OFF ON THE LONG TOUR
"Get up, you lazybones!"
It seemed to Paul that he had just managed to drop into his first real sleep of the night when he heard William say this. The unusual experience of hearing the loud strokes of the big clock up in the steeple above, had done much to keep him wakeful, even when it was not his time to be on guard.
He immediately sat up, to find the other fellows yawning, and stretching, as if they, too, had been dragged back from dreamland by William's turning-out call.
"Oh! rats, it sure can't be five o'clock yet!" grumbled Bobolink, showing signs of rolling over again, and taking another spell of sleep.
"Ain't it?" remarked the sentry, indignantly; "Well, you just take a look up at that window, and you'll see the sun, all right. Besides, the clock tried to get in the reveille, though I tell you it was mighty hard work, with the lot of you snoring to beat the band. Tell 'em to crawl out,
Paul. We've got heaps to do this morning, all right."
"Say, is this the day we start on that long hike?" demanded Bobolink, with a dismal groan; "oh! my, but I feel punk. Who's been kicking me when I was asleep? I'm sore all over, and I guess you'll have to leave me behind, Paul, or else fix up that stock wagon into a sort of ambulance."
"Oh! slush!" exclaimed William, indignantly, "wouldn't that be a nice cinch for you, now, to be reclining at your ease among the tents and blankets, while the rest of us tramped and sweated along the trail? I see you doing it, in my mind's eye."
"Jump up and stretch, Bobolink. You've only got a few kinks in your muscles," remarked Jack, who was already working his arms like flails.
"I suppose I'll just have to, even if it kills me. Oh! what a shooting pain in that left leg. What ails me, anyhow?" grumbled the afflicted one.
"I know," quoth William, readily enough. "You put too much steam into those kicks last night. Didn't I hear Ted give a yelp every time you got near him; and there were others. Everything in moderation, my boy. You're just paying the price now on your speed. Tone down like I do, and you won't have such aches the next day."
By degrees Bobolink managed to get rid of his sore feeling, which may have come, after all,
from an unaccustomed bed on the floor. Despite the blankets which he had tucked under him, at some time during the night he possibly rolled out of his snug nest, and the hard boards left an impression.
In a short time the gymnasium was made to look orderly. Paul did not wish those kind friends who had been so good to the scouts to find any reason for regretting their courtesy and benevolence.
Then, after all were out, he locked the door, before making for his own home, in order to finish his preparations, and secure a good breakfast.
Already Stanhope was all astir. Boys who usually slept until the call for breakfast disturbed their happy dreams, were up and doing. Indeed, many of them had, if the truth were known, stolen out of bed at various times before dawn, anxious not to oversleep. For this was to be one of the greatest days the younger generation of Stanhope had ever known.
The long roll of Bluff Shipley's drum could be heard at intervals, and how their pulses thrilled at the sound, knowing that it was meant for them alone! Not since away back in '61, when little Stanhope, then a village, mustered a company to send to the front to serve their country, had such intense excitement abounded.
Who could sleep when in some score of homes the hope of the household was rushing up and down stairs, gathering his possessions, buckling on his knapsack half a dozen times, and showing all the symptoms of a soldier going to the wars?
Every girl in town was on the street, many of them to wave farewell to brother or friend. And besides, there were the envious ones connected with the "Outcast Troop," as Ted and Ward called their fragment, because they had been unable to obtain a charter from the National Council, being backward in many of the requirements insisted on.
These fellows had been delayed in making their start, and were planning to slip out of town some time later in the day. They possibly wanted to make sure that the scouts were actually headed in the direction of Rattlesnake Mountain; for not a few among them secretly doubted whether Paul and his comrades would have the nerve to venture into that wild country.
And now, by ones and twos, the young khaki-garbed warriors began to gather in the vicinity of the church. Each carried a full knapsack, and all were supplied with a stout, mountain staff, which would assist their movements later in the day, after the muscles of their legs began to grow weary.
Paul was amused at the stuffy appearance of
those same knapsacks. Evidently some of the boys' fond mothers or older sisters entertained a healthy fear that their darling might fare badly at meal time; and they had been cooking doughnuts, as well as various other delicacies beloved of youth, to be crammed into the confined space of the shoulder haversack.
But that was to be looked for, since this was their first real hike. After one experience every fellow might be expected to know better, and scoff at the idea of a true scout going hungry as long as camp stores abounded, and a fire could be kindled.
With each passing minute the tumult grew apace. Fathers and mothers gathered to witness the triumphal passing of the troop, in which their own boy must of course appear to be the one particular star.
By eight o'clock several hundred people had congregated near the old church. For one morning, business in Stanhope was forgotten or stood still, for neither clerks nor proprietors seemed to evince any desire to show up.
Those boys who did not belong to the troop pretended to scoff at the idea of undertaking such a wearisome march; but this was pretty much make-believe. Deep down in their hearts they were bitterly envious of the good fortune that had befallen their comrades; for few boys there
are but who yearn to get out somewhere, once in a while, and meet with some sort of adventure.
Bluff was kept busy displaying his skill as a drummer. He always had a group of admirers of both sexes around him. And Bluff showed his wisdom by saying never a word. Silence with him was golden, because, as he himself was wont to say, he "never opened his mouth, but what he put his foot in it."
And there was Bobolink gripping that shiny bugle nervously, and keeping one eye on the scout leader the while. When Paul gave the signal he would be primed for his part in the proceedings.
Finally, as far as a careful count went, it seemed as though all who meant to start out on the long tour had arrived.
Paul made a gesture to the official bugler, and immediately Bobolink raised his instrument to his lips. The roll of the drum had become familiar music to those listening hundreds; but when the clear notes of the bugle floated through the morning air there was an instantaneous raising of hats, and hardly had the assembly call died away than a stupendous cheer seemed to make the very church tremble.
"Fall in! fall in, fellows!"
Every boy knew his place.
At the head of the double line stood the flag bearer, Wallace Carberry carrying the glorious
Stars and Stripes, while further back, Tom Betts waved the beautiful prize banner which Stanhope Troop had fairly won in the preceding Autumn, when competing with the other troops of the county.
Then came Bluff with his busy drum, and Bobolink holding his bugle ready to give the signal for the start.
After that the scouts came, two and two, each in his appointed place, and the leaders of the second and third patrols heading their commands.
Paul was of course compelled to act in the place of Mr. Gordon, so that temporarily Jack served in Paul's stead with the Red Fox Patrol.
Amid great cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the troop finally put their best foot forward as one man, and headed away up the road that would, after many miles of weary marching, take them to their distant goal.
At the rear came the wagon, upon which were piled the tents, blankets, and provisions for the two weeks' stay in camp. When the worried parents of the boys saw the large amount of eatables they began to lose their fears about hunger attacking the little troop. But then, a score of healthy lads can make way with an astonishing amount of food in that time; yet Paul had also counted on securing a supply from some neighboring farmers to help out the regular rations.
To the inspiring music of drum and bugle they marched away from Stanhope. A bend in the road hid their homes from view, and only the steeple of the church could be seen.
Perhaps more than one boy felt a queer sensation in his throat as he realized now what it meant to leave home, tramp out into the wilderness. But if this were so they made no sign. The wistful look several cast behind changed into one of manly determination, as they kept pace with their comrades, and faced the future with new hopes.
Paul soon moderated the pace. He was wise enough to know that at this rate some of the boys would early complain of being tired or footsore, since they were hardly yet in condition to "do stunts" in the way of travel.
Two miles out of town they came to a cold spring up among the rocks at which many wishful eyes were turned, so the acting scoutmaster gave the order to halt, and break ranks.
"We'll stop here for half an hour, and get refreshed," he said, as they clustered around him; "because, now that we've left our base of supplies and cut loose from all our homes we must go carefully. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link, you know, fellows. And several of our number are not used to long tramps."
After drinking their fill of the cool and refresh
ing water the scouts lounged around, each taking a favorite attitude while indulging in animated discussions concerning what might await them far to the north.
It was while the troop was taking things in this easy manner that Jud Elderkin suddenly jumped to his feet.
"Look what's coming, fellows!" he exclaimed, and everybody of course sprang up.