Page 19 of The Crimson Sweater


  CHAPTER XVIII

  ON FOX ISLAND

  Spring came suddenly that year. They woke up one morning to find theriver flowing warmly blue and free of ice, the walks running withcrystal water and the bricks steaming in the fervid sunshine. Winter haddisappeared over night and Spring had come to its own again. With theawakening of the new season came the awakening of new interests. Thecrew candidates, who for weeks past had been toiling ingloriously at therowing machines in the basement of the gymnasium, went trooping down thepath to the river and launched their shells. The baseball candidates whohad been throwing and batting in the cage and sliding to bases over thehard floor trotted out to the field in search of a dry spot whereon tohold their first outdoor practice. With the former went Horace Burlen,free at last, in spite of his enemies' croakings, of all conditions, andHadden and Gallup and Whitcomb and Otto Ferris and others. With thebaseball candidates went Chub, Roy, Bacon, Kirby, Post and many more.And--oh, yes--Sid Welch! Sid had entertained hopes of making the secondcrew, but such hopes had been sadly shattered. And as Sid had to betrying for something to be content he naturally went in for the onlyfirst-class sport left.

  "I think," he confided to Chub, "I think I'd like to play shortstop."

  "Just as you say, Sid," Chub answered gravely. "All you'll have to dowill be to beat Bacon out for the position. You're sure you wouldn'trather pitch? Post and Kirby, you know, aren't so much of a muchness butwhat you could beat 'em with a little practice."

  "Well, anyhow, I don't see why I couldn't be a fielder," answered Sidgood-naturedly. "You'll give me a show, won't you, Chub?"

  "Course I will, Sid," answered Chub heartily. "You come along out andwe'll see what you can do. First of all, though, we'll take a little ofthat fat off you."

  "I've been trying to get rid of it," Sid replied earnestly and sadly,"but it doesn't seem to do any good. I haven't eaten any bread or potatoor puddin' for days and days!"

  "Never mind the bread and potato, Sid," said Chub with a laugh. "I knowa better way."

  "What?" asked the other interestedly.

  "Chasing flies, my boy!" was the answer.

  March was kind to them. It gave them a clear two weeks of fair weatherat the end. To be sure, the wind howled dismally sometimes and it wasoften cold enough to make fingers stiff, but it allowed them to stay outof doors and that was the main thing. April, however, started in meanly.Ten days of drizzle and wet fields affected even Chub's temper. Buteverything, even a spell of rainy weather, must come to an end sometime, and the second week of April brought back sunny skies and milddays. And after that affairs went briskly on the diamond.

  Roy had kept his promise to his chum, a promise made on the occasion oftheir first meeting and re-made several times since. For Chub had got itinto his head that Roy had the making of a baseball player and neverallowed him to forget for a moment all winter long that he had agreed totry for the team.

  "You ought to make a good baseman," Chub said once, looking over hisfriend with the eye of a connoisseur. "Maybe third--or even first.You've got height and a good long reach; and you're quick and heady.Patten's the only fellow I know of who's after first base. He wassubstitute last year. He's not bad, but he's not an expert by a longshot. Just you come out, old man, and see what you can do."

  And Roy promised for the twentieth time.

  Training table was started the middle of April, with Mr. Cobb incommand. By that time the candidates had been weeded out until therewere but fourteen left. The "culls," as Chub called them, went towardthe making up of the second team. There was practice every afternoonsave Sunday, usually ending with a short game with the second nine, thelatter strengthened by the presence of Mr. Cobb, who played first baseor pitched as occasion required. Roy bought a rule-book early in theseason and studied it diligently, following it up later with aninvaluable blue-covered pamphlet which told him exactly how to playevery position on the team. In the end, however, he discovered that thebest way to learn baseball is to play it.

  Chub started him at left-field and kept him there until he had learnedto judge a ball, catch it and field it home. It was hard work, but Royliked it. Sometimes, however, he doubted whether he would ever vindicateChub's belief in him. There seemed an awful lot to learn and he enviedthe ready thought displayed by the fellows who had been playing the gamefor several years. I think that Chub would have strained a point to keepRoy with him as long as it did not endanger the success of the team, forby this time the two were well-nigh inseparable. But it very soon becameevident that no favoritism was necessary; Roy deserved a place on thenine by virtue of his ability. By the middle of April he was having atry at first and two weeks later he had succeeded to the position vicePatten removed to the outfield.

  It didn't take him long to accustom himself to the place and itsrequirements. As Chub had said, he had height and reach, was quick andsteady and clear-headed. Of course there was talk; disgruntled fellowswho had failed at making the team sneered at Chub's favoritism, andHorace found time from his rowing duties to try and stir up discordamongst the baseball men. But Patten, who had more cause than anyoneelse to feel dissatisfied, had nothing to say. He had sense enough torealize that Chub had given the position to the best man, and enough ofthe right sort of spirit to be satisfied, so long as it was for the goodof the team and the school. Patten went out to right-field, stifled hisdisappointment and "played ball."

  Chub must have been right. Unless he "has it in him" no boy can learn toplay baseball well in three months, as Roy did. Perhaps, though, Mr.Cobb's coaching deserves more credit than I am giving it. He certainlyworked hard with Roy. And so did Chub. And the other members of thenine, amongst whom Roy was highly popular, helped, perhapsunconsciously, to give him self-confidence in the early days of hisnovitiate. So, it seems, the Fates worked together to fashion him into abaseball player much to the regret of Mr. Buckman who had entertainedhopes of securing him for the second four. But although Roy liked thewater well enough and was never more contented than when out with Chubin the crimson canoe, he was more at home on the turf. Perhaps the firstor second four lost a good oar when Roy chose baseball instead ofrowing; be that as it may, it is certain the nine found a good firstbaseman.

  April recess began on the twenty-second and lasted nine days, fromFriday afternoon to the second Monday morning, although, as the fellowswere required to be back at School by Sunday noon, eight days comenearer to the mark than nine. Crew and baseball candidates were supposedto remain at Ferry Hill during this recess and most of them did so. Roywas undecided whether to stay or go home. Chub begged him to remain,putting it to him first on the score of duty to the nine and then citingthe camping-out on Fox Island as an inducement. Roy's mother decided thematter for him eventually by writing that she was going South for sixweeks. She suggested that Roy join her at a South Carolina winterresort, but Roy had no desire for a week of hotel existence and so threwin his lot with Chub, Gallup, Bacon, Post, Kirby and the others. JackRogers went home and so did Sid, who had been working hard on the secondnine and showing quite a little promise. Doctor and Mrs. Emery took aweek's vacation, but Harry was left behind--greatly to herdelight--because her holidays did not come until later. Mr. Cobb, too,disappeared from the scene and the charge of the school was left in Mr.Buckman's hands.

  Saturday was the first day of the recess and Roy and Chub spent themorning on the river. They paddled down stream for a mile or more in thecanoe and fished, but with scant success. In the afternoon came baseballpractice which ended with a six-inning game with a Silver Cove team.Sunday was rather dull for it rained torrents. Chub, Roy, Gallup andPost donned rubber coats or old sweaters in the afternoon and took along tramp inland. But Monday morning dawned bright and fresh and assoon as breakfast was over the fellows, under Mr. Buckman's direction,began the overhauling of the camping outfit. The four big tents werepulled from their quarters in the boat house, spread out on the landingand gone over for holes or weak places. Then lost pegs were replaced,new guy-ropes supplied and a brok
en ridge-pole was mended. Dinner wasrather a hurried meal that day, for every fellow--and there weretwenty-odd left at school--was eager to get into camp. At three o'clockthe tents and outfits were loaded into row boats and transferred to theisland. All afternoon boats went back and forth on errands; bakingpowder had been forgotten, Gallup wanted his camera, someone had leftone of the hatchets on the landing, cook had neglected to grind thecoffee before packing it, four more blankets were needed, Mr. Buckmanwanted a roll of adhesive plaster and a bottle of arnica. Meanwhile thetents were erected, the old cook-stove was set up and fuel gathered. Atfive o'clock, Kirby, under Mr. Buckman's tuition, began the preparationof the first meal. Roy and Chub and half a dozen others built the campfire in the open space between the tents, piling up the brush andslanting the dead limbs above it until the whole looked like an Indianwigwam. Then came supper; bacon, potatoes, tea, milk and "spider cake,"the latter an indigestible but delightful concoction of thin flourbatter poured into the frying pan and cooked until nice and soggy.

  After supper the camp-fire was lighted, the fellows spread themselvesout on the ground about it and the camp went into executive session.Chub was elected Little Chief--Mr. Buckman was Big Chief--and Roy becameMedicine Man. Then four Chiefs of Tribe were elected and the honors fellto Roy, Horace Burlen, Kirby and Pryor. These, in turn, selected theirwarriors and were assigned to tents--or tepees, as they preferred tocall them. Roy chose Chub, Gallup, Bacon and Post; Burlen selectedFerris, Hadden, Whitcomb and Walker; Kirby and Pryor made up theirhouseholds of what material was left, each having five instead of sixcompanions as there were twenty-two boys in the party. Mr. Buckman casthis lot with Burlen's Utes. Roy's tribe was christened Seminole, Kirby'sOjibway and Pryor ruled despotically over the Navajos. Mr. Buckmanexplained the camp rules. There weren't many of them, but they werestrict. The Chiefs of Tribes could grant permission to leave the islandbut were required to report the names of those leaving to the Big Chief.Every tribe must delegate one of its warriors each day to be fisherman;fishermen must fish not less than two hours and turn their catch over tothe Little Chief. Every warrior or Chief must strip his bed beforebreakfast and hang his blankets in the sun. Each tribe must select amember to be cook and take his turn at preparing the meals; also anassistant whose duty it was to help and wash up the utensils. Promptattendance at meals was imperative. Offenses would be judged by acouncil composed of the Big and Little Chiefs, the Medicine Man and thefour Tribal Chiefs and punishment would be meted out by them. In theabsence of the Big Chief the Little Chief took command; in the absenceof both authority was vested in the Medicine Man.

  At nine o'clock the fellows sought their quarters and made their beds,for which purpose plenty of pine and hemlock boughs had been cut andpiled in the clearing. Each tent was supplied with a lantern which swungfrom the ridge-pole. A rustic bench held a half-dozen tin wash-basinsand a looking-glass was hung from a tree nearby. By half-past ninepreparations for the night were complete and the boys gathered againabout the dying fire and, kneeling, recited the Lord's Prayer. Thengood-nights were said and the Tribes separated. For some time the soundof laughter was heard. Then quiet fell over Fox Island and a big moon,coming up over the tree tops, threw the four tents into dazzlingwhiteness and paled the glow of the dying embers where the camp fire hadbeen.

  "Quiet fell over Fox Island"]