Bert Wilson at the Wheel

by William Osborn Stoddard

  CHAPTER V

  THE HOBOES AND THE BEES

  Early in the morning the boys began to break camp and start for the newlocation. Groups of three or four were detailed by Mr. Hollis toaccomplish certain tasks and they started to carry out his directionsright merrily. Some were sent to store the provisions and cookingutensils; others to take down the tents and gather together theirblankets and other bedding; still others got together the fishing tackleand all was done to the accompaniment of songs and jests and laughter,so that before they knew it everything was ready to dump into the oldfarm wagons they had hired for the purpose. When everything was packedin the wagon that would possibly go in, Mr. Hollis selected Tom to ridebeside the driver and show him where to go.

  After the wagon had started off, some of the boys' own personalbelongings that were left over were put in the "Red Scout" and seven ofthe fellows scrambled in someway--trust boys to find room if there isany to be found--and started away after the wagon. They soon passed itand went on until they came to the turn in the road where the lake couldbe dimly seen through the trees. There Bert stopped and the boys gotout, taking the packages with them. Shorty had been detailed to leadthem to the lake and then to come back and wait for the farm wagon.

  Then Bert went back to pick up Mr. Hollis and Dick Trent who had stayedbehind to see that nothing had been forgotten.

  On the way back he passed the wagon and hailed Tom with a "How are yougetting along, old man?"

  "Pretty badly, I thank you. I wish Mr. Hollis had picked out somebodyelse for this job--someone who didn't care if he spent hours gettingnowhere," Tom replied sourly.

  "Cheer up, the worst is yet to come," laughed Bert. "Never mind, eventhe worst trials have to end some time," he added consolingly andstarted off again while Tom looked enviously after the red car, now fastdisappearing in the distance.

  When Bert reached the old camp site, now looking very bare and forlorn,he found Mr. Hollis and the boys waiting impatiently for him. Mr. Hollisand Dick got in, followed by six of the boys. Bert promised to come backfor the rest right away and the "Red Scout" started off with its secondload. In a little while, for Bert had found a second and much shorterroad to the lake, they came once more to "Campers' Crossing" as the boyshad named it. There they found that the wagon had just arrived with itsload, but the boys had delayed unloading it until Mr. Hollis shouldreach the scene of action. In a minute the Camp Master had taken chargeand the boys were busy unloading and carrying everything to the camp.

  Once more Bert started back with the reliable "Red Scout" for his lastload. When he got to the old camp the boys greeted him with the newsthat Jim Dawson had disappeared and couldn't be found anywhere.

  "He was here just a few minutes ago," said Steve Thomas. "But when Iwent to ask him a question just now he was gone. We have hunted high andlow but we can't find a trace of him."

  Bert was troubled at first, but suddenly a thought struck him and hisface lighted up as he exclaimed: "I think I can explain the mystery.Follow me, fellows."

  He led them through a dense thicket to the side of a hill, covered withunderbrush. Pulling a bush aside, he disclosed to the boys' astonishedgaze, a great, black hole which was evidently the mouth of a cave.

  "Come on out, Jim," Bert called. "We don't want to keep Mr. Holliswaiting _too_ long, you know."

  Jim Dawson was one of those hungry boys who never can get enough to eat,so, having discovered the cave one day, while chasing a butterfly, hehad secretly brought food there in a tin box, so that if he chanced toget hungry, he always had something to eat at hand.

  Bert had discovered the cave and its secret long ago but he was notgiven to tale-bearing and so had kept his own counsel.

  As Bert spoke, a sound was heard inside the cave, and, in a minute,out came the culprit with an accusing piece of cornbread in his hand,blinking like an owl brought suddenly into the glare of the sun.

  At the look of complete surprise and dismay on his face the boys burstinto a shout of laughter.

  "Oh, you lemon," gasped Steve. "You full-sized lemon! How did you evermanage to get away with it?"

  "No wonder we have been short of grub, lately," Dave said, holding hissides as if he were afraid he would burst.

  "Aw, I don't see why you can't leave a fellow alone," said Jim, sulkily."I only brought grub here that belonged to me."

  "Don't be sore, Jim," Bert said, good-naturedly. "I wouldn't havedisturbed you if we hadn't been in a hurry. That reminds me that we'vewasted a good deal of valuable time, already. I guess we had better begetting along."

  At that they all started back on the run and soon had Jim in such a goodhumor that he even told them how he had escaped being found out by anarrow margin many a time, and that nobody but Bert had even suspectedthe cave's existence.

  They all piled into the "Red Scout" in a hurry because they feared thatMr. Hollis would worry on account of their prolonged absence.

  They arrived at "Campers' Crossing" just in time to carry the lastbarrel of provisions. When they reached the new camp the boys weresurprised to see how much had been done in their absence. The tents hadbeen set up and from the mess tent came the clattering of utensils andthe savory odor of creamed salmon on toast.

  Soon, the call to dinner was heard, and the boys all gathered around thetable, chattering like magpies.

  "It seems as if we'd always camped here," said Shorty. "There'ssomething about the place that makes you feel at home right away."

  "It's the classiest place I've ever been in," Dave Ferris declared,enthusiastically. "It makes you imagine that Nature might have had alittle time on her hands and devoted it to making this one spot a littleparadise."

  "Hear! Hear!" Tom cried, clapping his hands in mock praise. "Dave willbe a poet if he doesn't look out. Give us some more, old man, thesample's good."

  "You'd better be careful how you

  "'Beard the lion in his den The Ferris in his hall,'"

  said Dick Trent, warningly. "He won't favor us with any more stories ifyou are not careful how you offend him."

  "I'd just as soon he'd spout all the poetry he wants to if it relieveshim any, as long as he doesn't forget how to tell stories," Shortyremarked as he contentedly munched a piece of toast.

  "How very kind of you," said Dave, sarcastically. "I thank you with allmy heart for your liberality."

  "My which? Say, Dave, if that ever belonged to me, I call you all towitness that I disown it from this time on. It's no friend of mine fromthis time on."

  "You'd better hang on to it, Shorty. It's the best kind of thing tohave around at times," said Mr. Hollis, as he rose to leave the table.

  In the afternoon scouting parties were sent out in all directions tofind out the nature of the surrounding country. Steve Thomas, Bert, Tom,Bob, Shorty, and Jim Dawson were sent off to scour the woods in aneasterly direction from the lake.

  For a considerable distance they tramped along, talking of the differentplants and shrubs they came across and naming the birds they saw in thetrees. They threw peanuts to the squirrels that peeped inquiringly atthem from branches over their heads or ventured shyly from the shelterof their holes. They imitated the clear notes of the birds until thelittle songsters paused to look wonderingly at these strange creaturesthat could not fly and yet sang like themselves. Timid little rabbitswatched the boys with soft, brown eyes, not knowing whether or not tosally forth from their security even for the tempting carrot that Bertheld out so coaxingly. When he threw it at a distance, however, onelittle fellow, braver than the others, his appetite overcoming hisfears, ran forth quickly, snatched the carrot and scurried back in apanic to his burrow, where, with his bright eyes fixed on these humanswho had been so kind to him, he ate contentedly.

  Suddenly the quiet woods rang with shouts and cries, the barking of adog and the noise of people running to and fro furiously. Alarmed, theboys started on a run for the place from which the cries seemed to come.They fairly gasped when they came upon the cause of all the commotion.T
hree men, of the roughest order, were dancing distractedly around,trying to beat off a swarm of bees that surrounded them, and yellinglike mad, while a big collie dog, wild with excitement, barked with allhis might.

  Three men of the roughest order were dancing distractedlyaround.]

  "Say, this is better than a circus," Shorty shouted, "only I'm glad thatthose hoboes and not I are the whole show now."

  "Shut up, Shorty. The question now, is, what we can do to help the poorfellows out," said Tom; then, turning to the tramps, he yelled, "You'dbetter make a dive for the brook and get under water. It's right throughthe trees to your left," he added, as the men, now nearly crazy withpain, started to follow his advice.

  Rushing frantically to the brook, they plunged in head first, while thebees, deprived of their prey, flew off angrily into the woods to searchfor new victims upon whom they might vent their spite. When the trampscame up, dripping from the water, they were a sight to behold. Theirfaces were swollen so that their eyes seemed to be mere slits andtheir ears appeared to be twice their natural size.

  The boys at once ran to get mud to put on the red, angry wounds. Thetramps submitted with indifferent grace to the treatment, grumbling thatthey "didn't see what good being all smeared up with mud was going todo."

  As soon as the boys had done what they could to ease the pain, thetramps declared that they would have to be moving on "because them peskycritters might come back to finish up their business."

  So the boys watched the strange company of sullen, muttering mendisappear through the trees. As they were lost to view, the comical sideof the adventure struck Shorty and he began to laugh and the longer helaughed, the harder he laughed. The others caught the infection and in asecond the woods were ringing with the unrestrained roars of the boys.They laughed until they could laugh no more and then lay on the grass,gasping for breath.

  "Oh, they did look _so_ funny!" said Shorty between gasps. "I nevershall forget that sight until my dying day."

  At that minute Bert sat up suddenly, exclaiming, "Fellows, look who'shere!"

  With one accord they turned and saw the collie which they had entirelyforgotten, sitting near and regarding them with inquiring, wistful eyes.

  "Come here, Beauty," Bert called, and the dog came unhesitatingly andstuck his cold, black muzzle in Bert's hand.

  "Did they desert you, old fellow?" Bert asked, putting his arm aroundthe dog's neck.

  The collie waved his beautiful brush and, lifting his soft eyes to Bert'sface saw something there that made him his slave forevermore. For thecollie, with true dog instinct, had recognized that in Bert he had afriend.

  "I wonder where those tramps got him." "Probably swiped him." "Doesn'tlook as if he'd had very good treatment." "He doesn't and it's a shame,too. Isn't he a beauty?" were some of the comments of the boys as theygathered around the dog, patting his head gently. The collie waved histail and in his eyes was a great longing for sympathy and love. And youmay be sure the boys gave him what he asked for.

  Tired out, the boys finally went back to camp, followed by their newfriend who soon became a favorite with everyone. That night Don, as theycalled the dog, sat with the rest around the camp fire and answeredwhenever they spoke to him with a wave of his silver brush. Bert madehim a bed on the floor of his tent and Don gladly took possession ofit. Just before he got into bed Bert put his hand on the dog's head,saying, "I guess we're going to be good friends aren't we, old fellow?"

  And Don, looking up in his master's face, with eyes that held a world ofgratitude and love, answered to Bert's entire satisfaction.