“Something of a bully,” murmured Ted, his eyes narrowing.
“Quite a bit, I’m sorry to say,” was the reply.
The boys all seemed to be on the ground, Mr. Calvert said, as he glanced around. “All except the smallest boy, the eleven-year-old I was telling you about,” he went on. “Little Tom Clayton, but I guess he isn’t coming, although he was eager to come.”
But at that moment the small boy appeared in company with his father and Mr. Clayton was introduced to Ted and Buck. He had come with his boy for a purpose.
“I heard that you two boys were going to lead the camp,” he told the boys. “It was only because Mrs. Clayton knew you that she allowed Tom to go along.” He smiled in a somewhat nervous manner. “Tom’s our only boy—only child, in fact, and we set a lot of store by him. His mother would spoil him by not letting him go anywhere and certainly never on a trip like this, but I want Tom to grow up to be a real man.” He glanced down at his son, a somewhat pale and sensitive-looking boy, and then went on: “We had a hard time getting permission for this camping trip, didn’t we, Tommy? But we finally made it. I just want to ask you fellows to see to it that the boy is well taken care of and that he is properly developed. I know you will, but I just wanted to make sure that everything will be all right, you know.”
The two leaders made haste to reassure him. They could visualize without any trouble the condition of the boy’s home and they sympathized with him. The father’s desire to have the boy grow up to be a fine, strong man was evident.
All of the boys were now assembled and Mr. Calvert called for their attention. “I want you all to file into the club room and sit down for a last word of instruction from me,” the president of the club announced, and with more or less noise they obeyed, pushing and scrambling to the seats inside the long frame club house. In the front of them Mr. Calvert and the two chums stood.
“Now, boys,” the president announced, when he had obtained their attention. “I simply want to give you some last minute instructions. Most of you know that Mr. Thorn and Mr. Dalton will be in complete charge of the camp to which you are going, and you are to give them your very best support in making the camp a good and effective one. This point I want you to get clearly in your minds: these two young men are in absolute charge. Their word is law. If they do something that you don’t feel is the right thing to do, you do it anyway, and if you think it is so bad that you can’t stand it, you write to me or call me up somewhere before you refuse to obey orders! We want this camp to be a credit to the Boys’ Club of this city, and it can’t be that unless it is an orderly one!”
“You will have a certain amount of camp work to do, and these leaders will be in charge of that. Obey them without question. In that way you will make the most out of your camping trip and I’m sure that in another year you’ll want to go again. Any questions, before you start?”
“This Black Riders’ Camp is said to be haunted, isn’t it?” Ralph Plumb spoke up, from where he was lolling around on a bench.