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The High School Boys in Summer Camp, a fiction by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 17. During The Big Storm |
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_ CHAPTER XVII. DURING THE BIG STORM "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" "Who's there?" cried Dick, starting up. Then, to the accompaniment of some giggling, came in feminine tones, high-pitched, the famous battle yell of Gridley High School. "T-E-R-R-O-R-S! Wa-ar! Fam-ine! Pes-ti-lence! That's us! That's us! G-R-I-D-L-E-Y H.S! Rah! rah! rah! rah! _Gri-i-idley_!" "A lot of mere girls trying themselves out as real war-whoop artists!" uttered Reade in a tone of pretended disgust. But Dick and Dave had jumped up, and were now running for the road as fast as they could. It was ten days after the last word from Tag Mosher. The officers had been promptly notified by the messengers from Dick & Co., and presumably were still scouring the great stretches of forest, though so far without result. "How did we do it, boys?" called the laughing voice of Laura Bentley, as Dick and Dave came in sight. "Don't ask me!" begged Dave. "Girls never ought to try school yells. They ought to content themselves with waving handkerchiefs." "Mr. Smarty!" cried Clara Marshall. All eight of the girls were now in the burned clearing, surrounding the two boys laughingly, while Greg and Dan now ran up. Out of the woods near the road came Dr. and Mrs. Bentley. "Prescott," called the doctor, "we forgot to write and secure your permission for this latest vagary of mine." "I don't know what the vagary is, sir, but the permission is assured in advance," laughed Dick. "What are you going to do, anyway, sir?" "I'm afraid the idea will bore you," laughed Dr. Bentley, "but back in the road are the same two automobiles, also two two-horse wagons, loaded to the gunwales, so to speak. We've brought two small, portable houses, a couple of tents, a lot of bedding and supplies, and other things needed, and we're going to try to pitch a camp not too far from yours. Does the information convey any jar to your spine?" "Not a jar," answered Dick promptly, standing with his hat off in the presence of Mrs. Bentley and the eight girls. "The only thing I notice in the way of sensation over the news is a great thrill of delight." "It's a pity that Dave and some of the other boys couldn't find their tongues and make as good use of them as Dick has just done," pouted Belle Meade. "Dick Prescott is our captain, always," replied Darry, with a comical sigh, "and his sway extends even to the point of his bartering away our liberties." "Let us go on, farther into the woods," urged Belle, turning to Dr. Bentley. "I think not," replied the doctor dryly. "Since Prescott has been the only one to hold out the gracious hand, I believe we'll settle right down here, as a reward to Prescott and as a punishment to the others." "Hooray for punishment!" laughed Darry. "I can take a lot of it." "That's the first nice thing you've said," declared Miss Meade. "I'll say a lot more if you're going to be here for the rest of the summer vacation," promised Darry. "Not quite as long as that," declared Dr. Bentley. "But we'll be here for a few days. Then we'll go on to other camping places." "You're going to be just in time for dinner to-day," Dick informed the new arrivals. "We'll be just in time to get our own dinner," smiled Laura. "We have an abundance of supplies with us, and we're not going to eat you boys out of the woods. The first meal with guests will be when you come over to our camp and take revenge for the descent that we made upon you the other day." "Dick," inquired the doctor, "where do you think we could pitch camp best?" "It depends upon the size of your houses and tents," Prescott answered. "Naturally. Your answer is a good deal more sensible than my question." "Anyway," Dick suggested, in an undertone, "your camp should be just far enough away so that neither camp will intrude on the privacy of the other. I think I know a spot, if your houses are not too large." Dr. Bentley mentioned the sizes of the two portable houses. "The spot that I have in mind will do finely," Dick declared. "And I think you can drive the wagons in there." Dan Dalzell was sent to the road to instruct the teamsters to drive in at the point which young Prescott mentioned. It was not long before the two wagons were at the spot. Reade now remained at the boys' camp, to look out for things, while the other five went over to the new camp to be of assistance. Dr. Bentley, having removed his coat, was now busily at work. The two wagons were unloaded of a host of things, after which the teamsters started, at once, to erect the portable houses. As these were of a pattern requiring but little work, they were up within a few hours. Dick & Co. pitched the tents, also busying themselves in various other ways. Now, Mrs. Bentley, aided by the high school girls, started in to prepare the noon meal. "We shall want you boys over here about tomorrow noon," said Laura. "By that time we shall be all to rights and ready to act as hostesses." "Can't we come over again before to-morrow?" asked Dick, with a wistfulness that caused a general smile. "If you don't come over except when you're especially sent for," declared Miss Meade, "you'll wake up some morning in the near future and find us gone on to the next camping place." Dick had already told Dr. Bentley of the fugitive, Tag Mosher, and the fact that that young offender was at large in the woods, and armed. "I'm not afraid of him," declared the doctor bluntly, "and I shall always be within sound of the camp. It wouldn't take you boys long to get over here, either, at need." Dick now reluctantly called his chums away, as Mrs. Bentley and the high school girls might want a little time to themselves. "It's going to be great to have such company right at hand," declared Darry gleefully. "Only I must warn you of one thing," retorted Dick. "What?" "You remember the errant that brought us into the woods?" "Football training!" "Exactly, and even the welcome presence of the girls mustn't be allowed in the least to interfere with the serious and hard work that we have ahead of us for the honor of good old Gridley High School!" "That goes, too," nodded Greg. "Though I am afraid the girls will feel almost neglected." "No, they won't," Darry retorted. "The girls all belong to Gridley High School as much as we do, and they're just as big football boosters when it comes to that. They'll endure a little neglect when they know it's for the honor and glory of our school." "Besides," suggested Dick, "they may be glad to put in a little time watching us train." There will be no objection to that, will there?" "Not a bit," declared the others. Tom Reade, having been left in charge of the camp, had also taken upon himself the preparing of the dinner, though this was not his day for such service. The others now turned to help him. "I'm glad the girls have come, and I'm also sorry," declared Reade. "If we stick to training as conscientiously as we ought to they'll feel that we're not showing them all the attention they've a right to expect." "We won't neglect training," Dick retorted, "and the girls won't feel neglected, either. We've talked that over on the way here, and we'll explain it to the girls when we see them again. They're Gridley High School girls, and they're sensible." It was not long ere dinner was ready. Six famished boys sat down at the table. "I wonder what on earth is the reason that we haven't heard from Mr. Hibbert, or from the Blinders agency, either?" spoke Dick, when the meal was half over. "I had almost forgotten about those parties," Tom rejoined. "Not hearing from Hibbert, as I take it, means that that generous young friend of ours has broken off communication with the Eagle Hotel in Gridley. But I can't understand why the agency hasn't communicated with us in some way." Dinner was eaten in quicker time than usual. Dick and Dave, perhaps some of the others, felt a secret desire to slip over to the other camp, but no one mentioned any such wish. Instead, the dinner dishes were washed, the cooking utensils cleaned, and the camp put in a very good semblance of order. "In forty-five minutes more," remarked Prescott, glancing at his watch, "we must be back at training work." "Not to-day," replied Tom. "What's the matter?" demanded Dick, looking sharply at him. "In forty-five minutes more," exclaimed Reade, "we'll be sitting inside the tent, looking out at the weather." "What are you talking about, Tom?" asked Darry. "Read your answer in the skies," retorted Reade. Though none of the other five boys had noticed it, the sky had been gradually clouding. The wind was becoming brisker, too, and there was more than the usual amount of moisture in the air. "Pshaw! That's a shame," muttered Dick. "I wish we might arrange it with the weather clerk to have it rain at night, after ten o'clock, and have dry ground in the day time," sighed Dave Darrin. Yet none of the boys spoke the thought that was uppermost in more than one mind---the wish that they might go over to the Bentley camp to spend the time that it rained in the society of the girls. It was Reade, who was perhaps less attracted by girls' society than the others who finally suggested: "We ought to send someone over to the other camp to see if they are all fixed to stand the coming rain." "Good idea!" nodded Dick. "You run over, Tom." Reade was away less than ten minutes. "Dr. Bentley says they'll be as snug as can be in the biggest kind of a summer rain that the weather clerk has on tap," Tom reported. Flashes of lightning were now illumining the gradually darkening sky. Distant rumblings of thunder also sounded. "I hope it won't be much of a thunderstorm," sighed Dick. "Some girls are very uneasy in a thunderstorm." "Laura is afraid of one, I know," said Dave. In a few minutes more the big drops of rain began to fall. Soon after swirling sheets of water descended. Dick & Co. had all they could do to keep dry in such a downpour. "This is where the portable house has the advantage of a tent," grunted Tom. "The portable houses yonder are even equipped with some kind of rubber roofing. If this storm keeps up through the night at this rate, we'll be washed out long before daylight." "I can stand it," retorted Prescott, "as long as I know that Mrs. Bentley and the girls are protected from the weather. Yet I won't mind if the storm does let up after an hour or two." Conversation ceasing, after a time, all but Reade and Dalzell got out books to read from the slender stock of literature that they had brought with them into the woods. The heavy storm made it a dull afternoon, where there might have been so much fun. But not one of Dick & Co. had the least idea of the excitement in store for them. The storm held more than rain for many people. _ |
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