Home > Authors Index > H. Irving Hancock > High School Boys in Summer Camp > This page
The High School Boys in Summer Camp, a fiction by H. Irving Hancock |
||
Chapter 9. Dick's Woodland Discovery |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER IX. DICK'S WOODLAND DISCOVERY "You couldn't have come at a finer time!" cried Dick joyously, as he raced to meet the most welcome visitors. "We're barbecuing a whole cow." "Then I trust, Prescott, that you came honestly by the cow," rejoined Dr. Bentley his eyes twinkling. Besides Dr. and Mrs. Bentley, there were eight girls. The visitors quickly explained that, besides the Bentley touring car, that of the Sharps was being used on this expedition, Susie Sharp being one of the girls of the party. The Sharps did not employ a chauffeur, but their general man knew how to run the car, and he was now engaged in taking the cars to a spot well off the road. "I'll send one of the fellows to get him," Dick promised, as he led the numerous though welcome guests to camp. "Lucky I made a special big pudding," grinned Jim Hornby. "The girls may have my share," gallantly offered Tom Reade, though he groaned under his breath. "There's pudding enough for a lot more people than we have here," returned Jim. "I don't bother making small puddings." The boys were all called in quickly to greet the girls and Dr. and Mrs. Bentley. Of course, the girls had to see the interior of the tent, and all the arrangements of the camp. "I wish I were a boy," sighed Laura Bentley enviously. "I'm glad you're not," spoke Dick gallantly. "You're ever so much nicer as a girl." Honk! honk! sounded over by the road. The noise continued. "Greg," said Dick, "that's Miss Sharp's father's man. Evidently he wants something. You'd better run over." In less than five minutes back came Greg with three other men, all of them unexpected. Mr. Alonzo Hibbert, minus his four-quart hat, and wearing a flat straw hat instead, as well as light clothes and silk negligee shirt, came in advance of Tom Colquitt, the man from Blinders' detective agency. Still to the rear of them was a third man, slightly bent and looking somewhat old, though there were no gray streaks in his light brown hair. "How do you do, boys?" called Mr. Hibbert airily, as he came swiftly forward. "We saw a big smoke over this way, and so we stopped to find out what was the matter. Young Holmes has asked us to stop for your barbecue, but it looks to me like a terrible imposition on you, and so-----" Here Mr. Hibbert paused, looking highly embarrassed as he caught sight of Mrs. Bentley and the girls coming out of the tent. "You already have other company," murmured Hibbert apologetically. "No; most decidedly we must not intrude on you." "How do you do, Mr. Colquitt?" was Dr. Bentley's greeting. Then other introductions followed, and, ere he knew it, Hibbert and his friends were members of the party and destined to partake of the barbecue feast. The oldish-looking man with the new arrivals proved to be Mr. Calvin Page. "He's the millionaire father of the missing boy that Colquitt and I are trying to find," Hibbert explained to Dick. "Have you any clue, as yet?" Prescott inquired. "Nothing worth while," sighed Lon Hibbert. "It's too bad," murmured Dick. "Mr. Page is a fine-looking man, but he must be lonely." "He is," agreed Lon Hibbert. "His wife is dead, isn't she?" "Yes; and Page would give the world to find that boy of his." "Perhaps if he doesn't find his son it may be as well," Dick hinted. "Why, as well?" "The missing son, brought up by others, might have turned out badly," Prescott suggested. "Pooh!" quickly rejoined Lon Hibbert. "That missing son, no matter how wild or bad he may be, is still young enough to reform. Prescott, no matter how bad that son may be, it will be a blessing for my friend Page to find his boy! I pray that it may be my good fortune to run across that son, one of these days, and that I may be the first to recognize the boy." "Prescott," broke in Mr. Ross, coming forward, "you don't begin to have enough knives, forks and plates to take care of this crowd, do you?" "I'm sorry to say that we haven't," Dick smiled. "But we'll manage that all right. My friends and I will play waiters, and sit at second table after the dishes have been washed." "You won't have to," replied the cattle owner. "I have a folding table and dishes in my wagon, and I'll send Bill Hopple after 'em." So the tables were set under the shade of the trees, not far from the campfire. The Sharps man came up, and was seated with Jim and Bill. Everything being now cooked, the feast began. "I've never had anything as wonderful as this happen to me before," cried Belle Meade, as she seated herself and looked over the two tables with sparkling eyes. "Girls, we didn't look forward to such a treat as this when we left Gridley this morning." "You intended to look in on us, didn't you?" inquired Darry. "Yes; but we brought our own luncheons," said Laura. "We didn't expect you to do anything for us---unless you boys had happened to catch a mess of fish." "We were planning to go fishing this morning," Tom Reade explained, "although we do not know whether the fishing near here amounts to much. May I pass you some of this sirloin, Miss Marshall?" Gay spirits ruled, as they usually do and always should when young people are together out in the open, far from studies or from any of the other cares of life. Dick told the story of the stampede, while Mr. Ross added much about the peculiarities of stampeding cattle and the impossibility of controlling the animals while their mad fright lasts. "I am certain that this is the finest meal I have ever eaten," declared Mr. Page, who, up to the present, had been rather silent. "There is only one thing it needs," rejoined Mr. Ross. "If we had about six roasted ears of corn for each diner then this barbecue would be a huge success." "Not even the corn could improve it," declared Laura Bentley, as Dick helped her to more of the roasted meat. "Don't forget that pudding, ladies and gentlemen!" called out Jim Hornby, from where he sat. "That pudding is my best kind, and the best one of its kind that I ever turned out. When you have the pudding you won't be thinking of a little thing like roasted ears of corn." "No more, thank you," replied Clara Marshall, as Greg tried to secure her plate in order to help her to more food. "Until the pudding comes on," prompted Jim Hornby. "Until the pudding arrives," smiled Clara. "But no one may think of having pudding yet," insisted Mr. Ross, with mock gravity. "I forbid that anyone should have pudding, or even think of it, until we have tried the one really delicious dish of this feast." "And what may that be?" called Dr. Bentley. "The best part of the cow," replied Mr. Ross. "A big rib roast, served with cracked bones with the marrow cooked in them. Come along, Bill. We'll bring back the roast and the marrow." Ross and his man moved briskly out of sight. Only a few moments had passed when Mr. Ross' voice was heard from the clearing: "_Thieves_! The rib roast is gone---so is the marrow!" Dick glanced swiftly at his chums. The same idea was in the minds of all the members of Dick & Co. "Our friend, the prowler, has been here," muttered Prescott, rising hastily. "This thing has got to be stopped. Come along, fellows! Friends, please excuse us for a few moments." At a dog trot Dick led the way to the clearing. There stood Mr. Ross, looking the picture of indignation. "I didn't know there were tramps in these woods," muttered the cattle owner. "Tramp, thief, or whatever he is," exclaimed Dick Prescott, "that fellow must move on out of this part of the country. If he doesn't we'll catch him. After we get through with him, he'll be glad enough to move on." "If he's able," added Dave Darrin significantly. "Oh, what's the use of making a fuss, this time?" demanded Tom Reade good-humoredly. "For once we have so much meat that we could spare a hungry man two hundred pounds and not miss it." "It's the principle of the thing," muttered Dick, who was studying the ground intently. "That big, hulking fellow doesn't care a rap whether we have plenty, or whether he takes all we have. We've got to suppress him. We must catch him, and put a stop to his thieving. See! Here's where he went off through the woods. Come on! We'll trail him!" "And, if we find him?" asked Greg. "We'll try to reason with the fellow," responded Prescott rather grimly. Just as the boys started off on the trail that Prescott had discovered, other figures appeared on the scene. "Now, may I ask what you girls are doing here?" asked Tom, his tone more agreeable than his words. "We want to see the fun, whatever is going to happen," declared Susie Sharp. "Oh, there will be plenty of that, I promise you, if we can find the fellow," asserted Darry bluntly. "Come along, girls!" cried Belle Meade gleefully. "But there may be something disagreeable happen, you know, girls," Dick warned them. "If we overtake this fellow there may be a fight." "If you could call it a fight, when six Gridley high school boys attack one man, then I shall have to change my mind about our high school boys," hinted Laura Bentley teasingly. It was plain enough that the girls were bent on following them, so no more objections were raised. "We'll travel so fast that the girls won't be able to keep up," whispered Tom Reade to Dick. "We'll lose 'em, and they'll be glad to hike back to the table." This, however, proved to be not quite as easy as had been expected. The trail into the woods was rather a plain one, though it could not be followed at a run. "Keep behind me, fellows," urged Dick. "If you keep up with me you may blot out the trail." So his five chums came after him, with the girls in the rear, in a straggling line. Into the deepest woods the trail led. "The girls will soon tire of this chase, and face about," Tom told Darry. Which was precisely what happened. In the deepest part of the woods Dick parted a tangle of bushes through which the trail led. Then, in a voice vibrant with agitation, he shouted: "Come on, fellows! Quick!" _ |
||