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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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