">A Story of the Virginia Mountains</p> -<p class="pc reduct">Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth, -illustrated cover, $1.50.</p> -<p class="reduct">The <i>Louisville Courier Journal</i> says: “George Cary Eggleston has -written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in ‘Camp Venture.’ It will be of interest to young and old -who enjoy an exciting story, but there is also a great deal of -instruction and information in the book.”</p> -<p class="pc1 large">The Last of the Flatboats</p> -<p class="pc">A Story of the Mississippi</p> -<p class="pc reduct">Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated -cover, $1.50.</p> -<p class="reduct">The <i>Brooklyn Eagle</i> says: “Mr. George Cary Eggleston, -the veteran editor and author, has scored a double success in -his new book, ‘The Last of the Flatboats,’ which has just -been published. Written primarily as a story for young -readers, it contains many things that are of interest to older -people. Altogether, it is a mighty good story, and well -worth reading.”</p> -<p class="pc1 large">Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span></p> - -<h2 class="p4">DAVE PORTER SERIES</h2> - -<p class="pc mid">By EDWARD STRATEMEYER</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="pc1 large">VOLUME FIVE</p> - -<p class="pc elarge"><i>DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLASSMATES</i></p> - -<p class="pr2 large"><i>Or For the Honor of Oak Hall</i></p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by Charles Nuttall 12mo Cloth Price, $1.25</p> - -<p class="drop-cap02">IN this volume Dave is back at Oak Hall and he brings about the -complete reformation of a former bully, who was rapidly going to the -bad. Athletic events and jolly fun are constantly mingled, and as evidence -that the boys are not at school entirely for that, many take high -honors at the close of the year, Dave being prize essayist, to the great -delight of his friends.</p> - -<div class="pbq"> -<p class="p1">“The best type of American schoolboy.”—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> - -<p>“Athletic events are told with a zest that shows the author’s ability in that -direction.”—<i>News, Buffalo, N. Y.</i></p> - -<p>“Will hold the attention of the readers from beginning to end.”—<i>Citizen, -Brooklyn, N. Y.</i></p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="pc2 large">VOLUME SIX</p> - -<p class="pc elarge"><i>DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH</i></p> - -<p class="pr2 large"><i>Or The Cowboy’s Secret</i></p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by Lyle T. Hammond 12mo Cloth Price, $1.25</p> - -<p class="drop-cap02">FROM his home, Dave, in company with his sister and some chums, -journeys to the boundless west. At the ranch the lads fall in with -both good and bad cowboys, and the hero has a thrilling time of it riding -a “busting bronco.” Some horses disappear in a mysterious manner, -and while trying to get back to the ranch on foot two of the lads are -caught in a furious storm, that blows down a big tree on top of them. -There are many scenes of hunting and rounding-up of cattle, and once a -stampede adds to the excitement. Mr. Stratemeyer has traveled through -the country he describes and gives a picture as accurate as it is entertaining.</p> - -<div class="pbq"> -<p class="p1">“The author of ‘Dave Porter’ is a prime favorite with the boys.”—<i>Bookseller, -Newsdealer and Stationer.</i></p> - -<p>“Edward Stratemeyer’s ‘Dave Porter’ has become exceedingly popular.”—<i>Boston -Globe.</i></p> - -<p>“Dave and his friends are nice, manly chaps.”—<i>Times-Democrat, New Orleans.</i></p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc2 large">THE BOYS OF BROOKFIELD ACADEMY</p> - -<p class="pc mid">By WARREN L. ELDRED</p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by Arthur O. Scott Large 12mo Cloth $1.50</p> - -<div class="floatright"> - <img src="images/ill-393a.jpg" width="200" height="273" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">THIS story tells of a boys’ school, with a -glorious past, but an uncertain future, -largely due to the wrong kind of a secret -society, a vital problem in hundreds of schools -to-day.</p> - -<p>The boys, after testing his patience in every -way that youthful ingenuity can suggest, come -to rally about an athletic and brainy young -graduate in the splendid transformation of the -society, and soon of the entire academy, in one -of the best school and athletic stories yet written.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“Things are doing all the way through the story, -which is clean, manly and inspiring.”—<i>Christian -Endeavor World.</i></p> - -<p class="pc2 large">THE LOOKOUT ISLAND CAMPERS</p> - -<p class="pc mid">By WARREN L. ELDRED</p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by Arthur O. Scott Large 12mo Cloth $1.50</p> - -<div class="floatleft"> - <img src="images/ill-393b.jpg" width="200" height="276" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">THIS is a story of active boys of fifteen or so. -They are very fortunate in the friendship of -the principal of their school and his friend, an -athletic young doctor. Under the care of these -two they go into camp on an island well suited -to the purpose, and within easy distance of a -thronged summer resort. A series of exciting -ball games and athletic contests with the boys -at the hotel naturally follows, and the boys display -as many varieties of human nature as could their -elders.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“Mr. Eldred’s book is almost certain to meet with -a ready response from young readers, for not only are -the boys filled with life and vigor of a true youthful -and appreciable variety but their experiences are -entertaining in themselves and may perhaps give the young readers ideas for -summer plans of their own.”—<i>Chicago Tribune.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pc2 elarge">U. S. SERVICE SERIES</p> - -<p class="pc mid">By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER</p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government</p> - -<p class="pc">Large 12mo Cloth $1.50 per volume</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="pc elarge">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY</p> - -<div class="floatleft"> - <img src="images/ill-394a.jpg" width="200" height="274" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap08">APPEALING to the boy’s love of excitement, -this series gives actual experiences in the -different branches of United States Government -work little known to the general public. This -story describes the thrilling adventures of members -of the U. S. Geological Survey, graphically -woven into a stirring narrative that both pleases -and instructs. The author enjoys an intimate -acquaintance with the chiefs of the various -bureaus in Washington, and is able to obtain at -first hand the material for the books.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“There is abundant charm and vigor in the narrative -which is sure to please the boy readers and will do -much toward stimulating their patriotism by making -them alive to the needs of conservation of the vast -resources of their country.”—<i>Chicago News.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“This is a book one can heartily recommend for boys, and it has life -enough to suit the most eager of them.”—<i>Christian Register, Boston.</i></p> - -<p class="pc2 elarge">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS</p> - -<div class="floatright"> - <img src="images/ill-394b.jpg" width="200" height="280" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">THE life of a typical boy is followed in all its -adventurous detail—the mighty representative -of our country’s government, though young -in years—a youthful monarch in a vast domain of -forest. Replete with information, alive with -adventure, and inciting patriotism at every step, -this handsome book is one to be instantly -appreciated.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“It is at once a most entertaining and instructive -study of forestry and a most delightful story of boy life -in the service.”—<i>Cincinnati Times-Star.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“It is a fascinating romance of real life in our -country, and will prove a great pleasure and inspiration -to the boys who read it.”—<i>The Continent, Chicago.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“No one beginning to read this book will willingly -lay it down till he has reached the last chapter.”—<i>Christian -Advocate, Cincinnati.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="pc2 elarge">FIVE CHUMS SERIES</p> - -<p class="pc mid">By NORMAN BRAINERD</p> - -<p class="pc">12mo Cloth Illustrated $1.25 each</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="large">Winning His Shoulder Straps</p> - -<div class="floatleft"> - <img src="images/ill-395a.jpg" width="200" height="286" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">A ROUSING story of life in a military school -by one who thoroughly knows all its features. -Bob Anderson, the hero, is a good friend to tie to, -and each of his four particular friends is a worthy -companion, with well-sustained individuality. -Athletics are plentifully featured, and every boy, -good, bad, and indifferent, is a natural fellow, -who talks and acts like a bright, up-to-date lad in -real life.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“The story throughout is clean and wholesome, -and will not fail to be appreciated by any boy reader -who has red blood in his veins.”—<i>Kennebec Journal.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“There are school and athletic competitions, -pranks and frolics and all in all a book of which most -boy readers will have no criticism to make.”—<i>Springfield -Republican.</i></p> - -<p class="p2 large">Winning the Eagle Prize</p> - -<div class="floatright"> - <img src="images/ill-395b.jpg" width="200" height="281" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">THE hero not only works his way at Chatham -Military School after his father’s financial -misfortune, but has the pluck to try for a prize -which means a scholarship in college. It is very -hard for a lad of his make-up to do the requisite -studying, besides working and taking a prominent -part in athletics, and he is often in trouble, for, -unlike some others, who are naturally antagonistic -to the frank, impulsive Billy, he scorns to evade -responsibility. His four friends are loyal to the -fullest extent, and all comes right in the end.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">Athletics play a prominent part in the story and the whole is delightfully -stimulating in the fine ideals of life which it sets before its young readers.”—<i>Chicago -News.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“The workmanship of the author is up to his high mark and this book is one -to be appreciated by any active reader who has not forgotten his boyhood, or, if he -is a boy yet, has the real boy spirit, clean, and wholesome and natural.”—<i>Buffalo -News.</i></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p2 large">Larry Burke, Freshman</p> - -<p class="pc lmid">By FRANK I. ODELL</p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by H. C. Edwards $1.25</p> - -<div class="floatright"> - <img src="images/ill-396a.jpg" width="200" height="283" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">THIS book bristles with activity: baseball, football, -ice-hockey, basketball, track and field -events, and a regatta appearing, and each sport -brought in with expert accuracy of detail, and -realism that makes one live over his own most -thrilling athletic experiences. Along with this is -a charming narrative of student life and comradeship—the -golden days that have no others like -them. Every boy and man who ever heard of a -college can take delight in this book.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“The high tone of most of the boys, their comradeship and good will toward -one another are felt through the whole book. And if ever a boy deserved friends or -success, it was the noble-hearted hero of the story, Larry Burke.”—<i>Louisville -Courier-Journal.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“A boys’ book that is filled with healthy adventure and action from cover to -cover.”—<i>Cincinnati Times-Star.</i></p> - - -<p class="p2 large">Tim and Roy in Camp</p> - -<p class="pc lmid">By FRANK PENDLETON</p> - -<p class="pc">Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy Large 12mo $1.50</p> - -<div class="floatleft"> - <img src="images/ill-396b.jpg" width="200" height="285" - alt="" - title="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap02">IN this book is crowded a wealth of sport, adventure, -Indian stories, hunting and camping, facts -about animals encountered, and all that will please -a boy’s heart. A skilful hunter and trapper takes -his son, nephew, and two close friends on such a -hunting and camping trip as their most vivid -imagination could not have improved upon. They -are supremely happy in their enjoyment in all that -pertains to the woods, and his camp-fire stories of -experiences with Indians. Each of the boys has a -chance to show his bravery and resourcefulness, -and each is equal to the occasion.</p> - -<p class="pbq p1">“The story is fascinating and contains not one -thrill too many.”—<i>Chicago News.</i></p> - -<p class="pbq">“This is a great book for live, active boys, vigorous, wholesome, instructive -and entertaining, written by a man who certainly understands and knows boys, -and who knows how to give them the best kind of a vacation.”—<i>Portland Express.</i></p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="pc reduct"><i>For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of -price by the publishers</i></p> - -<p class="pc large">LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="transnote p4"> -<p class="pc large">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:</p> -<p class="ptn">—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.</p> -</div></div> - -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What Happened at Quasi, by -George Cary Eggleston and H. 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