Boy Scouts on a Long Hike; Or, To the Rescue in the Black Water Swamps

  CHAPTER II

  HELPING NOODLES

  "Oh! he fell over!" shouted Eben, appalled by what had happened.

  "Poor old Noodles! What if he's gone and broke his neck?" gasped Jotham,turning a reproachful look upon Fritz.

  "I didn't mean to go as far as that, fellows, give you my word for it!"Fritz in turn was muttering, for he had been dreadfully alarmed when hesaw poor Noodles vanish from view in such a hasty fashion.

  "Listen!" cried Andy.

  "Hellup!" came a faint voice just then.

  "It's Noodles!" exclaimed Fritz, scrambling over in the direction of thespot where they had seen the last of their unfortunate chum.

  "Oh! perhaps he's gone and fractured his leg, and our family doctor,meaning Paul, ain't along!" groaned Eben.

  All of them hastened to follow after the eager Fritz, and on hands andknees made for the edge of the shelf of rock, from which in times pastthey had sent many a flag signal to some scout mounted on the roof ofhis house in town.

  Fritz had more of an interest in discovering what had happened to thevanished scout than any of his comrades. Possibly his uneasy consciencereproached him for having thrust out his foot in the way he did, andsending poor Noodles headlong to his fate.

  At any rate he reached the brink of the descent before any of the rest.They unconsciously kept their eyes on Fritz. He would serve as abarometer, and from his actions they could tell pretty well theconditions existing down below. If Fritz exhibited any symptoms ofhorror, then it would afford them a chance to steel their nerves againstthe sight, before they reached his side.

  Fritz was observed to crane his neck, and peer over the edge of theshelf. Further he leaned, as though hardly able to believe his eyes.Then, when some of the rest were holding their breath in expectation ofseeing him turn a white face toward them, Fritz gave vent to a hoarselaugh. It was as though the relief he felt just had to find a ventsomehow.

  Astounded by this unexpected outcome of the near-tragedy the othershastened to crawl forward still further, until they too were able tothrust out their heads, and see for themselves what it was Fritz seemedto be amused at.

  Then they, too, chuckled and shook with amusement; nor could they beblamed for giving way to this feeling, since the spectacle that mettheir gaze was comical enough to excite laughter on the part of any one.

  Noodles was there all right; indeed, he was pretty much in evidence, asthey could all see.

  In falling it happened that he had become caught by the seat of hisstout khaki trousers; a friendly stump of a broken branch connected witha stunted tree that grew out of the face of the little precipice hadtaken a firm grip upon the loose cloth; and since the boy in strugglinghad turned around several times, there was no such thing as his becomingdetached, unless the branch broke.

  "Hellup! why don't you gif me a handt?" he was shouting as he clawed atthe unyielding face of the rock, while vainly endeavoring to keep hishead higher than his flying heels.

  While it was very funny to the boys who peered over the edge of theshelf, as Noodles would have an ugly tumble should things give way, Andyand Seth quickly realized that they had better get busy without any moredelay, and do the gallant rescue act.

  Had Paul been there he would have gone about it in a business-like way,for he was quick to grapple with a problem, and solve it in short order.As it was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, one boy suggesteda certain plan, only to have a second advanced as a better method ofgetting Noodles out of his unpleasant predicament.

  Meantime the poor fellow was kicking, and turning, and pleading withthem not to go back on an old chum, and leave him to such a terriblefate.

  "Der rope--get quick der rope, undt pull me oop!" he wailed.

  "That's so, boys, Noodles has struck the right nail on the head!" criedSeth. "Here, who's carrying that rope right now?"

  "Noodles has got it himself, that's what!" exclaimed Eben.

  "Did you ever hear of such rotten luck, now?" demanded Seth.

  "Hold on!" interrupted Andy, "seems to me I remember seeing him laysomething down over here. Let me look and find out. Whoop! here she is,boys! That's what I call great luck. Seth, suppose you see if you candrop the loop over his head."

  "Pe sure as you don't shoke me, poys!" called out the dangling objectbelow, in a manner to prove that he heard all they said.

  "Get it over his feet, Seth; then we can yank him up. He won't mind itfor a short time. Some of his brains will have a chance to run back intohis head that way," suggested Eben.

  "Make quick, blease!" wailed the unhappy scout, who was growing dizzywith all this dangling and turning around. "I hears me der cloth gifingaway; or else dot dree, it pe going to preak py der roots. Hurry oop!Get a moof on you, somepody. Subbose I want to make some squash pie downon der rocks?"

  But Seth was already hard at work trying to coax that noose at the endof the dangling rope to fall over the uptilted legs of the unfortunatescout.

  "Keep still, you!" he shouted, when for the third time his anglingoperations were upset by some unexpected movement on the part of thestruggling boy. "Think I c'n lasso a bucking broncho? Hold your feet up,and together, if you want me to get you! There, that's the way.Whoop-la!"

  His last shout announced sudden success.

  Indeed, the loop of the handy rope had dropped over the feet of Noodles,and was speedily drawn tight by a quick movement on the part of theoperator.

  The balance of the boys laid hold on the rope and every one felt thatthe tension was relieved--that is, every one but Noodles, and when hefound himself being drawn upward, with his head down, he probablythought things had tightened considerably.

  As the obliging branch saw fit to let go its tenacious grip about thattime, of course Noodles was soon drawn in triumph over the edge of theshale, protesting more or less because he was scratched in severalplaces by sharp edges of the rock.

  "Hurrah for Scout tactics; they count every time!" exclaimed Eben.

  Fritz was unusually solicitous, and asked Noodles several times whetherhe had received any serious hurt as a result of his strange experience.The German boy felt himself all over, grunting several times while sodoing. But in the end he announced that he believed he was all there,and beyond a few minor bruises none the worse for his adventure.

  "Put you pet me I haf a narrow escape," he added, seriously. "How farmust I haf dropped if dot pully oldt khaki cloth gives vay?"

  "All of twenty feet, Noodles," declared Andy.

  "Dwenty feets! Ach, petter say dree dimes dot," asserted Noodles. "Igives you my word, poys, dot it seemed I was on der top of a mountain,mit a fine chance my pones to preak on der rocks pelow. Pelieve me, I amglad to pe here."

  "I hope you don't think I did that on purpose, Noodles?" asked Fritz,contritely.

  The other turned a quizzical look upon him.

  "Tid for tad, Fritz," he remarked, "iff I had nodt peen drying to chokemit you meepy I might nodt haf met with sooch a shock. Petter luck nexdttime, hey?"

  "I don't know just what you mean, Noodles, blest if I do," remarkedFritz, with a puzzled look on his face, "but I agree with all you say.This practical joke business sometimes turns out different from what youexpect. I'm sure done with it."

  But then, all boys say that, especially after they have had a littlefright; only to go back to their old way of doing things when the shockhas worn off. And the chances were that Fritz was far from being curedof his habits.

  "How lucky we had the rope along," ventured Jotham, who was coiling upthe article in question at the time he spoke.

  "I always said it would come in handy," remarked Eben, quickly andproudly, "and if you stop to think of the many uses we've put that samerope to, from yanking a fellow out of a quicksand, to tying up a bad manwho had escaped from the penitentiary, you'll all agree with me thatit's been one of the best investments we ever made."

  "That's right," echoed Seth, always willing to give credit where suchwas due.

  "Ketch me ever goi
ng into the woods without my rope," declared Eben.

  "Well, do we make that start for home and mother and supper right now;or are we going to stay here till she gets plumb dark?" asked Fritz,impatiently, moving his feet out of the way every time anyone approachedtoo closely, as though possessed by a fear lest he be tempted to repeathis recent act.

  "Come on, everybody," said Eben, making a start, "I refuse to hang out aminute longer. Seems like I c'n just get a whiff of the steak a sizzlingon the gridiron at our house; and say, when I think of it, I get wild.I'm as hungry as that bear that came to our camp, and sent us all up intrees like a covey of partridges."

  "If you're as hungry as that after just an afternoon's signal practice,think what'll happen when we've been hiking all day, and covered ourlittle forty or fifty miles?" suggested Andy, chuckling.

  "Oh! come off, Andy, you don't really mean that, do you?" called outEben over his shoulder. "I'm good for twenty-five miles, I think; butyou give me a cold feeling when you talk about fifty. And poor oldNoodles here will melt away to just a grease spot, if the weather keepson as warm as it is now."

  "Don't let him worry you, Eben," sang out Seth. "I heard Paul tellinghow at the most we might try for thirty the second day, so as to getahead a bit. But what is going to count in this test isregularity--keeping up an even pace each day of the four. And chancesare we'll own that fine trophy by the time we get back to Beverlyagain."

  "Didn't I hear something about our having to register at a lot of placesalong the way?" asked Jotham.

  "Yes, I believe that's a part of the game," replied Seth. "It's onlyright, just to prove that we haven't cut across lots, and shirked any.Mr. Sargeant and the two members of the committee mean to wait up for usat each station, and kind of keep an eye on us. I guess they want toencourage us some, too, when we come in, dusty and tired and feelingpretty near fagged out.

  "Some of the other fellows, Steve Slimmons, Arty Beecher, and two more,who expect to start our second patrol in the fall, wanted to go alongwith us; but Mr. Sargeant preferred to limit it to just the Beavers. Hesaid we were seasoned scouts by this time, while the other fellows mightbe called tenderfeet; and it would be a pity to run chances of losingthe prize, just because one of them softies fell down."

  Fritz offered this explanation, and somehow at mention of SteveSlimmons' name a slight smile could be seen flitting across more thanone face. For well did the scouts remember when this same boy had beenaccounted one of the toughest lads in all Milltown, as that part ofBeverly across the railroad tracks was called.

  At that time he had been called "Slick" Slimmons, and in many ways hedeserved the name, for he was a smooth customer. But circumstances hadarisen, as told in a previous volume of this series, whereby Steve hadgone through a rather serious experience, and had his eyes opened to thefact that in leading such a wild life he was carrying the heavy end ofthe log.

  He had broken with the tough crowd of which he had been a member up tothen, and now was hand in glove with Paul Prentice and his scouts, infact considered himself a member of Beverly Troop.

  The active lads found little trouble in negotiating the descent leadingdown to level ground. Even Noodles had become many times more agile thanbefore he donned the magical khaki of the scouts; for the various dutiesthat had to be performed from time to time by every member of the patrolhad done wonders for the slow moving German-American boy.

  With their goal now in sight, the six scouts started off at a livelypace. If any of them felt in the least bit tired he was evidentlydetermined not to show it to his comrades, or any one they might happento meet on the road leading to Beverly. Pride is a great thing atcertain times, and helps ride over many difficulties.

  So, in due time they separated, each fellow heading toward his own home.And the last words they called back to each other were in connectionwith the great hike upon which they expected to start on the followingmorning, which would be Tuesday.

  Many anxious looks were cast upward toward the blinking stars thatnight, and speculations indulged in as to the probable kind of weatherthat would be doled out to them while on the road.

  And more than one scout lay awake long after he went to bed, trying tolift the curtain that hid the future, just a little way, so as to get apeep of what was waiting for the Beaver Patrol, but of course withoutthe least success.