BUMPUS MAKES A FIND.
"I say, Thad, come over here with me; I've got something to show you," remarked Allan, about half an hour after they had finished lunch, and while most of the boys were lying around, taking it easy.
The young acting scout-master quickly followed his chum, who led the way back of the tents and into the timber. Here they discovered Giraffe, bending down, and so industriously engaged with some object he had in hand that he seemed to pay no attention to anything else.
At first Thad thought the boy was sawing something, for there was a continuous movement to his right arm, and a sort of low, buzzing sound; but then he knew they had not brought a saw of any kind along with them, an ax and a hatchet being the only tools considered necessary in camp.
Presently Giraffe halted, to draw out a red bandana handkerchief with which to wipe his dripping forehead, while he stared hard at the object he had before him, and looked dubious enough.
Thad saw now what it was, and he could hardly keep from laughing as the determined boy once more started sawing away as though his very life depended on his accomplishing the end he had in view.
The object he had in his right hand was a queer sort of a little bow, made by fastening a stout cord to a piece of bent hickory. This cord was doubled around a stick that stood upright, its pointed lower end placed in a sort of hollow wooden dish where a socket had been scooped out. The upper was also kept from burning the hand of the aspiring scout by another bit of wood.
Of course Thad knew what Giraffe was trying to do. Deprived of matches for the balance of the day, and feeling a gnawing desire to see a fire sparkling, the scout had started in to try and make a blaze after the old-fashioned method used by some South Sea islanders. But evidently the boy did not twirl the stick fast enough to produce sufficient heat to make the fine tinder smoke, and then take fire. Giraffe's ambition was commendable, however, and so Thad said nothing; only crept away again, after touching Allan on the arm, and beckoning.
"What are you going to do about it?" asked the latter, when they had reached a safe position, where their voices might not be heard by the object of their attention.
"Why, nothing, I suppose," replied Thad, smiling. "Did you ever see such a fellow in all your life? He's a regular fire worshipper. I think he must have come down from the old Aztecs in Mexico. He's never happy without his little blaze."