CHAPTER VI
THE RIVAL FISHERMEN
As the afternoon crept on, and the boat continued to keep up a merrypace, the boys began to feel their confidence return. As Thad assuredthem he did not expect to have any further trouble with the engine, theyno longer kept an anxious eye on the working part of the craft, while atthe least unusual sound every fellow's heart seemed ready to jump intohis throat with wild alarm.
It was not the purpose of the cruisers to try and cross the vast body ofwater upon which their little craft was launched, and which is soimmense that for two whole days they might be out of sight of land.Thad knew the danger that lay in such a thing, and had promised thefolks at home in Cranford that he would be very careful. Indeed, onlyfor the presence of Dr. Hobbs, some of the parents of the scouts mighthave felt like revoking their promise to allow their boys to be of theparty.
Accordingly their course was now laid in such a quarter that they couldkeep the land in sight upon their port quarter most of the time.
Of course, while the scouts had not been at sea, and really knew verylittle of navigation, they were ambitious to learn. And as Bumpus hadbefore hand written down all sorts of phrases used long ago on board theships that sailed the seas in such white-winged flocks before the adventof steam gave them such a backset, he read these all out to his mates;and after that, whenever they could think of the nautical name foranything they insisted on using it, because, as Giraffe declared, itgave such a realistic effect to things.
"But let me tell you there's a rumpus in the navy these days," said StepHen, as Giraffe asked him to "step aft, and hand me that pair ofbinoculars, so I can take an observation."
"What about?" asked Thad.
"Why, they want to abolish some of these old terms that are just a partof sea-faring life. For instance they say that when the man at thewheel is told to 'port your helm,' it takes just the fraction of asecond for it to pass through his mind that that means 'turn your helmto the left.' And so they say in our navy after this the officer willcallout: 'Turn your helm to the left, Jack!' Whew! that must rile everyold jack tar, though. It's like taking the seasoning out of the mincemeat."
"Don't you believe it'll ever pass," asserted Bumpus, indignantly; "andjust after I've made up my mind to learn every one of this list so I canrattle it off like I can already box the compass. No siree, every truesailorman will rise up in arms against it. You can count on my vote infavor of sticking to the old way. Nothing like the old things, say!"
"'Cepting engines," interposed Step Hen, maliciously.
"Oh! well, I draw the line there, that's true," Bumpus admitted, with ashrug of his fat shoulders, as his eyes unconsciously dropped, so thathe looked down into the depths of the lake, "a full mile deep," as healways said to himself.
"Oh! I saw a fish then!" he suddenly shouted, showing new excitement.
"Get your hook and line, Bumpus, and mebbe we'll have fried speckledtrout or white fish for supper!" remarked Giraffe, with what he meant tobe satire in his speech.
"Huh! I ain't that green about fishing, and you know it," remarked theother, as he gave the tall scout a look of scorn. "Anyhow, I can beatyou a mile fishing any day in the week, Giraffe, and I don't care whohears me say it."
"Is that a challenge, Bumpus?" demanded Thad, seeing a chance for somefun to enliven their cruise.
"If he chooses to take me up, you can call it that," responded the fatboy, with a belligerent look at his rival.
"Oh! I'm ready to meet you half way, Bumpus; anything to oblige,"Giraffe went on to say, sturdily. "I'd just like a good chance to showyou up for a fish fakir. We've heard a heap about how you used to haul'em in; now's your chance to prove that you're the big gun of thistrip."
"All right, just as you say, and we'll leave it to Thad to lay down theterms of the contest, the loser to treat the crowd to a dinner when weget back home," Bumpus went on to say, with the took of one who woulddie sooner than give up.
"No need of that last," Allan asserted, with a shake of his head. "Weexpect to have a spread anyhow when we arrive back in Cranford, becausethere's plenty of money in the treasury of the Silver Fox Patrol; butthe loser must do the drudgery that always goes with a dinner, and bethe waiter for the other seven fellows. Do you both agree to that?"
"I do!" said Bumpus, holding up his right hand, just as thought he mightbe before Squire Jasper, and about to give his evidence in court.
"Ditto here; I agree, Thad," Giraffe hastened to say, not wishing tohave it appear that he lagged behind his competitor a particle.
"Now, about the terms; what sort of fish are we to grab?" Bumpus wantedto know.
"You don't grab any, Bumpus," Giraffe warned him; "every one must befairly caught with hook and line, and no seines or nets or guns used.Ain't that right, judge?"
Thad immediately declared he understood that, it was to be a genuinesportsmanlike proceeding, and that no underhand tactics would betolerated.
"First the number will count," he went on to explain; "after thatvariety will stand for a second point. Then the heaviest fish will be athird claim, and we might as well make it interesting, so let's call thesmallest fish caught a fourth point."
"That's four in all; can't you think up another, so's to have it five;and then three points will be a majority, and wins out?" suggested DavyJones.
"A good idea, Davy," Thad assured him; "suppose, then, we also say thelongest fish when measured by inches; that would make five points, allright."
"Yes," interrupted Giraffe, "but ain't that already covered when you saythe biggest fish?"
"Not necessarily," Thad told him, "though in some cases the two would gotogether, I suppose. But sometimes you'll catch a bass that measurestwo inches longer than the one the other fellow got, but when you usethe scales his weighs more by six ounces. How does that come--well,we've got an illustration right here in you and Bumpus; you callyourself the larger by nearly a foot, but when it comes--"
Giraffe threw up his hands in token of surrender.
"That's right, Thad," declared Bumpus, "the longest ain't always highnotch. They do say the best goods come in the smallest packages. Butwrite the conditions down, Thad, while they're fresh in our minds, andread 'em out. When I come in under the wire first, as I surely will,it'd grieve me to hear any squealing from our tall friend here, and haveany dispute about not understanding the rules of the game."
Giraffe sniffed scornfully, but did not say anything. However, for along time after that both boys busied themselves sorting out thegreatest lot of fishing tackle their chums had seen for an age; showingthat they were in deadly earnest about trying to win the wager.
Bumpus even managed to attach a phantom minnow to the end of a line,which he slyly dropped overboard when he thought no one was looking, inhopes of being fortunate enough to get first blood in the competition.And the others knew that if this thing kept up they were bound to haveplenty of fun in watching the desperate efforts of the rival fishermen.
Thad was looking up at the sky occasionally.
"Seem to be some clouds gathering?" remarked Allan, noticing this actionon the part of the pilot of the expedition.
"Yes, but then they may not mean anything; though I've been told thatstorms do come up very suddenly around here. May be something aboutthis big body of fresh water that brings that about, for the sun mustdraw heaps up from Old Superior every hot day."
"I reckon, now, you're aiming to get to that cove you marked on thechart, so's to have a snug harbor for the night," Allan went on to say.
"Just what I am," the other admitted; "this lake is a bit too big for usto think of anchoring out, and taking chances. A storm is bad enough indaytime when you can see around you; but it must be terrible in thepitch darkness."
"Excuse me, if you please," spoke up Step Hen, who had been listening toall the others said. "I hope there are aplenty of them same snugharbors; for a boat the size of ours to drop in and stay overnight."
"That's just the tro
uble about cruising on Superior," said Thad, "andespecially along the American shore, because there are few rivers thatempty into the lake. Up along the Canadian side it's different, becausethere are some fine trout streams that extend from White Fish Bay alongtoward old Fort William."
"I'd like to see that last place," spoke up Davy, "because I've heardabout it ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper. You see, my greatgrandfather used to live in Montreal in the days when the Northwest FurCompany was in competition with the Hudson Bay Company, and my ancestorwas employed each Spring to set out from Montreal with some, bigbatteaus manned by French Canadian voyageurs, who would row and sail allthe way through most of the Great Lakes to Fort William, where the agenthad collected heaps of valuable pelts from the trappers and the Injunsafter the season was done. These he'd fetch all the way back toMontreal again, the flat bottom boats being loaded down with the bales.And let me tell you that was taking risks some; but they raised men inthem days, I reckon, men that never allowed themselves to think of sucha thing as danger, because they were always facing some sort of perils."
"I guess you're, about right, Davy," admitted Thad; "and I often sit andwonder how it'd seem if a fellow lived away back in those days beforethe times of automobiles, motorboats, telephones, talking machines andelectricity."
"Huh!" grunted Bumpus, "according to my mind, what dangers they facedain't to be mentioned in the same breath as them we have hovering overus all the while. For instance, what if Thad here just crooked hishand, wouldn't we be apt to run smack into that other boat that's goin'to pass us right now.
"And say, fellows," remarked Giraffe, in a low, mysterious tone, thatsomehow managed to thrill the others, as no doubt he intended it should;"just take a peek at the men in that boat, will you? Somehow I don'tknow just why, but they make me think of pirates, if ever they have suchcritters up here on Old Superior. And take it from me, boys, right nowone of the bunch is looking us over through a marine glass. Like as notthey're making up their minds who and what we can be, and if it's goingto pay 'em to board this same craft, to clean it out. Don't anybodymake out like we're watching 'em; but try and remember where you put ourgun, Thad; because who knows but what we might need the same right badbefore long?"
Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island; or, Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers Page 6