The Boy Scouts Down in Dixie; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER V. BUMPUS ON GUARD.

  "How will we pair off for the tents?" asked Bob White, presently.

  "I think it would be just as well to keep the formation we already havein the boats," the scoutmaster immediately replied, as though he mighthave already figured this out.

  Davy Jones was heard to give a disappointed grunt, though just why heshould be the only one to do so must remain a mystery; but at any rateBumpus refused to let himself show that he took it as personallydirected toward him.

  "That means Giraffe, Bob White and Smithy sleep in Number Two along withme, does it, Mr. Scout-master?" Allan inquired.

  "Yes, and let Smithy pair off with you, while Bob White and Giraffe arepards on guard. I'll take the first stage, with Bumpus, because that'lllet him have a longer uninterrupted sleep, and he's more apt to stayawake in the earlier part of the night than later on. When the time isup we'll arouse Giraffe, who'll take charge of his watch. That'sunderstood, is it?"

  All of them declared it was very simple; and that surely a spell of lessthan two hours could not turn out to be a very hard task. Even Bumpuswas apparently grimly resolved to show his mates that he had "reformed,"and would never, never again be guilty of such a crime as going to sleepwhile playing the part of sentry.

  "You've got me so worked up atalking all about that black escaped jailbird," he stoutly affirmed, "that chances are my eyes won't go shut thewhole night long. You see, I'm sensitive by nature, and when I heardreadful things, like that poor fellow nearly starving while he's hidingout in the swamp, with the dogs trying to get on his trail all the time,it makes my flesh creep. So please, Giraffe, don't say anything moreabout it. You get on my nerves."

  "Huh! that ain't a circumstance to some things--" began the tall scout;and then as though suddenly thinking better of it, he cut his sentenceoff short, so that no one ever knew what he had meant to say, thoughthere was Davy chuckling again, just as if he might have a strongsuspicion.

  They had soon arranged their blankets in the two dun-colored tents. Thecanvas had been prepared by tanning in some manner, so that its formerwhite hue was altered; and at the same time it had been renderedimpregnable to water. This is a fine thing about these prepared tents;because the ordinary covering, while it is capable of shedding rain forsome time, once it gets soaked, if you simply touch it on the insidewith your finger, you are apt to start a dripping that nothing can stopas long as the rain comes down.

  Giraffe, who was very angular, and always complained of feeling everylittle pebble or root under his blanket, when out camping, at oncestarted to gather some of the hanging Spanish moss, to "pad his bedwith."

  "They tell me it makes fine mattresses, after it's dried," he remarked;"so p'raps it'll keep me from wearing a hole in my skin while I resthere. Say, it's simply great, let me tell you," he added, as he sankdown to test his puffy couch, "so I'd advise every one of you to getbusy, and lay in a supply."

  "How about insects of all kinds, from red bugs to ticks?" asked StepHen, who already had a few fiery spots on his lower limbs, marking theplaces where some of the former invisible guests had buried themselves,and started to create an intolerable itching and burning that made himscratch frequently, without much alleviation of the trouble.

  "Oh! who cares about such small pests as them?" remarked Giraffe,loftily.

  "Not much danger, if you select clean moss, Step Hen," Thad told him;and as the scout-master was himself following the example set by theinventive Giraffe, of course all the others copied after him.

  "Misery likes company, they say," Step Hen was heard to mutter; "andp'raps now to-morrow there'll be the greatest old scratching bee youever did see. As I'm in for it anyway, guess I'll take the chances ofmixin' the breed," with which he flung prudence to the winds, andstarted making a collection for himself.

  Now, Thad did not mean to neglect any precaution looking to making surethat if a visitor came to the camp during the night, in the shape of ahuman black thief, he would find it difficult to carry off any of theirpossessions.

  First of all, he paid particular attention to the boats, the paddles ofwhich he himself carried into the middle of the camp, and finally hidaway in the tents, so that they could not easily be run across.

  Then he had some of the boys assist him, while he ran the two canoes farup on the shore. Even then he secured the painters in such fashion thatany one would have great difficulty in unfastening the same.

  "I should think that would make us feel secure about our boats, Thad?"Allan remarked, after all this had been carried out with scrupulouscare; for the scout-master believed that what was worth doing at all wasworth doing well, and he applied this principle to his every-day life,often to his great advantage.

  "If we know what's good for us we want to always guard the boats aboveall things," Thad went on to tell them.

  "I should say so," Bumpus admitted; "just think what a nice pickle we'dfind ourselves in, fellows, if we suddenly lost both boats while we wereright in the middle of the swamp. We could lose lots of things betterthan them."

  "Bumpus," observed Giraffe, solemnly, "you never said truer words--wecould; and there might even be some things we'd be _glad_ to part with,but which seem to hang on to us just everlastingly."

  Davy seemed amused at hearing the tall scout say this; but Bumpus eithermistook it for a compliment, or else chose to act as if he did; for hegrinned, and nodded, and wandered back to the tents to get his gun; forThad had selected the first watch for himself and his partner.

  "I'll just show 'em that I can stay awake these days," he was saying tohimself in his positive way. "Time may have been when I was just alittle mite weak that way; but I've reformed, so I have. Huh! what's twohours to me, I'd like to know?"

  Some of the other scouts might, had they chosen, have recalled numerousinstances where Bumpus, being set on guard, had later on been found"dead to the world," committing the most heinous crime known to soldiersin war-time, that of sleeping on post, and thus putting the whole armyin peril.

  When one fellow started to crawl inside the tent others followed hisexample, until only Thad and Bumpus remained. The fat scout had to takea firm grip on himself, when he saw them going to their invitingblankets, buoyed up so temptingly by those armfuls of soft gray moss;but he proved equal to the test, for he shouldered his gun, and badeThad station him in his place.

  "You'll have to stay right here, Bumpus," the other told him. "I know itisn't the most inviting spot going, for the ground is wet, and you canhardly find a place to stand on; but those things are good for a sentry,because they help keep him awake."

  "Oh! never mind about me, Thad; I'll prove true blue every time. Butwhere will you hold forth? I ought to know, so I could find you, in caseanything suspicious came along."

  So Thad pointed out where he expected to stay, and then went on to warnthe other once more:

  "Be very careful about using your gun, Bumpus," he said.

  "Oh! I will, sure, Thad," declared the fat scout, hastily. "I hope nowyou don't think I want to have any poor fellow's blood on my hands, doyou? I ain't half so ferocious as Giraffe, now. You heard what he saidabout thinking the coon'd get what he deserved, if he came aprowlingaround here in the night, and somebody filled him chuck full of shot? Idon't look at it that way. Fact is, I'm sorry for the poor wretch; andI'd share my dinner with him, if I had a chance, laugh at me for a sillyif you want to."

  "But you don't hear me laughing at all, Bumpus," Thad told him; "and Iunderstand just how you feel about it. Nature gave you a tender heart,and made Giraffe on different lines; but I tell you plainly, I've oftenwished some of the other fellows were more like Cornelius Hawtree!"

  "Oh! have you, Thad?" said the fat boy, with a suspicious tremor in hisvoice. "Thank you, thank you ever so much for saying that. I'd ratherhave your good opinion, than that of any other fellow I ever knew."

  And somehow he felt so light-hearted after receiving that little sincerecomplim
ent from the watchful scout-master, that he really found no greatdifficulty in keeping wide-awake during the entire term of his vigil;for there is nothing equal to a little praise to set a boy thinking, andtherefore remaining vigilant.

  When the time came to make a change he spoke to Thad as soon as theother drew near his position.

  "Never batted an eye once, Thad, and that's a fact," he announced,proudly. "Oh! I'm on the road to better things, I tell you. And while Iheard lots of queer old grunting and groaning deep in the swamp, Ididn't see a suspicious thing. Will you get Giraffe and Bob White outnow?"

  "Yes, because they come tailing after us, according to the programme;"and while Thad crept into the second tent to arouse the boys, Bumpushung around so as to inform Giraffe that he had fulfilled his duties assentry to the letter.

  However, the tall scout seemed to want to hurry past him, and only gavea grunt in reply when Bumpus launched forth on an elaborate account ofhow he had proved himself equal to the test. In fact, one might havethought that Giraffe was holding his breath as though he feared to takecold by breathing the cool night air too suddenly, after coming out fromhis snug blanket.

  When Thad and Bumpus had also crawled under the flap of the first tent,all immediately became quiet again, the new sentries having taken uptheir positions as marked out by the patrol leader, in whose hands suchthings must lie, as he is always in charge of the camp.

  Bumpus heard a little restless moving about when he tried to settledown, as if at least one of the other occupants of the tent might betrying to change his position. But the fat scout was too tired andsleepy to bother his head about any trifle like this; besides his coldseemed to get no better, and he was apt to give a loud sneeze at anytime.

  He distinctly remembered allowing his head to drop on the rude pillow hehad fashioned out of his shoes, covered with his clothes-bag; and thenseemed to be carried away on the wings of dreams.

  His waking up was very sudden, for it seemed to Bumpus that a cannon hadbeen discharged close to his ears, after which came all sorts of loudcalling.