CHAPTER III--Spider Finds a Way to Get to the Rocky Mountains,to "Pump Joe's Pipes Full of Ozone"
There are no doubt a lot of good people in the world, as Mrs. Clarksaid, but there is no doubt that a great many of them are forgetful. TomSeymour found this out in the next few weeks. The scouts meant well, butevery two or three days the one whose turn it was to look after theClark wood and coal and do whatever heavy work there was to bedone,--work too heavy for Joe's little brother and sister--would forgetthe duty. Tom, however, never forgot, for he went there every day, tostudy his lessons with Joe so Joe could keep up in his school work, andwhen the kindlings had not been split or the coal brought up, he did it.
"I don't know what I should do without you, Tom," said Mrs. Clark. "Ifeel guilty, too, because I feel as if you ought to be at home doing itfor your own mother."
Tom laughed. "It's a funny thing," he said, "but having this on my mindhas stopped my forgetting at home. I used to forget all the time, butnow, when I go home, ma's wood-box is the first thing I think of. I kindof got the habit, I guess!"
Meanwhile Tom was turning over and over in his mind plans for gettingJoe out into the high, dry air of the Rocky Mountains as soon as schoolwas over. The first thing to think about was how to raise the money toget there. In his own case, it would be easy, because he had over ahundred dollars in the savings bank, which he had earned in the pastfive years, or which had been given to him at Christmas, and which hehad saved up. But Joe had never been able to save his earnings--he hadneeded them all for his clothes and to help his mother out. It was BobSawtelle who solved that problem.
"Let's us scouts give a dance and a strawberry festival for old Joey,"he said. "We can all of us pick some strawberries, enough for the feed,an' get our mothers to make cake, an' Bill Andrus's father'll give usthe cream from his dairy, an' the girls'll help us serve, an'everybody'll come when they know it's for old Joey, an' there'll be twohundred people there, an' we'll soak 'em fifty cents, and that'll clear'most a hundred bones, an'----"
"And you'd better take in some breath," laughed Tom, "while I tell youthat's a fine idea. It's as good as settled now."
Tom was so sure of the success of the strawberry festival, in fact, thathe began at once to consider what they were going to do when they gotout West. Here he had to have Mr. Rogers' help. The scout master wrotesome letters, and a week later called Tom into the studio.
"I think I've got it," he said, "that is, if you are willing to work,and don't care what you do."
"That's me, when it's for old Joey," Spider declared.
"Well, here's the proposition. Ever hear of Glacier National Park?"
"I've seen some pictures of it in a magazine," said Tom. "Looked good tome, too!"
"I guess it's a pretty fine place, though I was never there. It is up inthe northwestern part of Montana, on the Great Northern Railroad, andthere are two big hotels in the Park, right under the mountains, andsome smaller hotels they call chalets, because they are built like Swisschalets. A friend of mine who is connected with the railroad tells methese hotels, which open late in June, always need bell-boys. They areso far from any cities, or even any towns of any sort, that it's hard toget labor out there. Now, I guess you could get a job as bellhop allright, though I don't know whether Joe's strong enough to work yet. We'dhave to ask the doctor first. If he isn't, my plan would be for you totake your tent along, and two folding cot beds, and get permission topitch it out in the woods near the hotel. You wouldn't have any otheruse for your money out there, so you could probably support Joe allright, and he could do the cooking. He's a good cook, isn't he?"
"Sure--the best in the patrol. He's got a merit badge for cooking, youknow."
"Of course, they might object to having a tuberculous person in thehotel, but if he kept out in the woods, there wouldn't be any trouble,my friend says. Besides, Joe isn't a bad case. He's plainly gettingbetter all the time. I think we can fix it, if you are willing to takethe job, and look after him. Being a bellhop isn't just the job I'd pickout for you, or any boy, if I had the choosing. You have to be a bit ofa bootlick, and people will give you tips, which is against all scoutrules."
"But the tips won't be for me, they'll be for old Joey," said Tom.
"Exactly. And they will be given to you for work you do. They willreally be your pay, for you won't get much other pay. It all depends onhow you take them. If you serve people who don't give you tips as welland as cheerfully as you serve the others, it will be all right. We'vegot to get Joe well, and we can't pick and choose. So I'll put it up toyou. I guess I can trust you not to become a tip hog. And if you findany better way to earn Joe's keep out there, where you won't have totake tips to get your living, you take it, won't you?"
"You bet I will!" cried Tom. "Maybe I can become a--a cowboy, orsomething."
Mr. Rogers smiled. "You'll have to learn to ride a horse first."
"Oh, I can ride a horse."
"You may think you can, but after you've seen a real cowboy ride, you'llknow you're only in the kindergarten class," the scout master laughed.
Now that it seemed reasonably sure that he could get Joe to the Rockies,and find a way to live after they got there, Tom went at the task ofarranging the strawberry festival. Of course, he made Bob Sawtellechairman of the "festival committee," because it was Bob's idea to startwith. All the scouts whose fathers or mothers had strawberry beds were"rounded up," and a list made of how many baskets could be expected.Little Tim Sawyer, who was clever with a pencil or brush, made severalposters to hang in the post-office and the stores. Spider himself wrotesome notices for the weekly paper. Mr. Martin, who owned Martin's block,where the festival was to be held, promised them the hall rent free, andas the cream was promised to them, also, and the cakes were made by themothers, about all they had to buy was the sugar.
"Oh, we're forgetting the drinks!" Bob suddenly cried, "and the music!We can't have a dance without music."
Some of the high school girls, Joe's classmates, promised to furnish thefruit punch, and serve it, too, so that was easily settled. The music--apianist and two violins--the boys hired from a near-by town, at a costof fifteen dollars. With the sugar and a few other little expenses,their total outlay was about twenty dollars. The affair was so welladvertised, however, and all the scouts went around selling tickets forso many days in advance, that when the evening came (it was a finenight, too, in June), there were two hundred and fifty people in thehall, and the scouts who took tickets at the door were kept busy tilltheir fingers ached. The strawberries were all used up, and Bob and Tomhad to rush out to the drug store to buy ice-cream for some of the latecomers. That cut into part of their profits, but of course they couldnot refuse to give something to eat to the people who had paid for it.When the hard work of serving all these people was over, and the dancinghad begun, Bob and Tom took all the money into a back room, and countedit up. With the musicians and the sugar paid for, and the ice-cream fromthe druggist's, there was left a little over ninety dollars clearprofit.
"Hooray!" cried Tom, "that'll get old Joey to Glacier Park easy! Now, ifI could only hear from my application for a job, we'd start next Monday.School is over. Gosh, there's no sense hanging 'round here."
"Bet you hear to-morrow," said Bob. "I wish I was going, too, Spider."
"Come along," cried Tom. "It's going to be great. I'm going to get a jobas a guide, or something, when I get out there and learn the ropes, andclimb all over the mountains and maybe see a goat or a grizzly bear!"
"Well, you bring me a bearskin for a rug, and we'll call it quits," Bobanswered. "I guess next year I'll get up a strawberry festival formyself. Maybe I can get sick, or something, this winter."
"A lot you can, you old fatty," Tom laughed. "You look about as sickas--as a pig before killing."
Bob nearly upset the pile of money, trying to reach for Tom's head, topunch it.
Sure enough, the very next day Tom did hear from his application. Herushed over to Mr. Rogers' studio.
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sp; "Look," he cried. "I get a job all right, but I don't know just what itmeans. It says I'm to be in charge of the Many Glacier tepee camp, if Iturn out to be big enough, and suit the boss. Otherwise, I'll be abellhop in the Many Glacier Hotel. I'll get forty dollars a month andboard at the camp. What's a tepee camp?"
"You know as much about it as I do," the scout master said. "I supposeit's a camp composed of Indian tepees, which the hotel rents to peoplewho'd rather camp out than stay inside. Anyhow, I hope you get that job,for I don't like to think of one of my scouts taking tips all the time,the way a bellhop gets to do. It's un-American. Probably Joe could helpyou 'round the tepee camp, anyway with the cooking. And speaking of Joe,the first thing we must do is to take him 'round to Dr. Meyer's again,and find out just what he can and can't do, and what you've got to feedhim, and so forth. Suppose we go right now."
The doctor gave Joe another thorough examination, from head to foot, andthen put him on the scales. He smiled as the weight had to be pushedtwelve pounds beyond where it hung in May.
"You see what rest, food and minding the doctor does," said he. "Well,my boy, you're on the mend. As a matter of fact, there isn't very muchthe matter with you now except a weakened condition and, of course, atendency to relapse without proper care. A year in the Rocky Mountainsought to make a well man of you."
"A year!" Joe exclaimed. "We're only going for the summer."
"Well, the summer will help," said the doctor. "Keep on eating your milkand eggs, if you can get 'em, but probably after you've been in thewoods a while you won't worry much about your food--you'll gobble whatyou can get, and so long as you feel right, go ahead. I'll give yourfriend a clinical thermometer to take your temperature, and you must getweighed once in so often. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a doctorlook you over now and then, too, if one comes into the Park. The thingsyou must look out for are over-exertion and exposure. I wouldn't doanything but light work for a month yet, at least, and no climbing orlong walks. If you must go somewhere, go on horseback, at a slow pace.And keep warm and dry."
"Well, Joe, that's a fine, encouraging report!" the scout masterdeclared as they left. "You keep on minding the doc, and you'll be awell man."
"He'll keep on minding him, all right, all right," said Tom, putting hisarm around Joe's shoulder, and then tightening it around his neck tillJoe's head was forced over where he could give it a friendly punch.
Joe started to duck and punch back, but Spider cried, "Here--cut thatout! No over-exertion!"--and then the three laughed and hurried on, tomake arrangements for the departure of the boys.
Clothing, of course, was the most important thing, and the boys got outtheir trunks and selected what they would need, with the aid of a folderdescribing conditions in the Park. They took their scout suits, ofcourse, with leggins, and their heaviest high boots. Tom also added abox of steel spikes and a key to screw them in with. They also tooktheir sweaters, and mackinaws, though it seemed foolish to be takingmackinaws for a summer trip. Then they packed two suits of winterunderwear, several pairs of heavy wool socks for tramping, two flannelouting shirts, and rubber ponchos, which both boys had bought the yearbefore when the scouts took a five day hike. Then, of course, they tooktheir knapsacks, and both boys sent for dunnage bags of stout canvas.They took their scout axes and cooking kits, knives, Tom's camera,compasses, and notebooks to keep diaries in. Tom had a folding camplantern for which they got a box of candles. For bedding, each packedtwo pairs of heavy double blankets, and Joe's mother insisted on makinga separate bundle of a winter bed puff, which, as it turned out later,he was glad enough to have. They also put in their winter pajamas, theirscout hats, and some old leather gloves. Finally, they got some packagesof dehydrated vegetables, soup sticks, powdered egg, army rations, andtabloid tea, to use on walking trips if Joe got strong enough to tramp.Such condensed and light weight rations, Mr. Rogers thought, probablycould not be purchased in the Park.
It was a lovely day, almost at the end of June, when the two boysfinally started. There had been a scout meeting the night before, atwhich Bob Sawtelle, who was to act as patrol leader in Spider's absence,had made a speech for the rest and presented Joe with a pocket camera,the gift of the entire troop. It was a short speech, but to the point.
"Old Joey's pipes have gone on the blink," he said, "and he's got tobeat it out West to pump 'em full of ozone. We other fellers thoughtwe'd like to see what he's seen, when he gets back, so we all chipped inand got a camera. Here it is, Joe, and don't try to snap Spider with it,or you'll bust the lens."
Joe tried to make a speech in reply, but he couldn't do it. He just tookthe camera, and said, "Gee, fellows, you're--you're all to the good."
"And don't you worry about your mother's coal, either," Bob added."We're going to keep right on fillin' the hods, and if anybody forgetswhen it's his turn, I'm goin' to beat him on the bean."
"That's a good one," cried little Sam Cowan. "You forgot yourselfyesterday!"
"Well, I ain't goin' to forget any more, or let you, either," Bobanswered.
Bob and several more scouts, as well as Mr. Rogers, Joe's mother andlittle brother and sister, and Tom's family, were all down at the depotto see the boys off in the morning. There were kisses and some tearsfrom the women, and a scout cheer from the boys, and cries of "Have yougot your axe, Spider?" and "Joe, dear, are you sure you put in your comband brush?" and "Tom, dear, now don't forget to send mother a postcardjust as soon as you get there," and "Say, Joey, bring home a RockyMountain sheep's head for the clubroom," and "Hi, Spider, don't forget agrizzly bear rug for me, so my little tootsies won't be cold when I hopout of bed."
The train came, the boys got aboard, it pulled out, and looking backthey saw their friends and parents on the platform, waving good-bye, andthe church spires and housetops of their village vanishing into the Junegreen of the tree tops.
"Well," said Tom, "we're off for the Rocky Mountains!"
Joe rubbed his eyes. "Sure we are!" he answered. "I kind of hate toleave ma, though, and the kids."
Tom slapped him on the shoulder.
"Sure you do," he said. "But it's so you can come back a husky, wellman, to look out for 'em better than ever. Don't you forget that, oldscout!"