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

  CHAPTER IV

  IN ALABAMA CAMP

  Fritz was no longer sitting there taking things comfortably, and coolinghimself off by using his hat as a fan.

  With the terrific crash the scout was on his feet, ready for furtherflight, as he saw the head of the cow not ten feet away from where hestood.

  This time he made straight for another section of the fence, and passedover it "like a bird," as Seth declared. But evidently fences had littleterror for the aroused cow, since she immediately proceeded to knockdown another section in about the space of time it would take to readthe shortest riot act ever known.

  This prompt act again placed her on the same side as the fleeing Fritz.The loud shouts of his chums warned him of her coming on the sceneagain, even if that suspicious crash had failed to do so.

  Fritz was becoming used to clambering over fences by now; in fact itseemed to be something like a settled habit.

  The cow saw his lead, and went him one better, for a third crash toldhow the poorly constructed fence had gone down before her rush, like apack of cards in the wind.

  All the while Fritz was changing his location. He calculated that ifonly he could hold out for say three more "climbs," he would be in aposition to make a run for the border fence, which was made much morestoutly then the division one, and would probably turn back even aswooping bull.

  After it was all over, Fritz would demand that his comrades give himfull credit for his cunning lead. Meanwhile he was kept as busy as anyreal beaver; getting first on one side of the crumpling fence, and thenon the other; while the cow kept on making kindling wood of the barrier.

  Paul took advantage of the animal's attention being wholly centred uponFritz, to run out upon the field, and pick up the cast-off staff of thebusy scout. His intention at the time was to render all the assistancein his power; but discovering that Fritz was rapidly approaching a pointwhere he could work out his own salvation, the scoutmaster thoughtdiscretion on his part warranted a hasty departure, unless he wished totake the place his comrade vacated.

  The boys on the fence were shouting, and waving their hats, and doingall manner of things calculated to attract the attention of the "gentlecow," and cause her to ease up in her attack; but apparently she was notto be bought off so cheaply, and meant to pursue her advantage to thebitter end.

  Then came the chance for which the artful Fritz had been soindustriously working, when he made one more fling over the remnant ofthe enclosure fence, and upon reaching the outside, galloped away towardthe road as fast as his legs could carry him.

  Of course the cow chased after him again as soon as she had knocked downanother section of fence; but Fritz seemed to have pretty good wind,considering all he had been through; and he showed excellent sprintingpowers that promised to put him among the leaders at the next highschool field sports exhibition.

  And the other five scouts gave him a hearty cheer when they saw himnimbly take the high fence on the bound, with those wicked horns notmore than five feet in his rear.

  They soon joined the panting one, who greeted his mates with a cheerygrin, as though conscious of having done very well, under suchdistracting conditions.

  "But you've yet to know whether that milk is as rich as you hoped?"remarked Paul, smilingly, as he handed Fritz his staff.

  "And chances are, you went and lost that blessed nickel you meant to tieto one of gentle Bossy's horns; what a shame, and a waste of good coin!"said Seth, pretending to be very much disappointed.

  "Huh! getting off pretty cheap at that!" grunted Fritz. "Ketch me tryin'to milk any cow that's got a calf up in the barn. I'd rather face twobulls than one like her. Don't ever mention milk to me again; I knowI'll just despise the looks of it from now on. Whew! but didn't she meanbusiness; and if ever those sharp horns had got attached to me, it wouldhave been a hard job to break away."

  "If you feel rested, and have changed your mind about that same splendidmilk," remarked Paul, "perhaps we'd better be getting along now. Threemiles--why, Fritz, I wouldn't be much surprised if you covered all ofthat in the little chase you put up. All you needed to beat the recordfor flying was a pair of wings."

  Fritz was wonderfully good-natured, and they could not make him angry.When other boys were apt to scowl and feel "grouchy," Fritz would comeup smilingly after each and every round, ready to take punishmentwithout limit.

  And so they continued to walk along the road, chatting among themselvesas cheerily as footsore and weary scouts might be expected to do whentrying to encourage each other to further exertions.

  Every step really meant a good deal to their success, for in the courseof ten minutes Paul declared that another mile had been duly covered.

  When they saw another cow inside a fenced enclosure the boys tried byevery argument they could devise to tempt Fritz to try his hand oncemore, but he steadfastly declined to accept the dare.

  "Say what you like, fellers," he remarked firmly, "me and cows are onthe outs, for this trip anyway. It's somebody else's turn to affordamusement for the bunch. I've sure done my duty by the crowd. Let me be,won't you? Tackle Seth there, or Babe Adams. I happen to know that theylike milk just every bit as much as I do. Water's good enough for me,right now; and here's the spring I've been looking for a long while."

  At that they all hastened to discover some spots where it was possibleto lap up a sufficient supply of the clear fluid.

  This cooling drink seemed to invigorate the boys, so that when theystarted off again it was with a somewhat quicker step, and heads thatwere held up straighter than of late.

  It enabled them to reel off another mile without any great effort.

  "Only one more, and then we've just got to let up on this thing," saidPaul.

  "I really believe you're getting tired of it yourself, Mr. Scoutmaster?"ventured one of the boys, eagerly; for if Paul would only confess tothis, they felt that they could stand their own weaknesses better.

  "And that is no joke," laughed Paul, frankly. "You see, I haven't beenhardening my muscles as much lately as when the baseball season was infull swing. But with two miles placed to our account, we shouldn't bemuch worried about how things are coming out. Will we try for that lastmile, boys? It's for you to say!"

  He received a unanimous shout of approval, which announced that theothers were of a united mind. And so they kept along the road thoughsome steps lagged painfully, and it was mainly through the exertions ofthe mind that the body was whipped into obeying.

  Finally Paul turned to Eben, and made a quick gesture that the buglerwas waiting for, since he immediately raised the shining instrument tohis lips, puffed out his cheeks, took in a tremendous breath, and gavethe call that was next to the "fall in for supper" signal, the mostpopular known to the scouts.

  "Alabama! Here we rest!" cried Seth, turning aside into the woods afterPaul, who evidently had his eye on a certain location, where he meant topitch the third night's camp.

  "That's a good idea," remarked Andy, always quick to seize upon anythingthat gave a hint concerning his beloved South, "let's call this AlabamaCamp!"

  "Put it to a vote," called out Fritz, "all in favor of the same say aye;contrary no. The ayes have it unanimously. Hurrah for Alabama Camp.Seems like that's a good restful name; and I hope we sleep right goodhere; for most of us are pretty well used up."

  "Don't mention that same above a whisper," warned Seth, "because we'vegot two awfully touchy chums along, who're always carrying chips ontheir shoulders when it comes to the subject of being knocked out. Say,Paul, did you know about this camp site before; because it's thedandiest place we've struck on the big hike?"

  "Just dumb luck," replied the other, shaking his head in the negative."I thought it looked good this way, when I called for a halt. And you'rejust about right, Seth; it does fill the bill great. Here's our springof clear cold water; and there you have a splendid place to start yourfire, Jotham. Now, let's throw ourselves down for a little while, andthen when we feel rested, we'll get busy doing things."
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  All of them were only too glad to do as Paul suggested. And whenanother ten minutes had slipped past, Jotham struggled to his feet towearily but determinedly gather together some material with which tostart a blaze.

  When he had it going Noodles realized that it was now up to him to startgetting some supper cooking. They had come in very light marching order,since Paul realized that if they hoped to win that lovely prize he mustnot load any of the boys down with superfluous burdens.

  As a rule they depended on the farmers to supply them with such thingsas they needed, chiefly eggs and milk. The former they had along withthem, several dozen eggs in fact, purchased from an obliging farmerearlier in the afternoon, and fortunately carried in other knapsacksthan that of Fritz, who would have smashed the entire supply, had hebeen in charge of the same at the time of his exciting adventure withthe cow.

  Upon putting it to a vote they decided that they could just as well dowithout any milk for one night; especially after Fritz had shown themhow difficult it sometimes was to accumulate a supply.

  Of course a coffee pot had been brought along, for somehow a camp mustalways seem like a dreary desert without the delicious smell of boilingcoffee at each and every meal that is prepared.

  So Noodles made a grand big omelette, using sixteen eggs for the same,and the two frying pans that had been strapped, one to each pack of acouple of scouts.

  Besides this they had some cheese and crackers, which would help fillthe vacuum that seemed to exist an hour after each and every meal.Several potatoes for each scout were duly placed in the red ashes of thefire, and jealously watched, in order that they might not scorch toobadly before being thoroughly roasted.

  On the whole, there was no reason for being ashamed of that camp supper.Everything tasted just "prime," as several of the boys took pains tosay; for they were artful enough to know that by showering words ofpraise upon the cook, they might secure his valuable services for alltime to come, because Noodles was open to flattery.

  And what was better still, there was an abundant supply for all of them,regardless of the difference in appetites; Fritz was not stinted in theleast, for he actually declined a further helping, and had to be urgedto clean out the pan just to keep "that little bit of omelet from beingwasted."

  Having no tent along, and only a couple of dingy old blankets which theyexpected to use for sending smoke signals, should the occasion arise,the scouts were compelled to resort to more primitive ways of spendingthe night than usual. But then Paul had shown them how to sleep withtheir heads away from the fire; and he also arranged to keep the smallblaze going during the entire night, since it was apt to get prettychilly along about two in the morning.

  All these things had been arranged on the first night out, so that bythis time the boys were pretty well accustomed to the novel way ofsleeping. And on the whole they had taken to it fairly well, no onecomplaining save when the mosquitoes annoyed them in one camp near thewater.

  An hour after supper had been disposed of some of the boys were alreadybeginning to nod drowsily. And when fellows are just dead tired it seemsa sin to try and keep them awake, especially when there is no need ofit.

  So Paul announced that those who wanted to could turn in, while the restwere enjoined to keep quiet, doing their talking in whispers, so as notto disturb the sleepers; just as if the discharge of a six pound cannonclose by would bother those weary scouts, once they lost themselves inthe dreamland of Nod.

  Babe Adams had just stepped over to get a last drink at the near-byspring, when the others were surprised to see him come tearing backagain, evidently in great excitement.

  "Paul, come over here with me, and you can see it!" he called out.

  "See what?" demanded the scoutmaster, at the same time climbing to hisfeet.

  "Looks like some farmhouse might be afire; because you c'n see the redflames jumping up like fun!" was the thrilling announcement made by thetenderfoot scout.