Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay; Or, The Disappearing Fleet
Page 15
CHAPTER XV.
THE BRUSH SHELTER.
"After all, this isn't so bad!" Teddy was saying, after they had got thesupper started, and most of them were lying around in comfortableattitudes, enjoying the cheery conditions, for the air was a bit cool,and even the warmth of the small cooking fire felt good.
"It might be worse," admitted Jimmy, sniffing the fragrant air, as a warhorse might the pungent powder-smoke of battle--Jimmy was always readyfor the fray in the line of disposing of surplus "grub."
They did not have a very extensive meal. The conditions hardly warrantedtheir trying to put on any "style," as Jimmy called it. So as appetiteswere appeased, and the food tasted good, nobody was apt to complain.Indeed, these fellows had been through so much in times gone by thatthey knew how to make the most of a bad bargain, and adapt themselves tocircumstances as they found them.
When a Boy Scout can do that he has achieved the best that any one couldexpect of him, for he has conquered himself, always the hardest fight ofall.
Presently Francois announced that the simple bill-of-fare was ready. Itconsisted of hard-tack, coffee, and some caribou meat cooked in regularcamp style. What mattered it if in places the venison was slightlyscorched, or underdone; the wood smoke gave it a flavor all its own, andthere were vigorous appetites on hand to overlook these minor faults.
Quantity appeals to boys more than quality, generally speaking, andnever a single complaint was heard as they munched away.
"Getting off better than we expected, ain't we?" Jimmy observed, withhis mouth so full that his words were fairly mumbled.
"Oh! this is just prime!" Frank declared. "I'm more bothered about nothaving my good blanket to snuggle down into than anything else."
"Please don't mention it till we've done eating, anyway," pleaded Teddy."Makes a cold chill run up and down my spinal column every time I thinkwhat we've got to face, with tents and blankets all gone."
"Another experience, that's all," remarked Jack, trying to lookcheerful, as if these things should not bother any one worthy of callinghimself a scout.
"Well, we've seen a heap of 'em, all told," was the consoling remark ofJimmy, "and we're still in the circus ring, right side up with care.Fact is, it takes an awful lot to knock a scout out, because he'slearned so many ways to dodge, just like a cat does."
"There you go, comparing us to a bunch of tomcats," chuckled Frank.
"I do hope, though," Teddy went on to say, with a sigh, as hecontemplated the little blaze before him, "that later on we'll be ableto have jolly camp fires every night. There is a chance of thathappening, ain't there, Ned?"
"Why, I should hope so, Teddy," replied the other; "I'd hate to thinkthat we'd have to stand for this sort of thing long. As soon as it lookslike we've dropped that crowd, I don't see any reason why we shouldn'thave all the fire we want, so long as we don't start the bush toburning. And as every scout knows how to get sparks from flint andsteel, not to mention other ways of doing the same, why, we needn'tbother ourselves about matches."
In this way they chatted in low tones, and their spirits were kept fromdrooping. Association does considerable toward making boys, or men, seethe bright lining to the cloud. It is like rubbing metal fragmentstogether in a turning cylinder, with the result that every separatepiece receives more or less of a luster from the constant friction. Sodifficulties brighten the minds of scouts who know enough to takeadvantage of their opportunities.
All sorts of suggestions were being made from time to time, looking tothe betterment of their conditions. Some of these did not seempractical, and were immediately dropped. Others deserved more carefulconsideration, and, in these cases, the boys gave each other the benefitof their opinions.
During the course of this talk, Jack brought up the subject of betteringtheir sleeping quarters.
"As we don't expect to keep this little fire going through the wholenight," he told them, "and so won't get the benefit of its warmth,what's to hinder out looking around to find a place where the brush isthick enough to let us stack up a woods' shelter?"
"A good idea, Jack!" was the comment of the patrol leader.
"It would shelter us from the night breeze, anyway," Teddy observed.
"And, say, I think I can put you on to the very place," Jimmyunexpectedly announced; which remark, so unlike Jimmy, caused the othersto "sit up and take notice," under the impression that their comrademust certainly be waking up to the occasion.
"Show me!" said Frank, scrambling to his feet; "because I'm gettingsleepy right now, sitting here so close to the fire; and, according tomy mind, we can't fix up our beds any too soon."
"Oh! how can we talk about beds, when we haven't got any blankets?"wailed Teddy.
"Like as not, we'll find some hemlock trees around, for they grow awayup here, we know," Jack argued. "And by laying close to each other we'llmanage to keep half-way warm, let's hope."
Teddy began to laugh softly to himself.
"What ails you now?" demanded Jimmy; "because it strikes me the prospectain't so very cheerful as to make a feller laugh."
"Oh! excuse me," replied Teddy, "but I just happened to think how funnyit would seem for the whole five of us to be lying like sardines in abox, every fellow's knees doubled up, and stuck in the back of thenext one. Then, whenever one got tired of lying on his right side,he'd call out 'turn!' and the whole line would have to wiggle around, soas to flop over on their left sides."
"Just about what we'll have to do," Jack assured him.
"And you won't think it so very funny either after a while," said Frank.
Jimmy led them back a little way, and sure enough they found just theconditions they required for making a bough and brush shelter. Nedimmediately told the observant one that he had done well to notice theconditions, with an eye to future possibilities.
"While we're at it," Ned continued, "perhaps we'd better make asrain-proof a shelter as we can."
"Gee whiz! I hope you don't think it's going to come down on usto-night, and me with my raincoat which was left in the canoe?" Teddyexclaimed.
"Feels sort of damp to me," Frank admitted.
"Let's hope for the best," added Jack. "But I think that what Ned saidwould be the proper caper for us. And now get busy, everybody. Show whatyou know about constructing a bough shelter, for if ever we needed one,it's right now."
They worked like a pack of beavers. Indeed, Jimmy declared that itseemed like a shame they all belonged to two patrols known as the Wolfand Black Bear, when they were such an industrious lot, and deservedbetter totems.
The guides also entered into the spirit of the thing, though apparentlymore careless or indifferent about their comfort than the boys. Still,they appreciated the prospect of having a shelter, in case of a heavydownpour, and added their contributions towards making it a worth-whileaffair.
When, finally, it was pronounced finished, all of them were of theopinion that it did their knowledge of woodcraft credit.
"Show me the scouts who could have done a better job, under the sameconditions, will you?" demanded Frank, proudly.
"They would be hard to find!" declared Ned.
"Next thing is to hustle and find some sort of browse to make beds outof," Jack told them, "and the thicker it is for a mattress the better,because it causes a certain amount of warmth, and keeps the dampness ofthe ground off."
"Yes, and if there happen to be a few old roots sticking up under you,they don't hurt," added Jimmy, who had been through the experience hedescribed many times in the past, and ought to know the inconvenienceresulting from it.
When five lively fellows get busy, they can gather quite a quantity ofbrowse, in case the right sort of trees are handy; and before long Frankthrew himself down on the mattress, with a grunt of satisfaction.
"How does she go?" asked Teddy, solicitously.
"Bunkum," came the answer, accompanied with a mighty yawn; "try it foryourself."
"Guess I will, Frank," and Teddy accordingly stretched himself out
atfull length, alongside the other scout.
So they all found a place, and there was room enough also for theguides. These worthies insisted upon taking the outermost nooks. Thevoyageur explained that they might want to be up several times beforedawn, to look around and make sure that all was well; nor could thescouts find any objection to this programme, since it was intended toadd to their comfort and security.
If they had not all been so very drowsy, possibly the boys might havefound considerable difficulty in forgetting themselves, under suchunusual conditions; but as a rule, the average boy can sleep underabnormal surroundings that would keep an older person awake all night;for trouble sets lightly on their minds, fortunately enough.
Ned was the only one who knew how Francois and the Cree had agreedbetween themselves to keep "watch and watch" throughout the whole night.After the scouts had apparently managed to get to sleep, the voyageursilently arose, and removing to a little distance, placed his backagainst a tree. There he sat, like a dim statue as time crept on, hisrifle on his knees, and doubtless all his senses constantly on the alertfor signs that would indicate the coming of the enemy.
When, according to his way of thinking, he had stood watch for half ofthe night, Francois crept around to the other end of the shelter, andtouched the form of the old Cree. Not a single word was exchangedbetween them, but Tamasjo, crawling out, took the other's place, asthough it were a part of his business to sit up nights.
What if there was no alarm, the boys enjoyed better security while theyslept, and secured more energy for the following day's work. Men do notalways anticipate trouble when they place a guard over the camp; but, incase it does come, there is always the consciousness of having taken allneedful precautions. It is on the same principle that a wise man insureshis house, though never believing that a fire is going to visit him. Hewants to make sure, that is all.
Had some of the scouts been on post during that night, they might haveexperienced several little alarms, through noises they would hear, whichwere strange to their ears. Not so the guides, who had spent all theirlives amidst these Northern scenes, so that every minute denizen of thewoods was as familiar to them as the game of baseball might be to Jimmy,versed, as he was, in all its fine points.
To them the various fretful voices of the little animals, who doubtlesswondered what business these two-legged pilgrims had stopping on theirpreserves, were to be looked on as only a means of safety. So long asthey continued to hear them near by, they knew that all was well. Asudden silence would have made either one of the guides suspicious,because these sharp-eared rodents could catch the movement of creepingmen much sooner than any biped was capable of doing; and hence, acessation of their complaining would indicate danger to the sleepingcamp.
When Jimmy opened his eyes he saw that the morning had come. It did notlook as cheerful as he would have liked, for the sky was threatening,and what seemed like a cold fog was stealing through the woods, driftingin probably from the great salty bay, so near at hand.
Of course, the waking of one was the signal for the entire five to bestirring. Indeed, once they opened their eyes, the boys were only tooglad to creep out from their shelter and stretch their cramped limbs.
"It didn't rain, after all," Jimmy remarked; and there was something ofa grievance in his tone, as though he rather begrudged going to all thatuseless labor for nothing.
"Well, if we'd known as much last night as we do now," commented Jack,"perhaps we wouldn't have bothered about this shelter. I often wonderwhat a lot of things some fellows would shirk if their foresight was asgood as their hindsight."
"For one thing," spoke up Teddy, briskly, "we'd be having our bullycanoes and blankets, and tents, and all that raft of grub right now,instead of having to do without it."
"That's so, we would," Jimmy echoed, making a comical face. "And let metell you fellers, after this I'm going to devote a lot of time tryin'to see into the future. My father was a seventh son, and they say thatmakes a weather-sharp. I've tried it a few times, and hit the truth onceout of three."
"I'd call that a poor percentage," Teddy sneered. "Why, anyhappy-go-lucky guess ought to strike it half the time, anyway."
"Do we eat again this morning, or is it a case of saving the grub?"Jimmy asked, turning to Ned.
"It's too early yet to go on half-rations," the patrol leader assuredhim. "What we're going to come to after a little is another question. Solet's get busy and have a cooking fire started."
Jimmy hastened to be the one to attend to this. Truth to tell, he wasshivering in the raw morning air, and wanted heat almost as much as hotfood, in order to make himself feel comfortable.
"No changes in our plans overnight, are there, Ned?" inquired Jack, asthey hovered around the blaze after it had been started, each fellowapparently anxious to have a hand in the simple preparation ofbreakfast, though really wanting to warm his hands.
"No," came the reply, "we'll keep straight on, and reach the bay beforechanging our course. Then we'll have to head to the west, and do what wecan to reach the nearest trading post, unless we have the good luck tostrike some sealer or whaling vessel that will take us aboard."