CHAPTER XIV
PLANNING A CAMPING TRIP
WE boys often think of what a fisherman told us one summer day, out on Illinois River, at the foot of Buffalo Rock.
"IT GIVES ME PAIN," SHE SAID, "TO INFORM YOU THAT THE WOODBOX IS EMPTY."
"Play," said he, "is work that you want to do and don't have to do," or something like that.
Ma often says, when she sees us playing, that if she should make me work that hard I would think I was abused.
I guess, maybe, that is so. It surely is some work to chase uphill and around, play ball, and do all kinds of stunts, and sometimes when night comes we feel tired.
I went home to supper one day, all fagged out, so tired I hardly could drag one foot after the other, and flopped down in the nearest chair.
Ma heard me and put her head in at the door.
"It gives me pain," she said, "to inform you that the woodbox is empty and I need a hotter fire to bake those biscuits that you like so well."
"Oh, Ma!" I exclaimed. "Can't you get along until morning. I'm all in."
"Why, you haven't done a thing to-day!" she told me.
I had climbed up and down Bob's Hill six times; been up to Peck's Falls and the cave once; followed the brook over rocks and fallen trees to where it tumbles out of a sunshiny pasture into the shade of the woods in a great watery sheet; been swimming in the Basin, on the other side of the valley; played a match game of baseball at the Eagle ground; played Indian in Plunkett's woods, tracking the enemy through the forest; played foot-and-a-half, until I thought my back would break, and wrestled with Skinny, until he fell on me like a thousand of brick. But I hadn't done anything all day! Oh, no!
"You don't want me to do it, do you?" she said.
Of course, I didn't want that; so, tired as I was, I dragged out to the shed and brought in an armful of wood.
Just then I heard a whistle, followed by the caw of a crow from in front of the house, and I chased out to see what was doing.
It was Benny. He had come over to tell me that there would be a Scout meeting at his house that night.
"John's too tired," Ma told him. "He hardly was able to bring in four sticks of wood."
"I feel better now," I hurried to say. "The exercise did me good. After I have had some of your delicious biscuits and some honey, I'll be all right again. Besides, I'd hate to miss a Scout meeting; I learn so much there. Will the wood I brought in last until morning?"
"I thought Mr. Norton was away?" she said.
"He is; but they are going to have a meeting, anyhow."
"Oh, please let him go, Mrs. Smith," put in Benny. "Pedro is our secretary. We can't have the meeting without him."
Ma likes Benny so well I just knew she would have to give in. She knew it, too, I guess, for she looked at us a minute, sort of smiling to herself; then she said:
"Well, if he will come home at nine o'clock and promise to take a nap to-morrow afternoon, I'll let him go. He has been losing too much sleep lately."
I didn't think much of that nap business. Daytime wasn't made to sleep in, except, maybe, the early morning hours when you first wake up.
"I'll promise to lie down and shut my eyes," I told her, "but I can't promise to take a nap, can I? The sleep may not come."
That is true. I've laid awake a lot of times fifteen or twenty minutes and maybe more, at night, trying hard to go to sleep and not feeling a bit sleepy.
That is why I was in bed when Skinny came around the next afternoon. He knew that I would be, and instead of coming into the back yard and up on the stoop, as he usually does, he went up the drive between our house and Phillips' and whistled softly under my window.
With one bound I was out of bed and looking down at him. He had on his Scout uniform, and his rope was wound around his shoulders.
I was just going to tell him to wait until I could come downstairs, when he put one finger to his lips, then looked up and down the drive to see who was watching. There was nobody in sight. Ma was taking a nap in her room and I guess Mrs. Phillips was, too, across the way.
"S-s-t!" he hissed. "Are you alone?"
I nodded. It didn't seem safe to say anything.
"You ain't chained to the bed, or nothin', are you?"
"Nary a chain," I told him. "We are all out of chains."
"'Tis well!" said he, coiling up the rope in one hand and getting ready to throw. "Quick, now, and mum's the word!"
I caught the rope as it came in through the window and fastened one end to the bed. Then I threw out the other end, climbed out myself, and shinned down.
"What's the matter?" I asked, as soon as I had reached the ground.
"Let's go around and untie the rope; then I'll tell you."
A few minutes later he was showing me a letter which he had from Mr. Norton, who was away on business. This is what the letter said:
"Dear Fellows:—I shall be at home in a few days and should like to have a meeting of Raven Patrol to talk up our camping trip. Are you thinking about it and planning where to go? The pasture above Peck's Falls would make an ideal camp. There is water and sunshine and shade and old Greylock. That would suit me pretty well, but it is so near home it might not suit you. If not, I have a regular trip over the mountain in mind, one that will take a hike of several days to get us there. Talk it over among yourselves and ask your folks about it. Then meet at my house next Saturday night. We'll decide the matter and begin to get ready. Yours sincerely,
"Charles Norton, Scoutmaster."
"Ain't he a brick?" said Skinny, when he had finished reading. "What do you say, old Scout?"
"I say hike," I told him. "That pasture above Peck's Falls is where Tom Chapin tried to paralyze a bull by the power of the human eye, like the school reader says, and got thrown over the stone wall by the critter. No more of that for muh!"
"We'd have a rope along, you know."
"Yes, and who'd tie it and what would the bull be doing all that time?"
"I'd rather go over the mountain on a hike, myself," he said. "Come on, let's ask the other boys."
"Wait a minute while I fill the woodbox," I told him.
Skinny helped me do that and we were soon on our way.
The other boys felt just as we did about it. Of course, it is always fun to be near our cave and it is a fine place to get into when it rains, but we could go there any old time.
The folks seemed to think near home would be better, until we told them about the bull and how near we all came to getting killed. They had forgotten about that and so had we, almost.
Finally Pa settled it for me.
"I am willing to leave it to Mr. Norton," he said. "As long as he goes with you I don't care much where you go, for I know that he will take as good care of you as I could myself. His hold on you boys is remarkable and I am willing to back him in anything that he wants to do. I'll say this much, however. He is going to have his hands full when he undertakes to look after you boys for a week or two at a time."
We hardly could wait until Saturday night to hear Mr. Norton's plan and decide what to do.
He seemed glad to see us when the time came, only he wouldn't hurry the meeting or leave anything out. Skinny, being patrol leader, always acted as chairman and pounded the table, when he could find one to pound.
"The meetin' will come to order," said he, looking around for something to thump and not finding anything but Bill Wilson, who dodged out of the way.
"The secretary will call the roll."
I called the names of the boys, and each one in turn arose and gave the Scout salute, first to Mr. Norton, then to Skinny.
"Is there any business to come before this 'ere meetin'?" he asked.
"Mr. President," I said, jumping up.
"The gentleman from Park Street," said Skinny, as big as life, just as Pa had taught us to do at meetings in our barn.
"We have with us this evening our Scoutmaster, who, I think, has something to say."
"'Tis well," said Skinny. "We'll harken unto his words of wisdom."
"Before I speak the words of wisdom which our patrol leader has so kindly mentioned," laughed Mr. Norton, "I will ask Mrs. Norton to refresh and fortify us with some lemonade."
Benny reached the door almost as soon as she did.
"Let me do it, Mrs. Norton," he said.
He grabbed the pitcher and tray and poured out a glass for her; then went around the circle. It tasted fine on a warm night.
"Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Norton, after we had emptied the pitcher. "I want to call up the question of our camping trip. Have you boys thought about the matter?"
"We haven't thought of much else," Hank told him.
"Well, how about it? Shall we camp out above Peck's Falls? What do you say, William?"
"It's too near home," said Bill. "Ma would get scared the first night and call me back."
"That certainly would be serious. What do you say, Mr. Secretary?"
"I say so, too," I told him. "It's fine up there and wild and all that, but let's go where we never have been before."
"How about it, Mr. President?"
"It's me for the hike," said Skinny.
The other boys all said the same.
"It seems to be unanimous," said Mr. Norton. "I thought that probably you would feel that way. Well, this is what I have in mind, in case you decide to take the trip, instead of remaining near home. What do you say to hiking straight east over Florida Mountain, as far as Deerfield and the Connecticut River? We can get a horse and carry our camping outfit and supplies in a wagon. We can take turns driving. It will rest us, and if anybody should give out the wagon will come in handy. We can take as long a time as we want on the way, camping out each night."
Mr. Norton stopped and looked at us to see how we liked the plan. Say, it didn't take him long to find out. Every boy jumped to his feet and shouted. Skinny forgot that he was chairman and started to march around the room, shooting and striking at the enemy, and we all fell in line after him except Bill. He stood on his hands, kicked his feet in the air, and whistled through his teeth.
Mr. Norton looked pleased.
"Mr. Chairman," he said, as soon as we had taken our places again. "I hardly think it necessary to put that to a vote except, perhaps, as a matter of form. The next question is, will your folks let you go? Sometimes fathers and mothers have very decided notions about what they want their boys to do and more especially what they don't want them to do."
I told him what Pa had said about being willing to have us go anywhere with him, and the other boys said that their folks felt the same way.
"Good! We'll consider that settled and get down to details as quickly as possible. I should like to get started in about two weeks, which will be early in August. We'll call another meeting in a few days and I'll have a list of the articles needed and their cost ready to submit to you. I know where we can get tents, but there are a whole lot of things we shall need in the woods, besides things to eat. Is there any more business to come before the meeting, Mr. Chairman?"
"There is," said Skinny, who had been scribbling something on a piece of paper. He handed it to me to read, and this is what it said:
"Resolved, that Mr. Norton is great stuff."
"All that are in favor of the motion salute the Scoutmaster."
That ended the meeting. We had to have several more like it before we could get everything ready for the trip.
"It is early yet," said Mr. Norton. "If you would like to have me, I'll tell you a story about what I think was one of the greatest scouting trips ever undertaken."