CHAPTER V.
WHAT WAS IT?
"What was it this time, Number Six?" asked the scout leader, as Chatz turned quickly toward him, showing considerable alarm.
"Oh! it's gone now. It just seemed to slide away while I was looking. But I could hear it moving all the same; and I tell you, honest Injun, that it was a dreadful squashy sort of sound," and Chatz shrugged his shoulders with what seemed to be a shudder, as he said this.
Elmer hardly knew what to do or to say. Chatz was not above playing a joke, given the opportunity, but this was really a subject on which he felt very deeply, so that it was hard to believe he would be likely to hold it up to scorn.
He seemed to be wide-awake, too, so that there was little chance of its being a dream. Sensible on all other subjects, the superstitious Southern lad had a decided weakness for spooks, and he could imagine uncanny objects prowling around where no one else found the slightest indication of such a thing.
"Where was this?" Elmer asked, cautiously.
"Over there, in that open spot," replied Chatz, cheerfully and without the least sign of hesitation. "You can just make out the deeper shadow of the trees back further. I was looking that way and thinking of something connected with my home when all of a sudden IT loomed up, staring at me in a frightfully ghastly way, and moving its white body slowly up and down, just like it was warning me of some coming danger."
"Sure it wasn't that owl again, are you?" questioned Elmer, dubiously.
"Couldn't have been any such thing, because," triumphantly went on Chatz, "you see, there ain't a single chance for it to roost on anything! That place is bare! I crossed it several times going for wood yesterday afternoon before dark set in. And then besides – "
"Yes, what else was there?" Elmer asked, encouragingly, for he began to realize that there was at least no fake about the other's upset condition.
"Why, it made the queerest noise you ever heard – just a squashy sound that I'll never be able to forget. Ugh! it was a nasty experience," and he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, after the manner of one just awakened.
Somehow this gave Elmer an idea.
"Look here, Number Six, are you sure now that you weren't asleep, and just dreaming that something bobbed up in front of you?" he demanded, sternly; for in his capacity as assistant scout master he was given certain privileges which the rest of the boys readily recognized.
"I don't think there's any reason to believe that sort of thing," returned the other, steadily. "Fact is, I was never more wide-awake in my life."
"And the thing just stood there, and waved at you, did it?" Elmer continued.
"Oh! I know what you think about it, but when I see a thing I can't deny it, can I? There was something close to me a few minutes ago, something that must have been a spook. If I hadn't had the good sense to stick my hand in my pocket, and grab hold of that blessed old rabbit foot, I honestly believe it would have jumped me! Now laugh again if you want to," defiantly.
But Elmer was himself a bit puzzled. Of course he could not think of allowing himself to dream that what Chatz had seen could be anything unusual. The surrounding conditions invested the most commonplace occurrence with a mysterious atmosphere – that was all, and had it been anyone but Chatz they might have found an easy explanation for the puzzle.
"Well," the scout leader said, finally, "we'll all have to borrow that lucky charm then, when we go on duty, if it's going to scare the spooks away. But your time is up, Number Six, so you can proceed to awaken the scout who follows you."
"I'm glad, and I'm sorry," remarked Chatz. "To tell the truth, I'd like to find out if that pesky thing could crop up again. You see, there's no need of being scared about it, so long as you've got something that keeps you from getting hurt."
Evidently the belief of the Southern lad in that magical rabbit's foot was firmly founded, and it would be exceedingly difficult to uproot it. Sneers and scorn would never accomplish that result; in fact such action was apt to only make him cling the more stubbornly to his fetish worship. Elmer believed in going about such things in another manner entirely. Chatz must be shown the error of his ways; and to do that most convincingly the real nature of the object which he believed to be a ghostly visitant from the other world, would have to be proven.
"Wait a minute, Number Six," he said, as the other was about to head toward the tent where part of the Wolf Patrol slept, so he could find and arouse his appointed successor.
"Yes, sir," replied Chatz; for, while Elmer was a chum of his, there were times when he must recognize him only as a superior officer in the organization to which both belonged, and show him due respect.
"Remember, not a single word to the scout who is to succeed you," Elmer went on.
"Not a word will I breathe, sir, I promise you," replied Chatz, and Elmer knew that nothing would tempt him to betray his trust, for his sense of honor was very high, as it is with all Southern boys.
"Perhaps we might get a pointer on this matter if the strange thing you saw appeared to another," remarked Elmer, thoughtfully.
"Oh! don't I just wish it would," remarked Chatz, eagerly. "Then perhaps the rest of the fellows wouldn't think me cracked in my upper story. And Lil Artha wouldn't be so unfeeling as to say I had rats in my belfry, He's the one who comes on after me. Don't I just wish it would give him a good scare, though!"
"Well, go and wake him up, then. I'll let the other sentry know that it's time for a change," and Elmer walked away.
A sudden idea had flashed up in his mind. Could it be possible that there was anything in this wild yarn of Chatz's? Would the second sentry be able to throw any light on the mystery?
He found him squatting on the ground, near a tree, and saw that it was Jasper Merriweather, the timid boy of the troop. At first Elmer had half a suspicion that the other was asleep, for his head was bowed in his hands. At the sound of his step, however, Jasper suddenly looked up with a violent start, and Elmer saw that he was more or less frightened, for he was shivering, even though he had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
"Oh! it's you, sir, is it?" he exclaimed, and there was a positive vein of relief in the tones of his quivering voice that Elmer could not but notice.
"Why, who else did you think it could be, Beaver, Number Four?" asked the assistant scout master, quickly.
"Oh! I don't know," came the rather hesitating reply. "You see I guess Chatz Maxfield has got me all worked up with his silly notions, because I'm seeing things, just like he does, right along. I'm ashamed of myself, that's what."
"Do you mean just now you saw something?" asked Elmer.
"Well," replied Jasper, rising to his feet as he spoke, with returning confidence, "I thought I did, for a fact; and I just hid my head to shut it out, but of course it was only what Mr. Garrabrant calls an optical illusion. There just couldn't be anything there."
"Of course not," the other went on, encouragingly. "H'm, what was it, by the way, you thought you saw, Number Four?"
"That's the silly part of it, sir," Jasper answered. "It wasn't anything that I could recognize at all, which proves that I was only imagining things. Plague take Chatz and his ghosts! I never was very brave at my best, but thinking of him has just about queered me. I'm glad you came to talk to me, and show me how foolish it is to let such notions take root."
"But, by the way, where was it you thought you saw this wonderful thing which you say bore no shape that you could describe?" Elmer insisted.
"Oh! let me see, I was sitting just this way, and looking straight out yonder. It was in that open place, sir. I guess the fire must have flashed up suddenly, and dazzled me a bit."
But Elmer noticed that the second sentry pointed in exactly the same quarter where Chatz insisted he had set eyes on the ghost! This would seem to indicate that there must be something in the story.
"Was it a flaming red ghost, Number Four?" he inquired further.
"Why, of course not, sir," chuckled the other. "If it had been I'd have thought it was only Ty Collins in that red sweater he sometimes wears. Oh! no, what I thought I saw was a white object. It seemed to be there when I hid my face in my blanket, but when I looked a minute later it was gone."
"Did you hear any sound?" Elmer demanded.
"Well, yes; but after all it may have been one of the fellows snoring," Jasper replied. "But at the time I thought it the queerest sort of noise ever. Might 'a' been a big bulldog jumping into the water. I've heard something like it when I pulled my foot out of a soft oozy piece of mud."
"All right, Number Four. Your time is up, so go and gently arouse your successor. And please don't even whisper a word about this until I give you permission."
"Well, I guess I won't," Jasper quickly mumbled. "Think I'm itching to have the laugh on me? No, siree, I'm as dumb as an oyster," and with that he staggered off toward one of the tents to awaken Nathan Scott.
Elmer returned to his blanket, but he had something on his mind that kept him from enjoying any sound sleep for the remainder of that particular night.
Those two boys had certainly seen something, and while, of course, Elmer was too sensible a fellow to allow himself to give the idea of a ghostly visitor the slightest credence, he found himself puzzled to account for it all.
Because of his lying awake so long he slept later than usual in the morning. True, he sprang up when the notes of the bugle sounded the reveille, but most of the others had been abroad before him.
They took a dip in the lake, though the water was so very cold that none of the scouts cared to remain in more than five minutes. Besides, the almost tragic occurrence of the previous day haunted some of them, and made them a bit timid about venturing into the water, though by degrees this fear would naturally wear off.
While preparations for breakfast were being undertaken by those appointed for this purpose, Elmer strolled out of the camp. He wished to carefully examine the open patch of ground at the point where the two sentries had been so positive the uncanny white object had appeared to them.
Disappointment awaited him there, however. Numerous footprints told how those of the scouts whose duty it was to secure a fresh supply of firewood that morning had passed back and forth directly across this open place. If there had been any suggestive tracks they were surely trampled out of sight by the army of boyish feet that had gone over many times.
Elmer shook his head. He felt that he had been hoodwinked in one sense, but no matter, even this setback must not induce him to give up the task he had set for himself. He owed it to Chatz and his infirmity to discover a reasonable explanation of that ghost theory. And while the solution might be delayed by this unfortunate trampling of the ground, he meant to persist.
"Nothing doing, I guess?" remarked a voice close by, and turning his head the scout leader saw Chatz himself standing there, observing him with a quizzical expression on his dark face.
"Well, if you mean an explanation of the little affair of last night, Chatz, I admit that so far I'm up against it good and hard. You see, I hoped to find some marks here that would give me a clue, but it's all off. The boys ran after wood and back again so many times, that if there was a trail it's been squashed."
"Oh! I don't think that mattered any," remarked the other, with conviction in his tones. "You can't very well discover what there isn't, can you? And I've always believed that spooks never leave a sign behind them when they come and go. Why, a spook is only a vapor, you know, Elmer. They can slip through a keyhole if necessary. And as to a trail, why, you might as well expect to see that cloud up yonder leave a track behind it."
There could at least be no doubt about Chatz being in dead earnest in his queer belief, and as Elmer turned away he was more than ever determined to find the true solution of that strange happening, if only to drive another nail in the coffin of the Southern boy's superstition.
As neither of the sentries felt at liberty to mention the occurrence until the assistant scout master gave permission, the balance of the scouts ate their breakfast, and joked each other, in blissful ignorance of the fact that the camp had again been visited by a hobgoblin, and that this time not only the superstitious Chatz but another had actually seen the misty intruder!
CHAPTER VI.
THE BOY SCOUTS' WATER BOILING TEST
Mr. Garrabrant was full of business on this fine morning.
He set about a host of things immediately after breakfast, saying that they ought to take advantage of the opportunity to get in a good morning's work.
Several boys were sent out on the lake to try to duplicate the good luck attending the fishermen of the preceding afternoon. Mark Cummings was encouraged to get numerous views of the camp, and whatever was going on – such as would afford the Hickory Ridge scouts the most pleasure in later days, when this series of camp fires was but a hallowed memory.
With the balance of the troop the scout master proceeded to try out various interesting tests, to discover just how the boys stood in the matter of efficiency. As Elmer was such an old and experienced hand in most of these matters, he was of course debarred from entering the competitions. It would be taking too great an advantage over the tenderfeet scouts, who had everything to learn as yet.
First of all the scout master decided to put ten boys at the boiling-water test. This is one of the most interesting, as well as amusing competitions, the scouts indulge in, and one that never fails to evoke much laughter among those who look on.
Each boy was given a tin pail that held two quarts of water, and which could be carried by a bale. Besides this, he was handed just three matches, and put upon his honor that he did not have another of the kind upon his person.
A spot was selected that was possibly fully eighty yards away from the edge of the lake, and this Mr. Garrabrant did purposely, so that if one of the competing scouts was so unlucky as to upset his pail of water during the test, he would be greatly handicapped by having to run so far in order to replenish the same.
Lined up, they were to be given the word, when a rush would be made for the lake, the buckets filled at least up to a line midway that indicated a full quart. Then they had to hasten back to the place assigned, being careful not to spill a drop of the fluid on penalty of losing marks for having less than the quart needed.
Wood had to be quickly gathered, and some sort of fire-place constructed where a blaze must be started without the aid of paper. Then the kettles were to be seated on the stones, and the first one that had water actually boiling, as witnessed by the scout master, would be the victor, and the second called "runner-up."
"Ready, all!" called Mr. Garrabrant, and ten eager pair of eyes watched him closely; "go!"
Immediately there was a race for the lake. One clumsy scout fell down and had to scramble to his feet to take his place at the tail end of the procession. Of course the long-legged Lil Artha easily outran all his mates. He had scooped up his water and was on the way back before the next best arrived.
The wise ones made sure to dip up more than they really needed, so as to make allowances for any that might be spilled on the return flight. The surplus could be easily tipped out before they set the kettle on the fire.
When the whole lot had finally reached the open spot where the competition was to be carried out, the picture was a lively one. Mark was on hand to take a few snapshots, and catch all the humor of the scene.
Now Lil Artha had his fire going, being far in advance of the others. As they hustled to get things moving it was only natural that each fellow cast jealous glances toward those who were getting along faster. In one instance that caused the withdrawal of a competitor, for while paying more attention to what Matty Eggleston was doing than his own business, Larry Billings upset his kettle. After that he gave up with a grunt, for it was the height of folly for him to think of running to the lake for a fresh supply.
Two others used all their three matches and failed to get a fire started, so they also withdrew.
When Arthur Stansbury placed his kettle on his hastily constructed fire-place, long before the rest, it looked as though he had a "walkover."
All at once there arose a shout of boyish glee. In starting to get to his feet, the long-legged one had, as frequently happened, caught his ankles in a hitch, and throwing out one hand to balance he upset the kettle, which came near putting out his fire.
Mr. Garrabrant expected to see him leaping toward the far-off lake in the hope of being yet in the running. To his surprise, Lil Artha snatched up his pail and ran away from the edge of the water! Several were so astonished at this that they suspended operations for a second or two to stare after him.
"Oh! I see what he's after, the sly fellow," laughed Elmer. "He remembers the little stream that runs down the side of the hill right there, and reaches the lake. It isn't half as far away as the edge of the big water. Yes, there he comes, with a grin on his face, and a full pail. Good boy, Number Five!"
Once back at his fire, now burning briskly, the tall boy hastened to spill some of the contents of his kettle, and then set the latter firmly on the stones. Nor did he stop there. He had lost some ground, and several had by this time succeeded in catching up with him. So down Arthur lay, full on his stomach, where he could blow his fire, and get it to burning more savagely, after which he fed it with the best small pieces of splintered wood he had been able to pick up.
When a certain number of minutes had elapsed he beckoned to Mr. Garrabrant, who, anticipating the summons, had been hovering nearby. Together with Elmer, the scout master hurried up.
"The water is boiling all right," he announced, "and Number Five wins. But keep going, the balance of you, until we learn who comes in second and third."
Matty Eggleston proved an easy second, while Ted Burgoyne edged in just ahead of Mark, because, as he claimed, his "blowing apparatus worked better."
"But I think we ought to protest that win of Lil Artha," declared Chatz Maxfield, although he had been one of the last in the bunch.
"On what grounds?" asked Mr. Garrabrant, smiling, as though he had expected to hear something of the sort, though hardly from one who had no chance of winning.
"When his kettle upset he didn't go all the way to the lake to fill it again, as he ought to have done," said Red Huggins, who had also the ill fortune to overturn his tin vessel when the water had begun to steam, and who naturally felt a little "sore" as he termed it, because it was too late for him to enter again.
"Listen while I read the terms of the competition again," said Mr. Garrabrant. "I wrote them down so as to be prepared for any event; that's one of our cardinal principles, you know, boys. Here it especially states that 'any competitor who upsets his kettle at any time during the test may have the privilege of filling the same again from the nearest water.'"
"Oh! I didn't think of it that way, sir!" exclaimed Red.
"That's just it," smiled the gentleman. "You failed to grasp all there was in that rule, while Arthur analyzed it. He undoubtedly laid his plans beforehand, in which he proved himself a true scout, preparing for eventualities, even though he may not have expected to meet with such an accident. He remembered that little stream, and even the fact that there was a small basin scooped out where a pail could be quickly dipped in and filled. All the more credit to Arthur for his forethought. He doubly deserves the honor he has won, and I congratulate him on his victory. It will be an object lesson to the rest of you. In time of peace prepare for war. And now we will turn our attention to another test. Perhaps some of the rest may excel in that. I want everyone to do his very best, and earn marks that will help to take you out of the tenderfoot class and make second-class scouts."
It was now the turn of Elmer to interest his camp-mates. He had been looking around before this, and laid his plans, so that he was able to lead the entire bunch to a neighboring gully, where in the soft mud alongside a stream he had discovered several distinctly separate sets of animal tracks.
Here he pointed out to them the marked difference between the trail of a muskrat from that of a mink, and even went so far as to tell a number of things which the latter cautious animal had probably done in his passage down the ravine in search of food.
Mr. Garrabrant listened carefully himself, and nodded approvingly from time to time, to show how much he liked Elmer's way of reasoning.
"You can see, boys," he remarked finally, when the lesson was over for that occasion, "what a vast amount of mighty interesting information can be drawn from so simple a sign as the spoor of a little slender-bodied mink. Elmer has made a study of the animal, and knows his ways to a dot. I think he described all that the mink did on his way along here, just as it actually occurred. And the deeper one dips into such woods' lore, the more fascinating it is found. All around you are dozens of things that strike the educated eye as deeply interesting and worthy of study, but which would never be seen by the tenderfoot. And it is this power of observation that we wish our boy scouts to employ constantly. Once the fever takes hold, a new life opens up for the lover of Nature."
After that they busied themselves around the camp doing various things until lunch time. About the middle of the afternoon three relays, of two boys each, were sent out in as many different directions. They were not to take paper or pencil along, but simply to try to impress various interesting things they happened to meet with, upon their memories, and after they had returned to camp they would be given a chance to note these down on paper. The one of each pair who could excel in his description as to the number and interest of the things seen, would receive merit marks. And later on the three victors might be pitted against each other again.
While the six boys were absent, for they had a couple of hours in which to accomplish their end, those left in camp found plenty to do. Mark spent some time in developing the films he had exposed thus far, having a daylight developing bath along with him. In this way he could find a possible chance to duplicate any pictures that, for some unknown cause, failed to do justice to the subject. If he waited until they returned home to get to work, the chances would have gone forever.
Everybody seemed happy but Ted Burgoyne, and he went about with an expression of gloom on his face that of course may have been assumed.
"Didn't think you took it to heart so, Ted," remarked Elmer, as he confronted the other, while the rest of the stay-at-homes were busily debating some question near the camp fire.
"Oh!" exclaimed the scowling one, disconsolately; "it ain't about losing my chance in that blooming old competition, by falling all over mythelf in the thtart! Oh! no, that doethn't bother me one little bit, becauth you thee, I just knew I had no chance against thuch a hustler as Lil Artha."
"Then your breakfast must have disagreed with you," persisted Elmer, "though it's the first time I ever knew you had a weak stomach, Ted."
"You're away off again, partner," grumbled Ted. "Fact ith, to tell the honest truth now, like every good scout ought to do, you're all too plagued healthy a bunch to thuit me, that'th what."
"What's that – healthy?" remarked Elmer, and then a faint grin began to creep over his face, as he caught on to the meaning of the words. "Oh! I see now; your heart's just set on doing good to others, ain't it? You dream of binding up cuts, and putting soothing liniment on bruises. And so far, not one of the boys has had the kindness to fall down the rocks, cut himself with the ax, or even get such a silly thing as a headache. It's a shame, that's what it is, Ted!"
"Well, you can poke fun all you want," grumbled the would-be surgeon, with an obstinate shake of his head, "but after a fellowth gone to all the trouble to lay in a thtock of medicine, and studied up on cuts and bruises and all thuch things till he just feels bristling all over with valuable knowledge, it'th mean of the fellowth to take thuch good care of their precious fingers and toes. What d'ye suppose I'm going to do for a thubject, if this awful drought keepth on? Why, I don't believe fourteen wild boys ever kept together tho long before, without lots of things happening that would be just pie for a fellow of my build. Now – "
But the lamentations of poor Dr. Ted were interrupted at this point, so Elmer never really knew just how far the matter went, or if after all it were a joke.
Toby Jones had sprang to his feet, showing the utmost excitement, and dancing around as though he had suddenly sat upon a wasp's nest.
"What ails the fellow?" remarked Elmer; "he seems to be pointing up at the top of the mountain, as if he saw something there. Well, I declare, if that doesn't just beat the Dutch now; and to think that it was Toby, the boy who is wild over aviation, who first discovered it"; and meanwhile Toby had found his voice to shriek: "A balloon! look at the balloon, would you, fellows? And she's coming right down here into my hungry arms! Oh! glory! such great luck!"