<h2 id="c9">CHAPTER IX. <br/><span class="small">“COMBING” THE SWAMP LABYRINTH.</span></h2>
<p>“Oh! you can’t fool me that way, Giraffe!”
chuckled Bumpus. “I may look green, but things
ain’t always what they seem. Thunder, eh? And
this is mighty near the end of December, too. Try
again, Giraffe.”</p>
<p>“Yes, but don’t forget, Bumpus, where you are,”
cautioned Thad. “This country in winter time
can have anything we expect only in summer up
North, and that stands for thunderstorms any
month in the year. There, that was a louder peal;
and now you’ll understand we’re not trying to make
you swallow a tough yarn.”</p>
<p>“It sure did sound like it,” admitted the fat
scout, “but I never thought we’d run up against a
thunderstorm, or I’d have fetched my new raincoat
along.”</p>
<p>“Goodness knows you did bring more than your
share, as it is,” complained Step Hen. “You ought
to have a boat all to yourself, because the rest of
us don’t get a chance for our lives. But I say,
Thad, do we stand for a ducking?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_77">77</div>
<p>“If I could see a chance to go ashore I’d say
we might get the tents up, and hold over till the
storm had passed by,” the scout-master replied.</p>
<p>“That’s where it’s agoing to be hard,” ventured
Giraffe; “because right now there don’t seem to
be a piece of ground as big as a postage stamp in
sight; nothing but the fat butts of these here old
cypresses, and low-hanging vines around. Reckon
we must just stand for wet jackets, boys.”</p>
<p>“Wait, don’t give it up so easily,” said Thad.
“Pull over to where those vines hang low, and see
if you can’t manage to fasten your tent up in some
sort of style, so that it’ll hang over the boat, and
keep the rain off.”</p>
<p>“But how about the wind, won’t that blow her
every which way?” asked Bob White.</p>
<p>“You’ll find precious little wind with this rain,”
Thad assured him, “because it is so thick in the
swamp here that we’ll be protected. You may
hear it humming in the cypress tops, but hardly a
ripple below.”</p>
<p>“Hurrah! that’s the ticket, then!” cried Bumpus,
who did dislike to get wet more than almost
anything; yet who often managed to stumble, and
fall into lakes and duck ponds in a way that was
most exasperating. “Anyhow, if the worst does
come, I’ve got my old duds on.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_78">78</div>
<p>“Yes, we know you have, sure we do, Bumpus,”
Davy made sure to call out, as his face took on an
expression of pain that made Giraffe laugh; for
just then the latter being in the other boat, was
separated from Thad’s craft by a dozen yards of
water, and to windward at the same time.</p>
<p>It was found that the plan proposed by Thad
was possible of execution. Happily the vines came
down low enough for the boys to secure the tents
in such a way that they could be spread out, and
thus cover most all the boats’ surface.</p>
<p>“This is what I call a boss scheme,” Giraffe was
heard to call out, from under the dun-colored canvas
that was wobbling violently, as the boys made
out to secure the ends the best they could, and in
this way hold the boats steady.</p>
<p>“Did you ever know Thad to think up one that
wasn’t the best going?” demanded Smithy; who
was really the latest recruit in the patrol, though
he had learned a great many things since joining,
and long ago ceased to merit the opprobrious title
of “greenhorn” or “tenderfoot.”</p>
<p>“Listen! I think I hear the rain!” called out
Thad, more to break in upon this flattering line of
talk than because it was necessary to draw attention
to the pattering of the drops upon the canvas covers.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_79">79</div>
<p>“That’s right; and I tell you we didn’t get fixed
any too soon, fellows!” Bumpus exclaimed, as he
snuggled down in comfort, holding on to his share
of the tent as though half expecting, despite the reassuring
words of Thad, to presently feel the same
violently torn from his clutch by the gale unless he
fastened to it with the tenacity of a bull terrier.</p>
<p>Inside of three minutes the rain was coming down
heavily, while the thunder proceeded to crash with
all the vim of a real summer storm up home.</p>
<p>“One good thing,” declared Giraffe, between
outbursts, and when the rain seemed to let up a
little, “we don’t have to depend on the walking
any; and after it’s all over we can go right ahead
as well as ever.”</p>
<p>“Mebbe it’ll raise the swamp level some,” advanced
Step Hen, “and we won’t be apt to run on
the mud banks, like we did more’n a few times.”</p>
<p>“Getting lighter all the while, boys; and I guess
she’ll soon quit!” Giraffe went on to remark; and
they all agreed with him.</p>
<p>“Did anybody get wet?” asked Allan, when it
seemed as though the storm had passed over, and
was rumbling away in the dim distance, having
gone to the northeast.</p>
<p>“Nary a drop!” Bumpus triumphantly declared.</p>
<p>“Huh! there might be fellows mean enough to
wish somebody <i>had</i> gone and got soaked through
and through; for then he’d have to bring out his
new suit, and wear the same,” Davy growled.</p>
<p>Bumpus was seen to be glaring suspiciously at
the speaker when the wet tent was taken down in
the most careful manner possible.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_80">80</div>
<p>“I really believe you wouldn’t care a red cent,
Davy Jones,” he said, sternly, “if I happened to
make a bad step, and walked overboard. Fact is,
I’m agoing to keep my eye on you after this. Like
to have me get my old suit wet, would you, so I’d
just <i>have</i> to make the change; well, I wouldn’t put
it past you to give me a little shove, or trip me up,
so I’d take a header. Better take care, because
there’s a limit to my good nature. Some fellows
can be coaxed to do nearly anything, but they object
to being driven.”</p>
<p>“Listen to him talk, would you?” cried Davy,
pretending to be hurt by the accusation of the other,
though there was a gleam in his eyes that told he
had been given an idea by Bumpus’ remark. “You
make me think of the traveler that the sun and
the wind picked out as a victim, to see which was
the stronger. He had a cloak on, and the one that
managed to get it off was to be the victor. So the
wind tried as hard as anything, but the traveler only
wrapped his cloak tighter around him. Then the
sun got hotter’n hotter, till he just couldn’t hardly
breathe; so what does he do but throw away his
cloak; and of course the sun won, hands down.”</p>
<p>“Chestnut!” gibed Giraffe, from the other boat;
“ten to one even six suns couldn’t force Bumpus
to shed his coat when once he’d made up his mind
to keep it on. Just like that stubborn will of his,
it grows stronger and stronger all the time.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_81">81</div>
<p>“Yes,” added Davy, “and every little while you
can see him sitting by the fire, with his chin held in
his hand and a far-away look in his eyes; and then
you know he’s cracking his poor brain trying to remember
what happened to that five cents’ worth of
medicine he can’t remember what he did with.”</p>
<p>“Didn’t I tell you again and again that the money
part don’t enter into this matter at all?” demanded
Bumpus. “It’s just because I was so wretchedly
careless, that it keeps wearing on my mind. I
ought to know what I did with that stuff; and I’m
bound to figure it out, or bust a boiler atrying.
Didn’t Thad tell us that was a good trait in a scout?
Ain’t being determined what every good scout ought
to try’n practice? Didn’t he tell us about how the
hungry wolf over in Siberia will set out on the
track of a deer in the snow, and keep everlastingly
after him, even if the chase seems silly to begin
with; but nearly every time he’ll get his game before
he quits, just by his pertinacity. That’s what
I am, one of the stick-at-it kind.”</p>
<p>“You never said truer words, Bumpus!” coughed
Davy, toward the stern of the boat, “some things
are like a rolling snowball, they keep on getting
bigger’n bigger the longer they exist. But every
dog has his day, and we live in hopes that something’ll
happen to make you change your mind
about that same coat.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_82">82</div>
<p>When the tents had been squeezed as dry as possible,
the forward progress was resumed, all of them
feeling rather light-hearted over the clever way in
which they had cheated the storm. It always gives
a boy a sense of superiority to feel that he has come
out first best in a battle with Nature.</p>
<p>Some of the scouts doubtless began to wonder
how they were ever going to locate the man and
the girl, deep in the gloomy recesses of Alligator
Swamp; but those who kept their wits about them,
and watched what Thad was doing, must have
ere this come to the conclusion that he had not
been wandering aimlessly about all this time, but
on the contrary had some definite plan of campaign
in view, which he kept constantly following.</p>
<p>In fact, Thad was on the alert for any sort of
sign that would tell him some other boat had been
in the habit of passing along through these channels.
Allan at times called his attention to certain
indications along those lines. And it was in the
hope that this other boat might be the one containing
the man and the girl, whose presence here had
drawn him from his faraway Northern home, that
Thad continued to pursue his set course.</p>
<p>As the afternoon began to wear away, after they
had partaken of a light cold lunch that was not at
all satisfactory to Giraffe, who declared at its close
he was nearly starved, all of them began to keep a
bright look-out for some decent sort of dry land
where they might camp for the coming night.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_83">83</div>
<p>“Because,” said Smithy, who liked plenty of
room, “it would be manifestly next to impossible
for four fellows to stretch out comfortably in such
a narrow craft as this canoe,”—Smithy always liked
to use big words, and was moreover very precise
in his mode of speech, but a pretty good fellow all
the same, a great change having come over him
since he took up being a scout, and ceased to cater
to his former “sissy” weaknesses along the line of
extreme “dudishness,” as Giraffe always called it.</p>
<p>“Well, I should say, yes,” burst forth Davy
Jones; “if you think you’d have a bad time, just
cast your eye over this way and tell me what’d become
of us, once Bumpus started stretching himself
out all over the boat. When he’s sitting up it’s bad
enough, but lying down would make the situation
er—er——”</p>
<p>“Intolerable, I suppose you mean, Davy,” supplemented
Smithy, promptly.</p>
<p>“Yes, in more ways than one it would be,” declared
the Jones boy, darkly.</p>
<p>“Well, don’t worry,” Bumpus told him, calmly;
“because right now I guess Thad’s got his eye on
a real nice camp site, if that grin on his face stands
for anything, and I think it does. How about it,
Mr. Scout-master; have you struck solid land?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_84">84</div>
<p>“I see a place ahead that looks kind of good to
me,” Thad replied; “but because lots of things
don’t happen to turn out as well as they promise,
we’ll have to wait till we get there before we’ll know
for sure. And as we’re all tired of prowling around
in this way for one day, I think we’ll hold up, providing
the chance comes along.”</p>
<p>“Even half a chance, Thad,” urged Davy, hurriedly;
“don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Beggars shouldn’t be choosers, my ma always says,
when I begin to hesitate about taking something
that’s offered. Half a loaf’s some better’n no
bread. And as for me, I’m fairly <i>wild</i> to get out
and stretch my weary limbs, and also mingle with
my other pards.”</p>
<p>“Other pards, huh!” sniffed Bumpus, who knew
very well that this was intended as another little
fling at him, though it failed to make even a dent in
his resolution not to give in to the requests of these
complaining fellows.</p>
<p>They were soon alongside the patch of high
ground discovered by Thad; and when they found
that it offered a splendid site for a dry camp, all of
them were pleased. The way they proceeded to
tumble out of the boats told that their limbs had
been more or less cramped by sitting so long, for
as many as seven hours had elapsed since they embarked.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_85">85</div>
<p>In spite of the time that had been spent in pushing
along, they could not have made as great progress
as might be expected; for on numerous occasions
Thad was compelled to admit that he had
taken a false channel; after which they had to go
back over their course, destroying the marks that
had been left, so they might not later on mislead
them again, until a new start could be made.</p>
<p>First of all they jumped up and down on the
land, and performed all manner of gymnastic feats,
with the object of getting out the “kinks,” as
Giraffe explained it. Davy Jones was up a tree
like a flash, and swinging there as jauntily as any
Borneo gorilla could have done; in fact the Jones
boy never seemed so happy as when he could hang
with his head down, and his toes caught on a
branch. If he chanced to slip, he was as agile as
a cat, and would clutch some new hold. They say
that it is seldom a squirrel misses connections when
jumping from one tree to another; and surely no
boy ever came nearer to being a human squirrel
than did Davy Jones.</p>
<p>“Now, if you’ve got limbered up enough,” said
Thad presently, “come and help me get the duffel
ashore, so we can look after the boats, as usual.”</p>
<p>Everybody was willing, and many hands make
light work, so the tents and all other things came
ashore at a lively rate.</p>
<p>Thad had just thrown down a package he had
been carrying, when he was seen to stand and look
down at it critically, and then shake his head, as
though trying to figure something out.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_86">86</div>
<p>“What ails you, Thad?” called out Giraffe, who
happened to be near by, and noticed this queer action
on the part of the scout-master. “I hope,
now, we haven’t been and lost anything?” for
Giraffe was always in fear lest the food supply be
cut short.</p>
<p>“No, but perhaps there’s a chance we may,” replied
the other, with a grin.</p>
<p>“You don’t say; and what might it be?” demanded
Davy, becoming interested.</p>
<p>“Why, a sudden idea struck me, that’s all,” replied
Thad. “To tell you the truth fellows, perhaps
you’ve been treating our chum Bumpus shamefully
all the while, in accusing him as you have of
wearing clothes that are greasy and loud; because
I’ve got a notion that I’ve located the source of this
bad odor we’ve been suffering from two whole days
and nights.”</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.