“That you withdraw what you said about the salary. Buck and I were planning to go for a camping trip very soon and this plan which you propose would simply be a bigger trip than we had planned. If you pay all expenses for food, as I suppose you will, that will be enough.”
“Nonsense, Thorn! If we hired a professional man, we’d have to pay him,” the lawyer said.
“Yes, but we’re not professionals. Buck and I have camped before, and this trip will be a new experience for us. Now, if our food and equipment is to be furnished, Buck and I will be saving, and that will be plenty as it is. How do you know that we’ll make a success of it?”
“The men in this town notice a thing or two, Thorn,” was the quiet answer.
“This is something new,” Ted said. “But we’ll try it—with no salary! I think we’ll both feel more like doing the job right if we do it for the benefit of the club and the boys, than if we do it because we are paid for it. The Boys’ Club is a fine institution, and Buck and I will be glad to help it along.”
“I appreciate your good spirit,” smiled the lawyer. “I am glad that we are able to get leaders like you two. And now I want to speak to you about the camping site.”
“I was wondering where the camp would be,” Ted nodded.
“Have you ever heard of Black Riders’ Camp?” the lawyer asked.
Ted considered. “That is the place where a number of patriots used to meet in a band at the time of the Revolutionary War, isn’t it?”
Mr. Calvert nodded. “Yes. This state played a big part in the Revolution and a band of mounted men, known as the Black Riders, used to meet in a camp near here and sally forth to worry the British all over the countryside. That camp is now owned by the members of the Boys’ Club Trustee Board, and it is on that spot that we wish the camp to be pitched. A large and beautiful stream of water, called Bear Creek, runs through the hollow where the camp was, there is an excellent natural swimming hole, and all in all the spot is ideal, except in one particular.”