“Slush!” Steve pounded his friend on the back and when the brief tussle subsided, he hastened to change the subject.
This was not difficult, for there were plenty of other topics to occupy them. With two weeks of camp gone, the third and last one seemed crowded with various contests and scout activities for which there had not been time before. That very afternoon an aquatic meet was scheduled, and to-morrow would be taken up by the track events which would go far toward deciding who was going to win the coveted camp emblem for the year. An all day picnic to Loon Island was also being considered, and after that the day of departure loomed disagreeably near.
It came all too soon for everyone—the end of those three golden weeks which, at the beginning, had seemed almost as if they were going to last all summer. Scarcely a boy in the crowd but longed to stretch them into six, and it was no small tribute to their new-found sense of responsibility and willingness to serve, that not one of them even made the suggestion.
They had their work to do at home—on farms, in gardens, in the woods and along the country roads searching out black walnut trees for the Government. There were War Saving stamps to sell, and all those other duties which the war had brought home to them. It had been understood in the beginning that three weeks was the utmost which could be taken from those tasks, and even around the council fire on that last evening there were no complaints.
“But just think of the years when we had a whole three months’ vacation,” sighed Cavvy whimsically, after the last song had been sung and they were moving slowly tentwards. “Those were the good old days, all right. You never appreciate what you’ve got—till you haven’t got it.” He sighed. “I s’pose you couldn’t change your mind, old man, and stay a couple of weeks with me before you go home?” he added, to Steve Haddon.
“I’m afraid not,” the big chap said regretfully. “Dad hasn’t been away from Washington even over a Sunday. He says he’s nearly driven to death and is counting on me to help him out with clerical work. I wish I could, though.”
“You don’t wish it any more than I do. But if you can’t, you can’t. Lord knows we’re doing little enough to help. Gee! but I wish I was old enough to enlist.”
“I’m going into the Navy if this war lasts two years more,” volunteered Haddon.
“You are? Same here. That’s funny, isn’t it? I hope— Well, no I don’t, either. Nobody wants it to last any longer than it has to, but I would like to get into it some way besides grubbing with a hoe and selling Liberty Bonds. See here; if you can’t come now, will you promise to visit me during Christmas vacation?”
“Sure—if you’ll spend part of it with me.”