Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark
THE NEXT MOMENT SOME ONE WAS SEEN HOLDING A LAMP INHIS HAND]
THE CAMPERS OUT
OR
THE RIGHT PATH AND THE WRONG
BY EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M.
Author of "True to His Trust," "Among the Esquimaux," etc.
THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA MDCCCXCVIII
Copyright 1893 by The Penn Publishing Company
CONTENTS
I. The Plotters II. How the Scheme Worked III. A Startling Occurrence IV. The Runaways V. The Way of the Transgressor VI. Sowing Seed VII. One Afternoon in Autumn VIII. Fellow-Passengers IX. Dick Halliard X. A Startling Summons XI. No Joke XII. The Victim of a Mistake XIII. Adrift in the Swamp XIV. Host and Guests XV. The Forest Path XVI. The Plotters XVII. A Brave Exploit XVIII. An Act of Forgetfulness XIX. An Error of Judgment XX. The Baying of a Hound XXI. "Help! Help!" XXII. Hot Quarters XXIII. A Brilliant Shot XXIV. Suspicious Footprints XXV. Up a Tree XXVI. Hunting the Hunters XXVII. A Race for Life XXVIII. A Cry from the Darkness XXIX. A Sad Discovery XXX. A Friend Indeed XXXI. Dick Halliard Is Astounded XXXII. How It Happened XXXIII. Conclusion
THE CAMPERS OUT
CHAPTER I
THE PLOTTERS
Jim McGovern was poring over his lesson one afternoon in the Ashtonpublic school, perplexed by the thought that unless he mastered theproblem on which he was engaged he would be kept after the dismissalof the rest, when he was startled by the fall of a twisted piece ofpaper on his slate.
He looked around to learn its starting point, when he observed TomWagstaff, who was seated on the other side of the room, peeping overthe top of his book at him. Tom gave a wink which said plainly enoughthat it was he who had flipped the message so dexterously across theintervening space.
Jim next glanced at the teacher, who was busy with a small girl thathad gone to his desk for help in her lessons. The coast being clear,so to speak, he unfolded the paper and read:
"Meat Bill Waylett and me after scool at the cross roads, for the bizness is of the utmoast importants dont fale to be there for the iurn is hot and we must strike be4 it gits cool.
Tom."
The meaning of this note, despite its Volapuek construction, was clear,and Jim felt that he must be on hand at all hazards.
So the urchin applied himself with renewed vigor to his task, and,mastering it, found himself among the happy majority that were allowedto leave school at the hour of dismissal. A complication, however,arose from the fact that the writer of the note was one of those whofailed with his lesson, and was obliged to stay with a half-dozenothers until he recited it correctly.
Thus it happened that Jim McGovern and Billy Waylett, after saunteringto the crossroads, which had been named as the rendezvous, and waitinguntil the rest of the pupils appeared, found themselves without theirleader.
But they were not compelled to wait long, when the lad, who was olderthan they, was seen hurrying along the highway, eager to meet andexplain to them the momentous business that had led him to call thisspecial meeting.
"Fellers," said he, as he came panting up, "let's climb over the fenceand go among the trees."
"What for?" asked Billy Waylett.
"It won't do for anybody to hear us."
"Well, they won't hear us," observed Jim McGovern, "if we stay here,for we can see any one a half mile off."
"But they might sneak up when we wasn't watching," insisted theringleader, who proceeded to scale the fence in the approved style ofboyhood, the others following him.
Tom led the way for some distance among the trees, and then, when hecame to a halt, peered among the branches overhead, and between andbehind the trunks, to make sure no cowens were in the neighborhood.
Finally, everything was found to be as he wished, and he broke theimportant tidings in guarded undertones.
"I say, boys, are you both going to stick?"
"You bet we are," replied Billy, while Jim nodded his head severaltimes to give emphasis to his answer.
"Well, don't you think the time has come to strike?"
"I've been thinking so for two--three weeks," said Billy.
"What I asked you two to meet me here for was to tell you that I'vemade up my mind we must make a move. Old Mr. Stearns, our teacher, isgetting meaner every day; he gives us harder lessons than ever, andthis afternoon he piled it on so heavy I had to stay after you fellersleft. If Sam Bascomb hadn't sot behind me, and whispered two or threeof them words, I would have been stuck there yet."
"He come mighty nigh catching me, too," observed Jim McGovern.
"You know we've made up our minds to go West to shoot Injuns, and thetime has come to go."
The sparkle of the other boys' eyes and the flush upon their ruddyfaces showed the pleasure which this announcement caused. The bliss ofgoing West to reduce the population of our aborigines had been intheir dreams for months, and they were impatient with their chosenleader that he had deferred the delight so long. They were happy tolearn at last that the delay was at an end.
"Now I want to know how you fellers have made out," said Tom, with aninquiring look from one to the other.
"I guess you'll find we've done purty well," said Jim; "anyways I know_I_ have; I stole my sister's gold watch the other night and soldit to a peddler for ten dollars."
"What did you do with the ten dollars?"
"I bought a revolver and a lot of cartridges. Oh! I tell you I'mprimed and ready, and I'm in favor of not leaving a single Injun inthe West!"
"Them's my idees," chimed Billy Waylett.
"Well, how have _you_ made out, Billy?"
"I got hold of father's watch, day before yesterday, but he catched mewhen I was sneaking out of the house and wanted to know what I was upto. I told him I thought it needed cleaning and was going to take itdown to the jeweler's to have it 'tended to."
"Well, what then?"
Billy sighed as he said, meekly:
"Father said he guessed I was the one that needed 'tending to, and hecatched me by the nape of the neck, and, boys, was you ever whippedwith a skate strap?"
His friends shook their heads as an intimation that they had neverbeen through that experience.
"Well, I hope you never will; but, say," he added, brightening up,"mother has a way of leaving her pocket-book layin' round that's awfulmean, 'cause it sets a fellow to wishing for it. Pop makes her anallowance of one hundred dollars a month to run things, and last nightI scooped twenty dollars out of her pocket-book, when it laid on thebureau in her room."
"Did she find it out?" asked Tom Wagstaff.
"Didn't she? Well, you had better believe she did, and she raisedCain, but I fixed things."
"How?" asked his companions, deeply interested.
"I told her I seen Kate, our hired girl, coming out of the room ontip-toe, just after dark. Then mother went for Kate, and she cried andsaid she wouldn't do a thing like that to save her from starving. Itdidn't do no good, for mother bounced her."
No thought of the burning injustice done an honest servant entered thethought of any one of the three boys. They chuckled and laughed, andagreed that the trick was one of the brightest of the kind they hadever known. Could the other two have done as well, the party wouldh
ave been on their Westward jaunt at that moment.
"I've sometimes thought," said Tom Wagstaff, "that the old folks musthave a 'spicion of what's going on, for they watch me so close that Ihaven't had a chance to steal a dollar, and you know it will never doto start without plenty of money; but I've a plan that'll fetch 'em,"he added, with a meaning shake of his head.
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you in a minute; you see I've got everything down fine, andI've made some changes in our plans."
His companions listened closely.
"You know that when we got through reading that splendid book,'Roaring Ralph, the Cyclone of the Rockies,' we made up our minds thatwe must have two revolvers and a Winchester repeating rifle apiecebefore we started?"
The others nodded, to signify that they remembered the understanding.
"I was talking with a tramp the other day, who told me that he spendseach winter among the Rocky Mountains killing Injins, and it's thebiggest kind of fun. He says he steals up to a camp where there's'bout fifty or a hundred of 'em, and makes a noise like a grizzlybear. That scares 'em so they all jump up and run for the woods. Hetakes after them and chases 'em till they climb the trees. Then, whenthey are all trying to hide among the limbs, beggin' for their lives,he begins. He takes his place in the middle, and keeps popping awayuntil he has dropped 'em all. He says he has to stop sometimes tolaugh at the way they come tumbling down, a good many of 'em fallingon their heads. One time he treed forty-seven of 'em where the groundwas soft and swampy. Twelve of the bravest Injin warriors turned overin falling through the limbs and struck on their scalps. The groundbein' soft, they sunk down over their shoulders, and stayed therewrong-side up. He said he almost died a-laughing, to see their legssticking up in air, and they kicking like the mischief. When he gotthrough there was twelve Injins with their legs out of the ground andtheir heads below. He said it looked as though some one had beenplanting Injins and they was sproutin' up mighty lively. He tried topull 'em out, so as to get their scalps, but they was stuck fast andhe had to give it up."
"And didn't he get their scalps?" asked Jimmy McGovern.
"No; it almost broke his heart to leave 'em, but he had to, for therewas some other Injins to look after. Well, this tramp told me that allwe needed was a revolver apiece."
"Oh! pshaw!" exclaimed Billy, "we can't get along without rifles ofthe repeating kind."
"Of course not, but we must wait till we arrive out West before we buy'em. If each of us has a gun on our shoulder we're liable to bestopped by the officers."
"Well, if the officers git too sassy," suggested Billy, "why we'lldrop _them_ in their tracks and run."
"That might do if there wasn't so many of 'em. We don't want to botherwith them, for we're goin' for Injins, and now and then a grizzlybear."
"I'm willing to do what you think is best; but who is this tramp thattold you so much?"
"He said he was called Snakeroot Sam, because he rooted so hard forrattlesnakes. He tells me what we want is plenty of money, and it wasour duty to steal everything we can from our parents and keep it tillwe get out West, where we can buy our Winchesters. If the peoplecharge too much or act sassy like we can plug them and take the gunsaway from 'em."
This scheme struck the listeners favorably, and they smiled, noddedtheir heads, and fairly smacked their lips at the prospect of theglorious sport awaiting them.
"Snakeroot Sam is a mighty clever feller, and he says he will help usall he can. When we get enough money we are to let him know, and hewill take charge of us. That will be lucky, for he can be our guide.He isn't very clean-looking," added Tom, with a vivid recollection ofthe frowsy appearance of the individual; "but he tells me that afterwe cross the Mississippi it's very dangerous to have our clothingwashed, 'cause there's something in the water that don't agree withthe people. That's the reason why he has his washed only once a year,and then he says he almost catches his death of cold."
"Gracious!" said Billy, "if he knows so much about the West, we musthave him for our guide. Injin slayers always have to have a guide andwe'll hire him."
"That's my idee exactly. I spoke to Sam about it, and he said he wouldlike to oblige us very much, though he had two or three contracts onhand which was worth a good many thousand dollars to him, but he likedmy looks so well he'd throw them up and join us."
"How much will he charge?"
"I didn't ask him that; but he's a fair man and will make it allright. What I don't want you to forget, boys, is that we've got toraise a good deal more money."
"What a pity I didn't steal all there was in mother's pocket-book whenI had such a good chance," remarked Billy, with a sigh; "if I getanother chance I'll fix it."
"I think I can slip into father's room tonight after he's asleep,"added Jim McGovern, "and if I do, I'll clean him out."
"You fellers have a better chance than me," said Tom, "but I'm goingto beat you both and have twice as much money as you."
This was stirring news to the other boys, who were seated on theground at the feet, as may be said, of their champion. They asked himin awed voices to explain.
"You've got a pistol, Jimmy?"
"Yes; a regular five-chambered one, and I've got a lot of cartridges,too."
"There's going to be a concert at the Hall to-night," added Tom,peering behind, around, and among the trees again to make sure no oneelse heard his words, "and father and mother are going. They will takeall the children, too, except me."
"How's that?"
"He says I was such a bad boy yesterday that he means to punish me bymaking me stay at home, but that's just what I want him to do, and ifhe feels sort of sorry and lets up, I'll pretend I'm sick so he willleave me behind. I tell you, fellows, Providence is on our side andwe're going to win."
His companions shared the faith of the young scamp, who now proceededto unfold his astounding scheme.