CHAPTER IX
THE CAMPING OUT EXPEDITION
THIS time there was a load for Nancy to pull, since besides the fivescouts who had made the nutting trip three additional fellows werealong.
First of all there was a lanky boy who long ago in a spirit of derisionhad been dubbed "Lil Artha" by his Comrades; and although he stood fullya head taller than any of his intimate chums, he still answeredcheerfully to this silly name. Arthur Stansbury was a good scout, andwell liked, though at critical times he showed a disposition to get whatboys call "rattled," and on more than one occasion this weakness hadresulted in his getting those long legs of his twisted in a knot,resulting in trouble all around.
Landy Smith was a cousin of George Robbins. Philander was rather fat,belonged to the Wolf Patrol, and had been known to walk in his sleep, sothat often the others, whenever any mysterious thing happened in camp atnighttime, accused Landy of doing it while under the influence of thisstrange wandering spirit, that made him get up while asleep, to playtricks, and disturb his mates.
The third boy was Tyrus Collins. His specialty as a scout, if he hadany, was his recognized ability as a cook; and Ty's weakness might besaid to be a fondness for wearing a sweater of a pronounced fiery hue.Once a garment of this type had gotten Ty into a lot of trouble with afurious bull, when he was caught in a pasture, and forced to take refugein a lone tree. He had only escaped in the end by sacrificing his redsweater, which the bull stopped to rend while the fleeing boy managed togain a friendly fence.
But Ty could not always be expected to remember this danger, and atpresent he boasted of another garment of a sanguinary hue, which he worewhen he believed there were no bulls around.
Here, then, were eight lively fellows seated "every-which-way" in thatcommodious wagon, and enlivening the time as they journeyed toward campwith much jabbering, and not a little loud singing of popular songs.
They appeared to be completely happy. Ty was wearing his "grand sweater"right then, and treated the warnings solemnly uttered by some of hismates with abject scorn. Nancy certainly did have a pretty heavy load totransport, and after the first mile or so along the frosty road therewere no further manifestations of gaiety on her part, only dull care,for she labored heavily.
But then these boys were merciful, and they generally jumped off, towalk up any steep hills, so as to relieve the beast of burden. Scoutsearly learn to think of the woes of dumb animals, and show a dispositionto lighten their work all that is possible. If being a scout did notteach a boy a single thing more than that it would still haveaccomplished much; and posterity would have great cause to be gratefulto General Baden-Powell as the originator of the organization that haslong ere now circled the globe, and made converts in every clime.
The boys were of course all dressed in the familiar khaki uniformsassociated with scouts everywhere; and they carried with them a coupleof tents, as well as other necessary things connected with camping out.There were no firearms visible, though possibly a gun or two might turnup later on, when the contents of that heavily laden wagon had beenfully disclosed. Several of the boys were fond of hunting underfavorable conditions; and besides, as there was always some danger to beencountered from wild beasts or snakes, Elmer thought it advisable to beprepared for an emergency.
He sat on the front seat with Toby and George; Chatz, Ty and Landy hadmanaged to pre-empt the second one by virtue of early arrival; while Tedand Lil Artha, the "long and the short of it," made themselves fairlycomfortable on the soft tents, and claimed to have the best of thebargain.
The tall scout dangled his long legs over the tail-board, and wasfrequently called upon to "quit dragging," whenever the pace of theanimal between the shafts slowed down from any cause.
"How about going all the way in with the rig this time, Elmer; could wemake the riffle, do you think?" Toby was asking, after they had gonethree-fourths of the distance to the Cartaret place, and there was abrief lull in the general chaffing.
The others listened in order to catch the reply of the scout master, forof course they were one and all interested in what was being said.
"I don't see any particular reason why we shouldn't," Elmer answered;"we found it possible to take the wagon all the way to the nut grovewhen we wanted to load our sacks; and by watching out smartly I reckonwe'll find a way to push through the woods there."
"I only mention it," continued Toby, as though he thought someexplanation were necessary, "because we've got a raft of stuff alongthis time, and if we had to tote the same on our backs to and from thewagon, it'd mean a lot of hard work, all of which could be saved."
"And I think it a good idea too," chimed in George; "though of courseI'm always willing to shoulder my share of the hard work when it's gotto be done."
There was more or less chuckling and nudging among the other scouts whenthis broad statement was made, because George had a reputation a littlebit along the line of a "shirk," when it came to hard labor, thoughalways ready to do his duty manfully when a meal had to be disposed of.
"Well, we ought to get there in about twenty minutes more, if only Nancydoesn't drop dead with heart disease," Toby went on to say.
"Not much danger of that, Toby," ventured Ted, from the rear of thewagon; "I alwayth did thay that Nanthy wath the toughest thing thatever wore the iron on her hoofth. And I expect to thee her doing dutyyearth after I come back with my diploma from college. And they tell methereth only one hoth older than Nancy in the county, which ith owned bythat Connie Mallon's dad, the mathon."
Somehow the very mention of that name which had been associated withconsiderable of tumult in the past history of the scouts' organizationseemed to remind Toby and George of the remarkable events connected withtheir late nutting expedition. Elmer, therefore, was not in the leastsurprised to hear George immediately voice the feeling of detestation heentertained toward Connie Mallon.
"I hope that gang enjoyed the treat we fetched home for 'em the otherday; and which I believe you and Toby here distributed like a pair ofThanksgiving Santa Claus," he remarked, with a vein of satire in hisvoice that was almost as natural to Doubting George as breathing was;"but I never did take any stock in the game, though I agreed to assistout, to please you, Elmer. And to my mind it was a flat failure in thebargain. We might as well have handed all that lot of good nuts to somepoor family, or turned the same into the pig-pen for the porkers."
"Oh! I don't know," Toby said, with his favorite drawl. "Elmer hereseems to be of the opinion that it's done _some_ good. Anyhow, none ofus has had any trouble with that Mallon crowd since then. They seem toslide away every time they see us coming down the street, or across thecampus at school."
"Good reason," piped up George, "because they're afraid that if they saya word we'll start the ball arolling, and everybody in town'll hear howthey ran like Sam Hill, leaving their nuts behind, and thinking a ghostwas chasing after 'em. Huh! don't you give that tough crowd credit forthinking anything decent, because it ain't in 'em."
"Listen," said Elmer, quietly, "and perhaps you'll find it best tochange your tune, Old Question Mark. I had a little surprise this samemorning when I came out of the house, just as dawn was breaking.Something dangling there alongside the back door caught my eye, and whatdo you think it was?"
"Oh! give it up, Elmer," said George, with a shrug of his shoulders;while the others leaned forward eagerly, intent on hearing the answer;"couldn't guess in a year of Sundays, so open up and tell us."
"A brace of the fattest and biggest rabbits I ever saw, and fresh killedat that," replied the scout master, impressively.
"Oh! you don't mean to say it?" ejaculated Toby; "and, Elmer, as sure asanything I saw Connie Mallon coming home late last evening with four ofthe same hanging over his shoulder, and looking as proud as a turkeycock. He just grinned as he walked past, and even nodded his head, but Iwas too surprised to answer him, or ask where he struck such great luck.But then everybody knows Connie is the best rabbit hunter aroundHickory Ridge, and has got a bos
s hound in the bargain. So you think heleft that brace hanging at your back door, do you?"
"I'm as sure of it as if I saw him sneaking in late at night, andfastening the pair there," said Elmer, positively; "and he dividedevenly with me, you see, if he had just four. Now, George, what do yousay to that? Was it a silly thing in our taking those four bags of nuts,and leaving them where we did? Don't you think Connie Mallon was set_thinking_, and that unable to express himself in any other way hecarried out this fine thing to show me he understood the motive back ofwhat we did?"
George died hard.
"Well, I wouldn't just like to say that much, Elmer," he admitted;"because I don't believe that tough case could understand a decentmotive; but he evidently wanted to let you know he'd keep still, if youfellows only wouldn't blab on him and his crowd."
"I don't agree with you, George," the other told him, sharply. "I thinkyou've got to rub your eyes some yourself, and get the scales off. It'smy opinion that in his own crude way Connie meant to tell me he washolding out the olive branch. I've got a hunch he's in a humor to beapproached, and met more than half-way; and when we get back after thiscamping trip I'm going to have a chin with him the first chance I get tosee him alone."
"Huh! wish you luck then, that's all," grunted George; "but I give youmy opinion for what it's worth, and the chances are ten to one you'llrub up against a stone wall."
"Well, there'll be no harm done, anyway," continued Elmer, nor did heinsist on carrying the argument any further, for he knew how persistentGeorge could be, and that although possessed of many sterling qualities,being broad-minded was not a cardinal virtue of the doubting scout.
A short time later and those who had been up in this region recentlybegan to call the attention of their companions to certain features ofthe landscape, and comment on the same.
"I'd give a heap," said Chatz, "to own a picture of that other rigcoming whooping out of the woods somewhere around here, and turning downthe road in the direction of town. Well, suh, I reckon the fellow whoheld the whip was using the same on the backs of those hosses like fun,and the lot of them shouting to him to make the team go faster, becausethey believed the ghost would overtake them."
"It sure must have been a glorious sight," called out the long-leggedLil Artha, from the rear of the vehicle; "and just like you, Chatz, I'dgive a heap to see a photograph of the same. Do we turn in here, Toby?"
"Yes, and you fellows hang on now, tooth and nail," replied the driver,"or there's a chance of you getting pitched out, because the old wagonjoggles dreadfully most of the time over roots and stones. Steady, backthere, everybody!"
What Toby said turned out to be the truth. He tried to pick the easiesttrail possible, but in spite of this it proved to be so rough thatpresently Elmer called a halt.
"I'm going to walk the balance of the way, fellows," he declared, as hemade a jump and landed on the ground.
"Me too!" echoed Landy Smith, following suit.
In another minute Toby was the only one left aboard, and he too mighthave gladly sought the ground only that it was necessary for some one todo the driving.
Old Nancy appreciated this lightening of her load by striving harderthan ever to draw it; while George and Ted and Chatz continued to callattention to various features of the landscape.
"There's where we hid our wagon that other time," the last nameddeclared, pointing to a thick cover of brush, into which the track ofwheels led; "and Toby, you notice, is turning out, because this time wedon't want to head direct for the nut grove, but the dense woodsalongside. We saw a fine spring as we came by, and I reckon, suh, thatour efficient scout master has it all fixed in his mind's eye to pitchour tents close to that."
"Saves a heap of water lugging, and that counts," admitted Lil Artha.
"That oughtn't to bother you much, Lil Artha," said George; "when you'rebuilt to cover half a mile at every step. All you'd have to do would beto take one look-in, fill your pail, and then turning around, come rightback again."
"Our camp, then, will be pretty close to the old house, won't it?"ventured Chatz; and there was an eagerness in his voice that betrayedhow much he had been thinking of his luck at being in the vicinity of abuilding said to be haunted, for two full nights.
"That's what it will," Toby called out over his shoulder, for he wasfollowing the pilot of the expedition, Elmer, who strode on all byhimself away in the van; "and you'll have a chance to scrape up anacquaintance with that old hobgoblin, Chatz. You're welcome to all thefun; I haven't lost any ghost that I know about, and you don't ketch mehanging about in there half the night, waiting for something white andclammy to stalk around. Ugh! I should say not. Oh! what was that?"
Nancy, up to then behaving very well, because quite tired after the longpull, began to prance at a lively rate; and every one of the four scoutscraned their necks and stared in one particular direction; it was inthat quarter George had just said the haunted house lay; and what hadcome to their ears was the strangest sort of a cry they had ever heard,a mingling of pain and rage it seemed.