Read Ebook: Along the Mohawk Trail; Or Boy Scouts on Lake Champlain by Fitzhugh Percy Keese West James E James Edward Author Of Introduction Etc Schuyler Remington Illustrator

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Ebook has 2237 lines and 90487 words, and 45 pages

"Each time he withdrew the stick, the beast gained an inch or two"

Map of the "Haystack"

"'Hello, what are you doing?'"

"'I never in my life!' she exclaimed"

"He leaned over and seized the sinking figure by the collar"

ALONG THE MOHAWK TRAIL

THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK

Gordon Lord flung his duffel bag into the bench on the station platform and, casting himself precipitately beside it, smiled the smile of the Scouts. It was the genuine, original, warranted scout smile, done to perfection. It had often been remarked of Gordon that when he smiled his lips formed a perfect crescent, so that if the words "Be Prepared" had been printed on his white, even teeth, the effect would have been perfectly natural. Moreover, it was somewhat to his credit that he smiled on the present occasion, for several commuters who were in the same predicament as himself stalked up and down the platform in anything but an amiable humor. One of them was muttering unflattering comments on his chauffeur; another was looking scornfully at the gold watch which had deceived him; two others were discussing the dilatory habits of domestic servants; and the rest were denouncing the railroad.

And here was Gordon Lord, scout of the second class, who had stopped to do a good turn and as a direct consequence had failed to be prepared. He could not do the good turn and be prepared both; which should he have done? The scout smile broadened as he pondered over this. Here would be a poser for Red Deer. He loved to ask Red Deer such questions as this; it was as good as a circus to hear the two of them engaged in a learned discussion on the technicalities of Scout Law. And Red Deer enjoyed it immensely.

But now Gordon realized that Red Deer and both patrols, the Beavers and the Hawks, were gliding merrily into the city to catch the Montreal express.

Twenty minutes before his spectacular arrival at the station , he had started from home at "scout pace"--not because this was necessary, but because it was "scoutish" and Gordon was nothing if not thorough. He wore his complete scout outfit; khaki hat, neckerchief showing the Beaver hues , knotted in the celebrated Beaver knot of his own invention, which had been unanimously adopted by the patrol with a vote of thanks to the inventor. No one but a Beaver could untie the knot except Master Gordon's mother, who had laboriously discovered the combination one evening when the young Beaver had relieved himself of the scarf by lifting it over his head. His shirt was of a rich, olive-colored flannel, his loose short breeches of khaki, and his khaki-colored stockings were turned over his garters below the knee, whence one or other of them was continually slipping down. He carried his duffel bag on the end of his staff like a peddler with his pack, and as he went down the wide, tree-bordered street of the fashionable suburb of Oakwood, his popularity was attested by many a cheery call or farewell wish from the lawns and porches that he passed.

He was a picturesque figure that early summer morning as he started for the station. He was small and lithe in stature, rather too short for his fourteen years; his complexion was almost of a mulatto brown, and his brown eyes held a kind of dancing mischief. Long before he had entered the scout ranks he was remarked by all as an exceedingly attractive boy, and it needed only the uniform on his compact, active little figure to complete an altogether quaint and charming impression.

Thus he sallied gayly down the hill, past the big family mansion of the Arnolds, and was just turning into the little village park when he came in sight of Miss Leslie, who was in the midst of an exasperating dilemma. Miss Leslie taught in the Oakwood school, and had taught Master Gordon a year or two before. She was at present trying to carry eight rather thick books, which is a very good thing to do when viewed in the light of calisthenics. For it is easier to read eight books than to carry them unless you have a strap or a satchel, and Miss Leslie had nothing but her small white hands.

When Gordon first caught sight of her, his trained scout vision showed him that four books were in Miss Leslie's arm and four on the sidewalk. She stooped, picked up two and dropped three. She then picked up one and dropped another. Then she picked up two. Then she picked up another one. As she stooped for the last one she dropped three. Matters were about even; at least, she was holding her own. She picked up two more and dropped one. She was one ahead. Encouraged by her success, she made a bold descent for the remaining three, secured two of them and dropped four. The sidewalk had a majority. Miss Leslie glanced covertly up to see if any one were watching. Not seeing the scout as he neared, she cautiously gathered the three books from the sidewalk and for one short, thrilling second held the entire eight under her arm. Then a trifling accident marred her triumph--she dropped one book. With great caution she stooped slowly, grasped the recreant volume, arose victorious, holding it tightly while--the other seven tumbled to the ground.

"Hello, Miss Leslie," said the young scout.

Miss Leslie, clutching one volume, stood vanquished and humiliated in the midst of the other seven, and contemplated her former pupil with mingled surprise and embarrassment.

"Don't try to pick them up," said Gordon; "let me show you something."

He took the volume which she held and, laying it on the sidewalk, picked up another volume and slipped the front cover of this underneath the cover of the first one. Then he placed the cover of another one underneath the back cover of the second, and so on until he had piled the whole rebellious assortment and effectually locked them together.

"There you are," said he, and by way of demonstrating the reliability of the pile, he balanced it on his hand, allowing it to incline this way and that like the Leaning Tower. The books held fast as if they were glued together.

"There are tricks in every trade," said Gordon.

"And you know them all," she answered in genuine admiration.

"But they're just as heavy as they were before," he remarked; "I'll carry them for you as far as the school."

Her protests were useless, for possession is nine points of the law, and Gordon held the pile of books. So they went along together toward the school building, which was not at all in line with the station, he talking volubly all the way.

"I think you are the boy who once opened a bottle of camphor for me in the school room by means of a piece of string," she remarked.

"That's nothing," said Gordon, who loved to impart information. "Do you know how to open bureau drawers that stick?"

"Indeed, I wish I did," she answered, smiling.

"Lay a heavy stick on the floor in front of the bureau and hit it a good hard whack with a hammer; if you haven't a stick, just pound the floor."

"Really?"

"Honest."

"Well, that is certainly worth knowing."

"That's nothing--did you know you can make dandy ink out of typewriter ribbons?"

"The idea!"

"That's how I got this suit--asked the stenographers in my father's office to save me their old typewriter ribbons, made ink and sold it; it's better than other ink."

"And is that your scout suit? I heard the boys were starting for camp to-day."

"Who told you?"

"I think it was Dr. Brent."

"He's Red Deer; he's going with us."

"And how do you manage to pack so many things in there?" said she, patting his thick, curly hair.

"Oh, there isn't so much in it," he answered; "a couple of apples, pair of heavy shoes, a shirt--"

"What?"

"Want to look inside?" he asked, laying the pile of books down and releasing his duffel bag from the end of his staff.

"Oh, no, I meant inside your head," said she, laughing; "but here we are; I shall remember the things you have told me. Good-by, and I hope your kindness to me will not have made you late for the train."

She stood on the school steps watching him as he walked gayly down the street, his khaki hat on the back of his round head, and his duffel bag on the end of his scout's staff. She heard a man across the street call cheerily to him that he had only two minutes to catch the train, and she distinctly heard him answer, "That's nothing," and saw him start to run down the hill toward Oakwood station.

But it proved to be a great deal, despite the boy's laconic comment. Indeed, it is to be seriously questioned whether missing a train ever before had such a variety of delectable consequences.

He wondered what Arnold would think of him. Those had been fine plans that he and Arnold had made for hanging together and testing their new signal system, and tracking and stalking in each other's company. It was Harry Arnold who had brought Gordon into the troop as a tenderfoot, and it had been a great discovery for the elder boy. It had also opened up a field for Master Gordon which belittled his fondest dreams. For even before the organization came into existence he was, in all essential particulars, a thorough, out-and-out Boy Scout. And indeed, it might reasonably have seemed to him that the local troop had been organized in order to afford a wider scope for the exploitation of his particular accomplishments.

His laconic phrase of "That's nothing," when confronted with difficulties, had come to be a familiar quotation among his intimates, and he retained the expression after he blossomed forth with his staff and badge and khaki attire. He could shoot a curve with a marble; he could tell in which direction a bicycle had gone by its track; he was a master worker in birch bark; he could make washers and other useful articles of hardware by the aid of the railroad track; he could kindle an open air fire in a pelting rain; he was the sole inventor of the celebrated suction-pad for walking on narrow cliffs and ledges; and he had memorized the Oakwood fire-signal system.

A whistle had been recently installed on the Town House, which uttered an unearthly din whenever there was a fire in town. If it rang ten it meant one locality; if it rang fifteen it meant another, and thus every street and corner of the town was provided for. Whenever the whistle blew, there was frantic hunting in every Oakwood home for the card which showed the various locality calls. Of course, it is absolutely important that a boy shall attend a fire, and Gordon at once realized that to memorize the entire system would enable him always to be first on the scene. Hence, if he happened to be walking along the street and heard the screech of the whistle sounding 57, he knew at once in which direction to go, and it was not uncommon for him to be waiting for the firemen to point them out the house. Also in school when the lessons were interrupted by the whistle's ominous sound, the teacher, after fumbling in her desk in a vain quest for the elusive card, would say, "Perhaps Master Gordon can tell us;" and Master Gordon would promptly answer, "Elm St. near Park Place."

He knew the number of paving stones between his home and the corner; he knew how to locate a baseball in a drain pipe; he could look at a kite caught on a telegraph wire and tell you approximately where the flier of the kite had stood when the mishap occurred; he knew just how far it was to the Guild Room, to the church, to the public library. He loved such little tidbits of information for their own sake, and like all wide-awake boys, he had a habit of finding things.

You will see that here was the material for an A-1 scout, and when I add that Master Gordon's only vice was an unconquerable and excessive fondness for apples, you will know enough of his character to last you for a chapter or two.

After the first excitement of missing the train had passed and he had smiled the matter off, scout fashion, he opened his duffel bag and sought consolation in a gigantic and mellow specimen of his favorite fruit. Then he rose and retraced his steps up the hill. There on the summit stood the fine, old-fashioned mansion of the Arnolds, and beyond it a hundred yards or so the more modern residence of the Lord family, standing well back upon its spacious, well-kept lawn.

There was not a soul stirring about the Arnold place, and as he passed it he thought again of the boy whose particular companion he had meant to be. He had a great admiration for Harry Arnold, and Harry, though he jollied the younger boy and called him "Kid," was quite under the spell of his young friend and prot?g?.

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