XXIX
TOM FINDS THINGS
AS soon as the visitor disappeared through a tangled growth of bushes,Larry began marking out the duties of the day.
“First of all we must make ourselves comfortable,” he said, as ifreflecting.
“That means a bush shelter of some sort,” interrupted Tom.
“No, it doesn’t either,” Larry answered, in a tone of playfulness likeTom’s own.
“What does it mean, then?”
“It means a shelter—not ‘of some sort’ as you say, but of a good sort.The wind blows hard here sometimes as the place is so exposed to abroad passage leading to the sea outside. So we must build somethingthat isn’t easily carried away by a squall.”
“It would mean a good many other things,” said Cal, “if I were thearchitect selected to make designs, with front elevations, floor plans,estimates and all the other things they do before beginning to put upa building.”
“Why, of course, Cal, you are to direct the work,” answered Larry. “Youknow more about such things than all the rest of us combined.”
“Well, then, first of all, our palatial country residence must facedirectly away from the sea,” said Cal. “If it had its wide open sidein any other direction we’d be drenched inside of it every time a raincame in from the sea, and that is where nearly all the hard rains comefrom here. Then, again, if the hovel faced the wrong way it would befilled full of smoke every time a sea breeze blew, and in this exposedplace that is nearly all the time. There are seventeen other goodand sufficient reasons for fronting the structure in the way I havedecreed, but the two I have mentioned are sufficient to occupy anddivert your young minds as we go on with the work. Now let all handsexcept Larry busy themselves chopping crotched poles of the severaldimensions that I’ll mark here in the sand, for lack of other and morecivilized stationery.”
With a sharpened stick Cal began writing in the sand.
“Four poles, 12 feet long, and three or four inches thick.”
“But what do you want me to do, Cal?” asked Larry.
“Go fishing,” said Cal. “We must have some dinner after awhile. See ifyou can’t bring in a sheepshead or some other fish weighing five or sixpounds and fit for roasting.”
In an instant Larry was off with cast net, shrimp bucket and some fishlines.
Cal resumed his sand writing, cataloguing the various sorts and sizesof poles wanted. Presently he stopped short, muttering:
“But then we’re not lumbermen, and the only tool we have to chop withis our one poor little hand ax. It won’t take three of us to wield thattoy. Say, Tom, suppose you take your gun and see if you can’t get ussome game. We’ll do well enough with fish for dinner, but we must havesome meat for to-night. So go and get some. I know you’re half crazyto be off in the woods shooting. Dick and I will work at the polesand palmetes—that’s apt alliteration, but it was quite accidental, Iassure you. One can use the ax and the other cut palmete leaves withhis jackknife, exchanging jobs now and then. We’ll need a great stackof the palmetes with which to cover the roof and three sides of ourmansion.”
“Yes, of course, and fortunately they grow very thick just out therein the woods,” said Dick. “I saw them early this morning.”
“Yes, I know. I saw them yesterday when I picked out a place for thecamp. Our need of them was one of the considerations I had in mind. Bythe way, Dick”—the two were busily at work now—“what do you think ofthe professor’s plan of sleeping?”
“It saves him a lot of trouble,” Dick answered.
“Yes, in one way. But if he had anything with him that water wouldspoil, it would make more trouble than it saves. As he has nothing ofthe kind—”
“How about his reserve ammunition? A man who depends upon his gun forall his food must have a lot of cartridges somewhere.”
“That’s so, but his rifle is probably of very small calibre, so that agood many cartridges can be packed in a small space. Of course we can’task him.”
At that moment “the professor,” as Cal had called him, appeared, withprofuse apologies.
“It was really inexcusable,” he protested, “for me to go away as I didwhen you young gentlemen had a shelter to build. I should have stayedto help in the work, as I am to share in its advantages. But I am sounused to providing shelter for myself that I quite forgot your largernecessities. Fortunately I heard the blows of your ax and was remindedof my duty. I have come at once to assist you.”
“Oh, you mustn’t think of that, Professor,” answered Cal. “We reallyneed no assistance. My brother and Tom have gone off for supplies ofmeat and fish, but they’ll be back presently, and meanwhile we two canuse the only tools we have for this kind of work. Besides, you havesomething of your own to do.”
“Nothing that may not be as well done at another time. I must insistupon bearing my share of the work of constructing a camp which you havebeen courteous enough to invite me to share.”
“But you don’t sleep under a roof—even a flimsy one of palmeteleaves,” objected Dick. “We invited you to join us here only because welike good company.”
“Thank you for the compliment. No, I do not sleep under a roof, butyour roof will be a great convenience and comfort to me in other ways.”
“I don’t see—” Cal began, but Dunbar broke in.
“You don’t see how? No, of course not. How should you? But that is onlybecause you know so little of my tasks. I must write my scientificreports and articles carefully and voluminously, and I must makeaccurate color drawings of my specimens to accompany my text. I ambadly behind with my work in these ways, and the very best time tobring up the arrears is of long, rainy days, when the living thingsI must study—all of them except the fishes—are hidden away in suchshelters as they can find. But I cannot sit in the rain and writeor draw. That would only be to spoil materials of which I have alltoo little already. So the rainy days are lost to me, or have been,hitherto. Now that I am to enjoy your hospitality, I shall sit in yourshelter when it rains, and get a world of writing and drawing done.”
“Well, at any rate, we shall not need your help in this work, andwe have no tool for you to work with if we did. As to our littlehospitality, it mustn’t and doesn’t involve any obligation on yourpart. If it did it wouldn’t be hospitality at all, but something verydifferent. Why not put in your time on your own work?”
“I would, if my head didn’t object,” the man of science answered ratherdejectedly, Cal thought, but with a smile.
“Have you a headache, then?” the youth asked, putting as muchsympathy into his tone as was possible to a robust specimen of youngmanhood who had never had a headache in his life. “It must be verydistressing.”
“No, I haven’t a headache,” the professor answered. “I wish it was onlythat. No, my head isn’t clear to-day, and when I try to work it getsthings jumbled up a bit. I tried this morning to write a scientificaccount of the habits of a certain fish that these waters bear, andsomehow I got him out into the bushes using wings that I had neverobserved before. Now I must go and catch another specimen of that fishand examine it carefully to see if the wings are really there or not.You see in cases of doubt a scientist dares not trust anything toconjecture or memory. He must examine and make sure.”
So saying, the professor started off to catch the fish he wanted. Hehad spoken in a half jocular tone and with a mischievous smile playingabout his lips, though his words were serious enough.
“What do you think, Dick?” Cal asked as soon as the man was well beyondearshot; “is he a trifle ‘off’? has he lost some of his buttons?”
“Possibly, but I doubt it.”
“But what nonsense he talked!”
“Yes, I know. But did you observe his smile? He was only doing in hisway what you so often do in yours. Your smile often contradicts yourwords—making its bow, as it were, to the nonsense you are uttering.Yet we don’t suspect you of having slipped your cable.”
“I suppose that’s it,” said Cal, �
��but allow me to suggest that ourchatter cuts no palmetes, and we’re in need of a great number.”
By the time the needed poles and crotch sticks were cut and sharpenedfor driving into the ground, Larry returned, bringing with him one hugefish and a bucket full of croakers and whiting, all of which he haddressed on the shore.
He wrapped the large fish in a mass of wet sea weed and buried it inthe hot ashes and coals to bake. After setting such other things tocook as he thought necessary, he joined the others in the work ofsetting up the poles and fastening their ends securely together withvines as flexible as hempen rope. The wetter parts of the woodlandsyielded such vines in abundance, and as somewhat experienced sailorsthe boys all knew how to tie knots that no strain could loosen.
By the time that the dinner was cooked the framework of the shelter wasmore than half done.
“We’ll knock off for dinner now,” Larry suggested, “and after dinnerthe whole force will set to work finishing the framework and coveringit. There are bunks to be made, too, and filled with long gray moss,so we’ll have a very full afternoon.”
“By the way, Professor,” asked Cal, as the man of science rejoined thegroup, “are you quite sure you won’t let us make a bunk for you?”
“Oh, yes—quite sure.”
“Did you catch the fish you wanted to examine, or did he take to hiswings and fly away?”
“Oh, that was only my poor little jest. You didn’t take it seriously,did you?”
Then, interrupting the reply that Cal had begun to make, he saidrapidly:
“But I did want to make another examination of the fish in question.You see, when I examined a specimen a few days ago, my attention wasconcentrated upon certain definite points, and when I casually observedsomething that suggested the possibility of its having a sense oftaste, I went on with the other questions in my mind and quite forgotto satisfy myself on this point. But when I sat down this morning towrite notes of my observations, the point came back to my mind, and Isaw that I must examine another specimen before writing at all. That iswhat I meant by saying, in figurative speech, that my fish went flyingaway among the bushes, or whatever else it was that I said.”
“But, Professor,” said Larry, “something you said about a fish’s senseof taste just now awakens my curiosity. May I ask you—”
“Not now,” said Dick. “Let’s reserve all that for this evening aftersupper. You see Tom isn’t here now, and he will want to hear it all.Maybe the professor will let us turn loose our tongues to-night and askhim the dozen questions we have in our minds.”
“Yes—a thousand, if you wish,” Dunbar answered. “I have studied fishwith more interest, perhaps, than I ever felt in investigating anyother subject, and naturally I like to air the results of my inquiries.”
Larry busied himself taking the dinner from the fire, and as he did soTom returned.
“Hello, Tom!” called out Cal as the boy was struggling through thebushes back of the camp. “Just in time for dinner. Did you get anythingworth while?”
“Judge for yourself,” he replied, entering the open space and droppinga huge turkey gobbler on the ground. “Isn’t that a beauty? Got him onthe wing, too. But I forgot, Cal, you don’t approve of post-mortemchatter over game. One thing I must tell you, anyhow. I found a patchof these and brought home some samples in my pockets to see if it’sworth while to go after more.”
As he spoke he drew out a number of sweet potatoes and cast them down.
“Are there more to be had?” Larry asked eagerly.
“Yes, bushels of them—growing wild.”
“Good! Tom, you’ve a positive genius for finding precisely what wewant. Our supply of bread and bread substitutes is very scant, orwas before you made this discovery, and with all due respect foryour opinion, Professor, I am satisfied that we need a considerableproportion of starchy foods to go with our meat.”
“Oh, I agree with you as to that,” quickly answered the professor.“I have never doubted it. I only said that man, being an omnivorousanimal, can live upon an exclusive diet of meat just as he can live onthe starchy foods alone. I think I stated distinctly that he is betteroff with both than with either alone.”
“You certainly did say that, Professor,” said Dick; “it is only thatLarry was inattentive at the time of your lecture. But I say, Tom, isit far to your potato patch?”
“Only about half a mile or a little less.”
They were all busily eating dinner now, and for a minute there wasnothing more said. Presently Tom spoke:
“I say, Larry, which of you fellows can best be spared to go with meafter dinner, and help me bring in the deer?”
“What deer?” asked all in a breath.
“Why, the one I shot an hour or so ago. I managed to hang him up in atree out of reach of other animals, I think, but I suppose he ought tobe brought to camp pretty soon.”
Cal rose threateningly.
“I am strongly tempted to throw things at you, Tom Garnett,” hebegan. “But there isn’t anything to throw except the ax, and if Ithrew that I might incapacitate you for walking, and without yourassistance we might not be able to find that deer. What do you mean,sir, by interrupting us at dinner with a surprise like that? Don’t yourealize that it is bad for the digestion? In plain language that evenyour intelligence can perhaps grasp, why in the name of all that issensible, didn’t you tell us about the thing when you first came?”
“I’ve associated with you, Cal, too long and too intimately to retaina just appreciation of what is sensible. Anyhow, I wanted the fun ofspringing the thing on you in that way. If you’ve finished your dinner,we’ll be off after the venison. It isn’t half a mile away.”
What Happened at Quasi: The Story of a Carolina Cruise Page 31