CHAPTER V

SETTING UP CAMP

One morning later in that same week the two chums arose early and gathered up their camping outfits. Ted said goodbye to his folks, swung his pack on his back and sallied forth to meet Buck, who was standing at his own gate and waiting for him. Buck was rigged out in a style similar to Ted’s, with a good camping pack, a campaign hat, buckskin blouse, stout trousers, heavy shoes, pick and camp shovel, and an axe.

“Well, here we go at last!” hailed Buck, delightedly, eager for the trip before them. “Seemed like this morning would never come!”

“I was awake a couple of times myself,” smiled Ted, as they swung along toward the club house in town. “We have a dandy day for a start.”

It was a cool morning, bright and clear, and a more promising day could not have been ordered. Their blood tingled as they looked forward to the coming encampment.

“Are they going to have one or two trucks?” Buck asked, as they turned down the street upon which the club house was located.

“One big one,” Ted replied, “for the fellows, and a little one for supplies. The tents and the grub will take up plenty of space and I guess the number of boys who are going will fill up the big truck. Eighteen boys have given their names and with the two of us we’ll have twenty, a big enough crowd to handle.”

“It surely will be,” murmured Buck. “Especially if you have never done that sort of thing before.”

“We won’t have any trouble if we start right,” said Ted. “If we show the right authority and set up a sort of military discipline we’ll get along very well. Most of these club boys are just small fellows and things shouldn’t be so difficult with them.”

By this time they had arrived at the club rooms of the Boys’ Club and there they found about half of the young boys assembled. Mr. Calvert was with them and the two trucks stood at the curb. With interest the two camp leaders looked the boys over.

They were young boys of the age ranging between twelve and fifteen and there was one boy sixteen. They seemed to be a lively bunch of young fellows who were all obviously keen for the trip before them. Some of the boys Ted and Buck knew, either by sight or by name, but there were several that they did not know. The boys all had variously assorted packs and kits with them and while waiting they were amusing themselves by chattering and tossing around a large hand medicine ball.

But if the two leaders did not know the boys, the boys knew them. There was an immediate rush toward them as they entered the yard before the frame building which housed the club. A number of boys plied them with questions.

“You’re really going to be the leader, Thorny?” a boy asked Ted, who nodded in smiling assent.

“I am, along with Buck,” he said.

“Gee, that’s great!” was the enthusiastic reply. A stout boy of fourteen pushed up to Ted, with an anxious look on his face.

“Mr. Thorn, is it true that we won’t have anything but oatmeal and bread on our camping trip?”

“Why, I don’t know!” puzzled Ted, looking toward Mr. Calvert, who winked. “Why do you ask that?”

“All these fellows been telling me that,” said the chubby one. “I don’t like just oatmeal and bread! I guess they’re fooling, eh?”

“I hope so myself,” smiled Ted. “I’d like something else beside that!”

Mr. Calvert joined the group. “Don’t mind this boy and his demands for food, Thorn,” he said. “This is Al Barker, but the boys call him Drummer.”

“Why? Does he play a drum?” Ted asked.

There was a general laugh and Mr. Calvert explained. “No but he spends his time between meals drumming up an appetite for the next one! So the boys have always called him Drummer!”

“We’ll try to keep him so well filled that he won’t have to drum,” grinned Buck, while the stout boy looked pleased and relieved.

The boys drifted away to various occupations and the two chums talked over details with Mr. Calvert. A few more boys had arrived and the lawyer remarked that they were almost all on the spot.

“Are all of the boys of this same age?” Buck asked.

“All but one of them,” Mr. Calvert said, lowering his voice. “Or I should say, two of them, for we have one young boy of eleven and one boy of seventeen. It is of the older boy I wish to warn you. His name is Ralph Plum and he is actually too old for the club boys, but an uncle of his gave quite a bit of money toward starting the club and so has always been allowed to join in with them, though none of the trustees have felt very cheerful about it. He is a big hulking fellow and apt to be a trouble maker, so keep your eyes on him and use your own judgment. We’re hoping all the time that he’ll get tired of the club and leave, but so far he hasn’t, and it was with much regret that we learned that he was going to go on this trip. We’ve tried here to teach him something in the manly line, but haven’t progressed very far, I’m afraid. Speaking of bad pennies, there he is now.”

They turned to look at the boy who walked into the club house yard and were not impressed. He was as Mr. Calvert had described him, a huge fellow with wide-spreading shoulders and a rolling, careless walk. His camping outfit was brand new and his axe and knife were of the best. A fine pack was strapped to his back. But his face was a discontented one and he chewed gum with an assurance that was insolent. He passed them easily, nodding to Mr. Calvert and immediately took the ball away from the smaller boys and kept it for some time.

“Something of a bully,” murmured Ted, his eyes narrowing.

“Quite a bit, I’m sorry to say,” was the reply.

The boys all seemed to be on the ground, Mr. Calvert said, as he glanced around. “All except the smallest boy, the eleven-year-old I was telling you about,” he went on. “Little Tom Clayton, but I guess he isn’t coming, although he was eager to come.”

But at that moment the small boy appeared in company with his father and Mr. Clayton was introduced to Ted and Buck. He had come with his boy for a purpose.

“I heard that you two boys were going to lead the camp,” he told the boys. “It was only because Mrs. Clayton knew you that she allowed Tom to go along.” He smiled in a somewhat nervous manner. “Tom’s our only boy—only child, in fact, and we set a lot of store by him. His mother would spoil him by not letting him go anywhere and certainly never on a trip like this, but I want Tom to grow up to be a real man.” He glanced down at his son, a somewhat pale and sensitive-looking boy, and then went on: “We had a hard time getting permission for this camping trip, didn’t we, Tommy? But we finally made it. I just want to ask you fellows to see to it that the boy is well taken care of and that he is properly developed. I know you will, but I just wanted to make sure that everything will be all right, you know.”

The two leaders made haste to reassure him. They could visualize without any trouble the condition of the boy’s home and they sympathized with him. The father’s desire to have the boy grow up to be a fine, strong man was evident.

All of the boys were now assembled and Mr. Calvert called for their attention. “I want you all to file into the club room and sit down for a last word of instruction from me,” the president of the club announced, and with more or less noise they obeyed, pushing and scrambling to the seats inside the long frame club house. In the front of them Mr. Calvert and the two chums stood.

“Now, boys,” the president announced, when he had obtained their attention. “I simply want to give you some last minute instructions. Most of you know that Mr. Thorn and Mr. Dalton will be in complete charge of the camp to which you are going, and you are to give them your very best support in making the camp a good and effective one. This point I want you to get clearly in your minds: these two young men are in absolute charge. Their word is law. If they do something that you don’t feel is the right thing to do, you do it anyway, and if you think it is so bad that you can’t stand it, you write to me or call me up somewhere before you refuse to obey orders! We want this camp to be a credit to the Boys’ Club of this city, and it can’t be that unless it is an orderly one!”

“You will have a certain amount of camp work to do, and these leaders will be in charge of that. Obey them without question. In that way you will make the most out of your camping trip and I’m sure that in another year you’ll want to go again. Any questions, before you start?”

“This Black Riders’ Camp is said to be haunted, isn’t it?” Ralph Plumb spoke up, from where he was lolling around on a bench.

There was a moment of silence and the two boys felt some annoyance. But Ted spoke up.

“There used to be some silly stories about that,” he smiled. “But they were just old women’s tales! We’re too sensible to give any thought to anything like that. If twenty fellows couldn’t scare away a poor little ghost or witch or whatever it is they used to say hung around the place, then we’d better go camping over in the City Park!”

There was a laugh at this and Plum muttered something, but no attention was paid to him. There was a scene of confusion as packs were slung and then the big truck shook as the boys swarmed over the sides and into it. The smaller truck with the supplies had already started off.

It had been agreed that Ted would drive the big truck to the camp and that the driver of the supply truck would drive it back. The little truck was the property of the club and would remain in camp with them, in case they wished at any time to drive to town for fresh food. The big truck, which was a hired one, would go back to the city and return at the end of the month for the boys.

“Buck, maybe you had better get into the body of the truck and see to it that none of these fellows get to fooling and fall off,” Ted said, as the boys pushed and jostled in the truck. “I’d like to have you drive along with me, but we had better have somebody on duty back there.”

“Guess you’re right,” nodded Buck. “I’d like to drive alongside of you, but I’ll get back.” He tossed his pack on board and climbed into the truck. “All shipshape back here!” he sang out.

Ted warmed up the engine, shaking hands in farewell with Mr. Calvert. “Lots of good luck!” smiled the lawyer.

“Thanks! I’m sure we’ll have a fine time!”

The president leaned nearer. “If there is any trouble, Thorn, let me know at once.”

“I will,” Ted nodded, “but I’m sure everything will be fine. Goodbye.”

The truck rumbled off in a cloud of dust and gasoline smoke, the boys gave a shrill cheer, and the journey to Black Riders’ Camp had begun.

The ride was a long one in the truck but the boys did not mind it. In the back of the truck the boys talked and sang and Buck joined them in their conversation, answering a number of questions concerning camping life in general.

Outside the last town on their route they met the supply truck waiting and in company they proceeded down the bumpy wood road until the autos could go no farther. They were in the shelter of the trees and a stone’s throw from the camp of the Black Riders.

“All out and grab some equipment!” shouted Buck, and they descended from the truck in a torrent, making shrill demands for their packs from those who were still in the truck. These were supplied and then Ted and Buck ordered them to unload the supply truck. This was soon done and the boys began to descend the slope to the camping spot.

The driver of the supply truck took the big truck back to the city, leaving the smaller vehicle alone there in the woods. Ted then made his way to the camping grounds and heard with pleasure the cries of delight as the boys looked over the spot.

“It surely is a dandy,” Buck told him. “Well, I suppose we had better step to it and get the tents up.”

To this work they fell with a will and before long four big brown tents had been pegged down tightly. They were on a slight slope facing the creek, with the springs off to one side and back of them. By the time the canvas shelters were up it was growing dusk and Buck and a squad made haste to gather a big load of wood for night. Others, under Ted’s leadership, built a fine, substantial fireplace. By the time that this was done the darkness had settled over them like a blanket, and the new fires tossed a yellow and flickering light to the sky.

“This will be our first night out here,” Ted reflected, as he looked around him. “Wonder what it will be like?”