CHAPTER I

TED TAKES A POST

The noon whistles blew in the little inland town of Ridgefield and the sound, flung from many a hoarse factory siren, reached the ears of the few men who worked at piling lumber in Thorn’s Lumber and Millwork Company yard. The work of the men was instantly suspended and most of them walked off to look into well-filled lunch pails. A few, fortunate enough to live close by, started off for their homes.

At the first sound of the whistles two clean-cut young fellows at the far end of the yard had just lifted a long plank, preparatory to tossing it on a towering pile beside them. They looked smilingly at each other as the whistles, joined by others, increased in volume of sound.

“That’s what we have been listening for!” smiled Ted Thorn, son of the owner of the lumber yard.

“Be careful!” warned Buck Dalton, his constant companion and devoted chum. “You will come under the heading of a whistle-listener! That’s the next worse thing to being a clockwatcher!”

“Can’t help it,” grinned Ted. “My stomach has been listening for that sound for some time past.”

“Mine has, too,” confessed Buck. “Let’s heave this last board up.”

With a concerted heave they sent the long board flying upward to the top of the pile and then, after washing at the nearby faucet, they set off for home and the noon meal. It was a noontime in late July and as they walked along they talked of summer plans.

“I hope we can get in some camping before long,” Ted said, as they turned down the shady street upon which they both lived. “We’ve made a little extra money this summer so far and we’re in fine shape for the football season this year. I think that it is time we knocked off our work and figured on a little camping trip.”

“I agree with you on that,” nodded Buck. “I’m just about ready for a good outdoor trip and a few weeks under canvas. There is nothing I like as well as the woods and a tent.”

“That, and a fire which glows a dull red,” cried Ted, his eyes shining.

“You bet! Well, here’s your gate, so the best of friends must part. See you after dinner.”

Ted Thorn went into the plain old house while Buckley Dalton continued on his way to a house a little way further along the street. These two boys had been loyal comrades since they had been old enough to play together. Ted was the son of the owner of the local lumber yard, a man of quiet personality and moderate means, who was wrapped up in the lives of his two children and his wife. Ted’s sister Dorothy was one year his junior and his companion of more than one good time in the events of the local school. The household was a happy one and in such an atmosphere Ted had grown up to be a clean-cut, manly fellow, now eighteen, and about to enter upon the last year at the local academy.

Buck was Ted’s age and was a worthy companion, a fun-loving fellow who was honest and generous to the core. In physical proportions he passed Ted, weighing a few pounds more and being gifted with a wider span of shoulders. Both of the boys had been working throughout the summer at Ted’s father’s lumber yard, to store up a little money to their accounts at the bank and to keep themselves in trim for the coming football season. On the Ridgefield Academy team Buck played fullback and Ted had been for the past two years the quarterback of the team. It was the intention of the boys to work at least a month or more and then to spend some time during the summer on a camping trip, to round off their summer training in that way. Now, with August near at hand, they were beginning to think more seriously of the trip into the woods.

Ted entered the house quickly and washed up, after which he reported to the dining room table. His father and mother were there, though his sister was visiting at another house. With all the evidence of a healthy appetite Ted attacked the food which his mother placed before him.

“The foreman tells me that you and Buck are becoming first class men,” his father, a middle-aged man with heavy gray hair, told him.

“Glad to hear that,” Ted smiled. “When we first started to work at the yard it seemed that all we could do was to collect sore hands and blisters! I guess that after we finish at the academy you may be able to hire us for good, Dad!”

“I shouldn’t wonder if you might be able to do something else beside pile lumber, after you graduate from the academy,” returned his father.

“Hope so,” his son said. “Pretty soon we’ll have to pick out a preparatory school or college for me, won’t we Dad?”

“In another six months,” his father nodded, deriving pleasure from the thought. The fact that Ted was going to college outweighed the thought of personal expense with Mr. Thorn.

“Ted, there was a telephone call for you today,” his mother, a fine looking, sweet-faced woman, put in. “Mr. Calvert called up and left a message for you.”

“Mr. Calvert?” frowned Ted. “Let’s see, he’s the president of the Boys’ Club of the town, isn’t he?”

“Yes, and also a prominent lawyer,” replied his father. “I wonder what he wants you for?”

“Can’t guess,” Ted shook his head. “What message did he leave, Mother?”

“He asked to tell you to get in touch with him as soon as possible,” she replied.

“All right, I will. I suppose I had better go to his house this evening.”

“Go to his office this afternoon,” his father said. “It may be something important and there is no use keeping Mr. Calvert waiting. I guess the lumber yard can spare you for a little while.”

“I guess you won’t lose any money while I’m gone,” grinned Ted. “All right, I’ll call him and make an appointment with him for this afternoon.”

After the noon meal Ted called up the lawyer and made an appointment with him for an early hour. He then went out to the gate and waited for Buck to come by. In a few moments his chum came swinging along the street.

“Come on, back to the field of battle,” he called, gaily.

“You go ahead,” Ted advised him. “I won’t be over there right away. I’ve got an appointment with Lawyer Calvert.”

They discussed the item for a few moments before they parted. “He must want you for something pretty important,” Buck thought. “Maybe he wants you to work for him during the rest of the summer.”

“If that is what he wants, he won’t get it,” Ted shook his head. “I’m going camping with you, Buck old boy.”

“Well, don’t be foolish about that,” Buck advised. “We can go camping some other time, you know, and Mr. Calvert doesn’t offer jobs every day.”

“We’re getting a bit ahead of the game,” Ted smiled. “We don’t know yet what he does want. I’ll see you later in the day and tell you all about it.”

Buck went on the way returning to his work in the lumber yard, while Ted waited until it was time to go downtown to see the lawyer. Promptly at the appointed hour he reported at the office of Mr. Calvert and after his name had been sent in, he was admitted to the presence of the man.

Ted had seen Mr. Calvert before but he was not personally acquainted with him. The lawyer was a fine, upstanding man, a power in the little community, and a great lover of boys and their activities. Ted was a little surprised when the handsome, middle-aged lawyer got up from his deep leather chair and smilingly shook hands with him.

“How do you do, Thorn!” he asked, giving Ted a hearty pressure of the hand. “I’m glad you found the opportunity to drop in and visit me. I suppose you have no idea why I sent for you!”

“None at all, sir,” Ted confessed.

“Take a seat,” the lawyer directed, and when Ted had seated himself opposite him the man went straight to the point.

“Thorn, you know that I am president of the Boys’ Club of this town, an organization of young fellows numbering about twenty young fellows, all pretty wide-awake boys who are banding their activities together and learning some pretty useful things in life. These boys are younger than you are and that is the reason that you and some of your particular friends have never been asked to join. Well, the time has come when these boys are asking for a regular summer camping trip, and the officers of the club have agreed that the boys shall have a month of camping life this year, under the direction of the club. We want some one trustworthy to take these boys off on a camping trip and take care of them, and we feel that we couldn’t get a better leader than you.”

Ted’s face flushed with pleasure but he hesitated, questions surging in his mind. “That’s a very kind thought, Mr. Calvert,” he said. “But don’t you think I am a little young?”

“No, I don’t, and besides, you’d have help. We know that you travel constantly in the company of Buckley Dalton and if you accept the post, we want your comrade to go with you. Between the two of you, you’d have no trouble in handling the boys. You speak of being young. Well, we wouldn’t consider anyone as young as you are unless he was the power among younger fellows that you are. For the past two years you have been quarterback on the academy team, and the boys in the club have looked at you with eyes of worship! Your clean playing, your clear head work on the field, has captured their imagination so that they will hop with joy when they are told that you will lead the camping trip. We propose to pay you and Buck a small salary for your work. How about it, Thorn?”

“On one condition,” said Ted, instantly.

“What is that?” Calvert asked.

“That you withdraw what you said about the salary. Buck and I were planning to go for a camping trip very soon and this plan which you propose would simply be a bigger trip than we had planned. If you pay all expenses for food, as I suppose you will, that will be enough.”

“Nonsense, Thorn! If we hired a professional man, we’d have to pay him,” the lawyer said.

“Yes, but we’re not professionals. Buck and I have camped before, and this trip will be a new experience for us. Now, if our food and equipment is to be furnished, Buck and I will be saving, and that will be plenty as it is. How do you know that we’ll make a success of it?”

“The men in this town notice a thing or two, Thorn,” was the quiet answer.

“This is something new,” Ted said. “But we’ll try it—with no salary! I think we’ll both feel more like doing the job right if we do it for the benefit of the club and the boys, than if we do it because we are paid for it. The Boys’ Club is a fine institution, and Buck and I will be glad to help it along.”

“I appreciate your good spirit,” smiled the lawyer. “I am glad that we are able to get leaders like you two. And now I want to speak to you about the camping site.”

“I was wondering where the camp would be,” Ted nodded.

“Have you ever heard of Black Riders’ Camp?” the lawyer asked.

Ted considered. “That is the place where a number of patriots used to meet in a band at the time of the Revolutionary War, isn’t it?”

Mr. Calvert nodded. “Yes. This state played a big part in the Revolution and a band of mounted men, known as the Black Riders, used to meet in a camp near here and sally forth to worry the British all over the countryside. That camp is now owned by the members of the Boys’ Club Trustee Board, and it is on that spot that we wish the camp to be pitched. A large and beautiful stream of water, called Bear Creek, runs through the hollow where the camp was, there is an excellent natural swimming hole, and all in all the spot is ideal, except in one particular.”

“What is that?” Ted asked.

“Unfortunately,” replied Mr. Calvert slowly. “The camp of the Black Riders is said to be a haunted spot!”