The Banner Boy Scouts on a Tour Part 12

"Here it is!" called Jack, presently, as he overturned some of the blankets once more, and fished out the little case.

"Hurrah! you're all to the good, Jack!" declared Bobolink, with his customary vigor of speech.

Paul quickly opened the case, and produced a little box containing a cooling salve his father had given him. It acted in a magical manner with ordinary burns, and the boys had particularly requested that he be sure and bring another supply for use on the tour; since burns were apt to be the portion of those who had much to do with preparing the food cooked over a camp-fire.

Paul set to work rubbing some of the salve upon every spot Scissors indicated as needing attention. He found a wonderfully large collection, for just then it probably seemed good policy for Scissors to act as though seriously injured, lest the others take it into their heads to kick him out of the place.

"I guess that ought to do, Scissors," said Paul, when he had almost used up the entire contents of the box on the other's arms and legs.

"Feels some better, don't it?" asked Jack, anxiously, for once upon a time he and the caged Tiger had been next-door neighbors, and were accustomed to going together.

"Y--es, some; but I reckon I'll be pretty sore to-morrow, boys. Aint you going to turn me loose now?" asked Scissors, looking up out of the corner of his eye at Paul.

Then as though he feared he saw something hostile in the manner of the other, he commenced grunting dismally again, and writhing as if in pain.

"Why, of course you can go, Scissors," observed Paul, "I'm sure you've got your medicine more than Bud did his. If you can walk, come right along to the door. I was opening it when you banged into those oars, and upset the lamp. Here you are; good-night, Scissors!"

The boy limped grievously as he headed for the door. He kept one eye on William, and Paul really believed that if the Carberry Twin had made a movement as though about to pick up that padded instrument of torture again the apparently lame Tiger would have developed a surprising burst of speed, and fairly shot out of that exit.

So they saw him go stumbling up the few steps that led to the level.

Then Paul once more shut and secured the door.

The four chums looked at each other, but no one laughed. Though there had been plenty of humor about the affair, on their side, still that closing scene in the little drama had sent a thrill of horror through them. They realized that, after all, they had been close to a catastrophe.

"First of all let's get this room straightened up, boys," said Paul, as he started folding some of the disarranged blankets.

Four pairs of hands make light work, and after a little there was a new heap of the camp material, on another section of the floor. After that they endeavored to remove all traces of the brief fire, and in this they were fortunate, for having completed their labors it would be difficult to detect any signs of that sudden though terrifying flash in the pan.

"Now for the ashpit, fellows," sang out William, finally. "Me to swing the broom, after some water has been sprinkled. We're going to get there yet, all right; but oh! my, what a time it's been! Will I ever forget it?"

"This is what I'd call heaping coals of fire on the heads of your enemies!" ventured Bobolink; as he, too, hunted for a broom in the furnace room, and prepared to a.s.sist in the work of cleaning up the mess.

Paul sprinkled first, while Jack started to place those cans which had not been upset, in a row. For a short time there was an industrious quartette engaged in the labor of reconstruction. When Paul finally gave the signal to knock off work the furnace room really looked much better than old Peter was in the habit of keeping it.

After that the boys sought the faucet where running water could be had; soap and towels were forthcoming from the stores, and they cleaned themselves up.

Then preparations were made, looking to an all-night vigil, during which by turns one of their number was expected to stand guard at two hour stretches; though none of them had the least fear that the enemy, routed so thoroughly, would return.

CHAPTER X

OFF ON THE LONG TOUR

"Get up, you lazybones!"

It seemed to Paul that he had just managed to drop into his first real sleep of the night when he heard William say this. The unusual experience of hearing the loud strokes of the big clock up in the steeple above, had done much to keep him wakeful, even when it was not his time to be on guard.

He immediately sat up, to find the other fellows yawning, and stretching, as if they, too, had been dragged back from dreamland by William's turning-out call.

"Oh! rats, it sure can't be five o'clock yet!" grumbled Bobolink, showing signs of rolling over again, and taking another spell of sleep.

"Ain't it?" remarked the sentry, indignantly; "Well, you just take a look up at that window, and you'll see the sun, all right. Besides, the clock tried to get in the reveille, though I tell you it was mighty hard work, with the lot of you snoring to beat the band. Tell 'em to crawl out, Paul. We've got heaps to do this morning, all right."

"Say, is this the day we start on that long hike?" demanded Bobolink, with a dismal groan; "oh! my, but I feel punk. Who's been kicking me when I was asleep? I'm sore all over, and I guess you'll have to leave me behind, Paul, or else fix up that stock wagon into a sort of ambulance."

"Oh! slus.h.!.+" exclaimed William, indignantly, "wouldn't that be a nice cinch for you, now, to be reclining at your ease among the tents and blankets, while the rest of us tramped and sweated along the trail? I see you doing it, in my mind's eye."

"Jump up and stretch, Bobolink. You've only got a few kinks in your muscles," remarked Jack, who was already working his arms like flails.

"I suppose I'll just have to, even if it kills me. Oh! what a shooting pain in that left leg. What ails me, anyhow?" grumbled the afflicted one.

"I know," quoth William, readily enough. "You put too much steam into those kicks last night. Didn't I hear Ted give a yelp every time you got near him; and there were others. Everything in moderation, my boy.

You're just paying the price now on your speed. Tone down like I do, and you won't have such aches the next day."

By degrees Bobolink managed to get rid of his sore feeling, which may have come, after all, from an unaccustomed bed on the floor. Despite the blankets which he had tucked under him, at some time during the night he possibly rolled out of his snug nest, and the hard boards left an impression.

In a short time the gymnasium was made to look orderly. Paul did not wish those kind friends who had been so good to the scouts to find any reason for regretting their courtesy and benevolence.

Then, after all were out, he locked the door, before making for his own home, in order to finish his preparations, and secure a good breakfast.

Already Stanhope was all astir. Boys who usually slept until the call for breakfast disturbed their happy dreams, were up and doing. Indeed, many of them had, if the truth were known, stolen out of bed at various times before dawn, anxious not to oversleep. For this was to be one of the greatest days the younger generation of Stanhope had ever known.

The long roll of Bluff s.h.i.+pley's drum could be heard at intervals, and how their pulses thrilled at the sound, knowing that it was meant for them alone! Not since away back in '61, when little Stanhope, then a village, mustered a company to send to the front to serve their country, had such intense excitement abounded.

Who could sleep when in some score of homes the hope of the household was rus.h.i.+ng up and down stairs, gathering his possessions, buckling on his knapsack half a dozen times, and showing all the symptoms of a soldier going to the wars?

Every girl in town was on the street, many of them to wave farewell to brother or friend. And besides, there were the envious ones connected with the "Outcast Troop," as Ted and Ward called their fragment, because they had been unable to obtain a charter from the National Council, being backward in many of the requirements insisted on.

These fellows had been delayed in making their start, and were planning to slip out of town some time later in the day. They possibly wanted to make sure that the scouts were actually headed in the direction of Rattlesnake Mountain; for not a few among them secretly doubted whether Paul and his comrades would have the nerve to venture into that wild country.

And now, by ones and twos, the young khaki-garbed warriors began to gather in the vicinity of the church. Each carried a full knapsack, and all were supplied with a stout, mountain staff, which would a.s.sist their movements later in the day, after the muscles of their legs began to grow weary.

Paul was amused at the stuffy appearance of those same knapsacks.

Evidently some of the boys' fond mothers or older sisters entertained a healthy fear that their darling might fare badly at meal time; and they had been cooking doughnuts, as well as various other delicacies beloved of youth, to be crammed into the confined s.p.a.ce of the shoulder haversack.

But that was to be looked for, since this was their first real hike.

After one experience every fellow might be expected to know better, and scoff at the idea of a true scout going hungry as long as camp stores abounded, and a fire could be kindled.

With each pa.s.sing minute the tumult grew apace. Fathers and mothers gathered to witness the triumphal pa.s.sing of the troop, in which their own boy must of course appear to be the one particular star.

By eight o'clock several hundred people had congregated near the old church. For one morning, business in Stanhope was forgotten or stood still, for neither clerks nor proprietors seemed to evince any desire to show up.

Those boys who did not belong to the troop pretended to scoff at the idea of undertaking such a wearisome march; but this was pretty much make-believe. Deep down in their hearts they were bitterly envious of the good fortune that had befallen their comrades; for few boys there are but who yearn to get out _somewhere_, once in a while, and meet with some sort of adventure.

Bluff was kept busy displaying his skill as a drummer. He always had a group of admirers of both s.e.xes around him. And Bluff showed his wisdom by saying never a word. Silence with him was golden, because, as he himself was wont to say, he "never opened his mouth, but what he put his foot in it."