CHAPTER II
ANOTHER OUTING PROPOSED
"Will you be so highly condescending and much obliging as to open the trapdoor of your mind and let us know what it is that beats the Dutch?" demanded Giant, after he and his chums had looked at the doctor's son for several seconds in silence.
"Why, yes, of course," answered Shep. "But er—-it all fits in with what I was going to tell you about in the first place."
"And that was——-" burst out Whopper eagerly.
"Wait till we are out on the river, away from the town folks. I don't want everybody to know our business."
"Great Scott! but Shep's got a secret!" burst out Snap. "What is it—-a treasure hunt, or a new way to make diamonds?"
"Now quit fooling, and come on out in the boat, and you'll soon know all about it," replied the doctor's son.
"Then we have got to wait?" asked Giant reproachfully.
"And when we are dying by inches to know," added Whopper.
"Yes, you've got to wait. So the sooner we get out on the river the better—-if you are dying, as you say," responded the doctor's son.
While talking the four chums had been watching the departure of the Ham Spink crowd from another dock. Soon the boat that carried the dudish bully and his cronies disappeared around a bend of the river.
In a very few minutes Shep and his chums had their rowboat out. They were used to rowing together, and each took his accustomed place at the oars. Shep gave the word, and like clockwork four blades dropped into the water and the rowboat shot away from the dock.
"Where shall we go?" asked Giant.
"Let us row over to Lackney's orchard," answered Snap. "Dandy apples there—-and Mr. Lackney told me we could help ourselves."
"Suits me!" cried Whopper. "I'd rather eat apples than go to a fire. Us three can eat while Shep does the spouting."
"Humph! perhaps I'd do a little eating myself," came from the doctor's son.
It was an ideal day in midsummer, and all of the lads were in the best of spirits. As they rowed along they discussed the encounter with the Spink faction.
"I wish they'd leave us alone," was Shep's comment. "I am getting so I fairly hate the sight of Ham and Carl Dudder."
"So do I," added Whopper. "But they don't intend to leave us alone, and that is all there is to it."
"I am sorry they are going up into the Windy Mountains," said Shep.
"It will——-" And then he stopped short.
"Say, Shep, if you keep on like that we'll pitch you overboard," cried Whopper. "If you've got anything to tell, tell it, or else keep still."
"Wait till we get to Lackney's orchard," was all the doctor's son would reply.
They soon came to a bend in the river and, crossing here, drew up to a spot where some trees and bushes overhung the water. All leaped ashore and Snap tied the craft fast to a stake. Then the chums strolled up to some near-by apple trees, selected some fruit that suited them, and threw themselves on the ground to enjoy their feast.
"Now we are ready to listen to your imperial majesty's secret," observed Giant as he munched a juicy apple.
"Yes, let us in on it, by all means," added Snap.
"And don't say it's about lessons for the coming fall," put in
Whopper with a mock-serious look.
"Lessons!" burst out Giant. "Perish the thought!"
"Well, to start with," began the doctor's son. "How would you like to go camping again?"
"Fine!"
"Great!"
"Couldn't be better!"
"Just as I thought," continued Shep. "And just what I told my father. He wants us to go out, you know," and Shep's eyes began to twinkle.
"He wants us to go out?" asked Whopper. "You mean he is willing for you to go?"
"No, he told me to ask you if you wanted to go out—-for him."
"Mystery on mystery," came from Giant. "For him? I don't understand."
"Neither do I," came simultaneously from Snap and Whopper.
"Will, it's this way, to tell you the whole story. Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course!"
"Well, then, my father has become interested in a big land company that has procured a large reservation of land in and along the Windy Mountains. The company isn't going to do much with the reservation this year, but next year it is going to build camps up by the lake, and advertise it as a sort of private hunting and fishing resort. They hope to get the better class of sportsmen up here from the cities and make considerable money."
"Yes; but how does that affect us?" asked Giant impatiently.
"Wait and you'll see. My father says the success of the scheme will depend very largely on how it is presented to the public, and he and two of the other men have decided to do some high-class advertising of the project—-little booklets and folders, and all that. These booklets and folders are to be filled with photo-engravings, showing the pretty spots in the mountains, and also pictures of the animals and fish a sportsman can get."
"And does your father want us to get the photographs?" asked Snap.
"That's it—-if we care to do it. He can't go out, and neither can those other men, and they don't know who to get. Of course, they could hire a professional photographer, but he would only take scenery, most likely, while what my father wants particularly is pictures of good hunting and fishing, and pictures of real camp life. He thinks we are just the boys to get the right kind of pictures——-"
"So we are, if we had the right kind of cameras," broke in Whopper.
"Yes; give me a high-class camera and plenty of films or plates, and I'll take all the photos he wants," added Snap.
"I haven't got to the end of my story yet," resumed the doctor's son. "Father knows that the pictures—-I mean the right kind—-will be worth money, and so he said, if we'd go out, and do the very best we could about getting the photos, he would furnish the cameras and plates, and would pay all the expenses of the trip."
"Whoop! hurrah! that suits me down to the ground!" cried Whopper.
"Let's start to-morrow—-no, this afternoon!"
"Offer accepted with pleasure," came from Giant.
"Do you really think we can get the photographs your father wants, Shep?" asked Snap. "It wouldn't be fair to take the offer up and then disappoint him."
"He thinks we can do it. He says he will get us the proper outfit, and before we start he'll have a professional photographer, who has made a study of landscapes, give us pointers on how to get the best results. He knows we can take pretty good pictures already."
"In that case, I say, let us accept the offer, by all means," answered Snap.
"How soon can we start?" demanded Whopper.
"I asked my father that, and he said most likely by next Monday. He will want to give us all some instructions before we leave. And he wants us to read this book," and Shep drew a small volume from his pocket.
"What is it?"
"A book on how to take the best photographs of wild animals."
"Humph! It's easy to get a picture—-if you can find the animal," was Whopper's comment.
"This tells how to get a picture if you can't find the animal."
"What!"
"Exactly. Here are diagrams showing how to rig up a camera and a flashlight, so that if the animal comes along in the dark and shoves a certain string the light goes off and so does the camera, and the picture is taken. If you want to, you can bait the string."
"Say, that's great!" cried Giant.
"I'd like to lay the game low—-after I had the picture," was
Snap's comment.
"We can do that, too—-sometimes."
After that the doctor's son gave his chums more details of what his parent had said. All the boys were sure they could go out again, for their return home from their previous trip had not been expected by their parents.
"Were you thinking we might meet Ham Spink and his crowd?" asked
Giant during a short lull in the talk.
"Yes," answered Shep. "And if we do, they'll sure try to make trouble for us."
"I am not afraid of them," said Snap. "If they don't keep their distance we'll——-"
"Give 'em as good as they send," finished Whopper. "But great Caesar's tombstone! just think of going camping again!" And in his joy the youth turned a handspring on the grass. As he arose Giant threw an apple core that took him in the ear. Then Whopper threw a core in return, hitting Shep. A general fusillade of cores followed, and the lads ended by chasing each other around the orchard. Then they trooped back to the rowboat.
"Shall we go and talk to your father?" asked Snap on the way back.
"I think he'd like it if you would," answered the doctor's son. "I'll see if he is disengaged."
Dr. Reed was busy with a lady caller and the boys had to wait a quarter of an hour. Then he came into the sitting-room and shook hands warmly.
"So you are willing to undertake the commission to get pictures, eh?" he said after a few words. "Well, I am glad of it, for I know you can do it if you'll try. The outing ought to just suit you."
"It certainly will," answered Snap.
"I'll get the cameras at once and likewise the other things. Let me see, what cameras have you now?"
The boys told him, and he made some notes in a book. A general talk followed, and the physician told the lads just what he would like best to have. He cautioned them to keep quiet concerning the land company's projects.
"We want to spring this on the general public as a surprise," he explained. "If we don't keep it quiet some other folks may try to get ahead of us. To my mind our section of the Windy Mountains is an ideal one for city sportsmen, being wild and yet not too wild, and having some charming spots for camping."
"And hunting and fishing ought to be good," added Whopper. "I've heard Jed Sanborn say so." Jed Sanborn was an old hunter who knew every foot of territory for miles around the river and its lakes.
"I suppose we can take along the same general outfit we had before," remarked Whopper.
"I will get you a new and larger tent," answered the doctor, "and a few other things I think you ought to have." Can you go to Rallings to-morrow?"
"Rallings?" asked several.
"Yes. I will pay your way. I want you to go to visit Mr. Jally, the photographer. He is the one to give you a few lessons in photography."
The boys could all go, and it was decided to visit Railings early in the morning. The physician said he would give his son a letter of instructions for the photographer.
"It would be a good thing if you could stay overnight," said Dr.
Reed. "Then you could have two days instructions instead of one.
You could stay at my sister's house."
"That would be jolly!" cried Shep. He loved his aunt and knew she would make him and his chums welcome.
"I guess I can stay—-anyway, I'll find out," answered Snap; and
Giant and Whopper said the same.
Little did any of the boys dream of what strange happenings that visit to Railings was to bring forth.