"Aw, Mr. Reed," piped up Bennie, eagerly, "can't we come back to-morrow and--"

He broke off with some abruptness as Ranny's fingers closed over his shoulder in a warning grip. The scoutmaster laughed and shook his head.

"You've got it bad, Bennie," he smiled. "Were you getting warm just when you had to stop? You'll have to practise patience, I'm afraid. To-morrow we're going up the river for crabs, and on Friday afternoon there'll be an athletic meet. Don't worry, though. The mine isn't going to run away."

"You chump!" whispered Phelps in the small boy's ear as they started off downhill in a body. "Do you want to give the whole show away?"

"I didn't mean anything, Ranny--honest. I didn't think--"

"I should say you didn't!" Ranny's tone was severe, but his face relaxed a bit at the other's comical expression of dismay. "Don't let another peep like that out of you or we'll have some of the crowd trailing us next time we come here. I'll be surprised if Wes or somebody hasn't caught on already."

But apparently no one had. Doubtless they laid Bennie's outburst to the irresponsibility of extreme youth and ignored it. On the way back to camp there was a good deal of general discussion and theorizing about the location of the mine, but the members of Tent Three managed their answers well enough, apparently, to prevent suspicion. After supper, too, the interest shifted to the morrow's doings, and by the time the call for council-fire sounded through the dusk Lost Mine had been momentarily forgotten.

Out on the extreme tip of Long Point a great heap of branches and driftwood had been a.s.sembled, and around this the scouts gathered in a wide circle. Some sat cross-legged, draped in blankets, for the air was brisk and cool. Others sprawled at length upon the soft sand, shoulder pressing shoulder, arms flung carelessly about one another's neck.

Overhead the sky was brilliant with stars. From all about came the soft lapping of water, mingled with the lulling, rhythmic beat of surf upon the distant sh.o.r.e. It was a moment of complete relaxation after a long and strenuous day, and from many lips there breathed sighs of utter contentment.

And then the flames, creeping from a little pile of timber at the bottom of the heap, licked up through the dead branches to flare out at the top--a great yellow beacon that chased away the shadows and brought into clear relief the circle of eager, boyish faces. From where the officers sat came presently the soft chords of Captain Chalmers's guitar mingled with the sweeter, higher tinkle of Mr. Reed's mandolin, feeling their way from simple harmonies into the stirring melody of an old, familiar song. Of course the fellows caught it up, singing l.u.s.tily to the last note, and their clear young voices, wafting out across the water, reached the ears of a grizzled fisherman coming in with the tide and carried him in a twinkling back fifty years or more into the long-forgotten past.

CHAPTER XXIII

A SURPRISE FOR VEDDER

It was a distinctly informal council-fire. There were no special stunts or games or compet.i.tions, as there would be later; merely songs, a few announcements, and finally, as the fire died down to glowing embers, a story or two. But Dale Tompkins had rarely been more perfectly content.

Drawn together, perhaps, by the events of the afternoon and by the interesting secret they held in common, the members of Tent Three were gathered in a group on one side of the circle. Whether by accident or design, Dale sat close to Ranny and a little behind him, where he could watch the play of light and shadow on the leader's handsome face. Scarcely a word pa.s.sed between them, but Dale was conscious of something in the other's manner which made him wonder, with a thrill, whether the hateful barrier that had existed for so long between them wasn't growing a shade less formidable. Suppose some day it should vanish altogether! Suppose the time came when they could be real friends of the sort he had always dreamed about! He told himself that it was probably all imagination, but this did not take away his pleasure in the picture. And when Ranny, lazily shifting his lounging att.i.tude, leaned carelessly back against the knees of the boy behind him, Dale thrilled to the touch almost as much as he would have done had he not felt the other to be quite unconscious of his presence.

The routine of the second morning in camp was much the same as the first had been. But directly after dinner the fellows piled into boats and rowed out to where the _Aquita_ was anch.o.r.ed. As many as the power-boat would hold went aboard, leaving the rest, with a large a.s.sortment of crab-nets, hooks, lines, bait-boxes, and the like, in the trailers.

They made a hilarious bunch as they chugged upstream past the straggling fishing-village, under the bridge, and on between the low banks of sedge and tough water-growth that lined the little river. But the noise was as nothing compared with the racket that began when they anch.o.r.ed and dispersed for the afternoon sport.

Some took to the boats, others went ash.o.r.e and fished from the bank, while a few stayed on the _Aquita_. The tide was out and it was an ideal spot for crabbing. In fact, the creatures were so plentiful that many of the boys abandoned the slower, more cautious method of luring them to the surface with bait, and took to scooping them off the bottom with nets, to the accompaniment of excited shouts and yells and much splashing of mud and water. They kept at it for about two hours, and when the whistle summoned them back to the motor-boat they brought along a catch big enough to furnish several meals for the entire camp.

The last boat to come in was rowed by Dale Tompkins. Sanson and Bennie Rhead were with him, besides one or two others; but the interest and attention of those gathered on and about the _Aquita_ was swiftly centered on Harry Vedder, perched precariously on the stern seat. His fat legs were drawn up clumsily under him, his pudgy hands tightly gripped the sides of the craft, while his plump face was set in lines expressive of anything but joy.

"What's the matter, Puffy?" called Ranny Phelps, as they approached. "You look like Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall!"

Vedder merely sniffed poutingly. The faces of Tompkins and Sanson expanded in wide grins. "It's the crabs," chuckled the latter. "They're so fond of him they won't let him alone. You see," he added, his eyes dancing, "some of 'em happened to get out of the box, and the minute they saw Humpty they got terribly attached to him."

"Yes!" snorted the plump youth indignantly--"to one of my legs, the beastly things! Hurry up, Dale, for goodness' sake; I'm all cramped up!"

A snicker went up from the other boats. "You ought to have spoken to 'em sharply, Ved," grinned Ranny, "and discouraged such liberties."

"Yes," laughed Court; "be firm with 'em!"

Vedder snorted again and, reaching for the rail of the _Aquita_, climbed aboard with remarkable agility. "Maybe you think that's funny," he growled, taking possession of the most comfortable seat in sight; "but I'd rather tackle a snake any day than a boat-load of crabs."

He was so taken up with his own affairs that he quite missed the meaning glance that pa.s.sed between Court Parker and Bob Gibson as they fastened their painter to the stern of the power-boat. He thought nothing, either, of the fact that they were first ash.o.r.e, where, hastening to remove from under one of the seats a medium-sized bait-box covered with seaweed, they disappeared behind the cook-shack.

But later on, an uncomfortable suspicion came to him that there was something in the wind. Approaching the cook-shack, where a crowd was occupied in breaking up sh.e.l.ls and extracting crab-meat for supper, he noticed Parker, Sanson, and Tompkins giggling and whispering with heads close together. As he came up they stopped abruptly, but after supper he saw them again, cl.u.s.tered in a group with Gibson and Bennie Rhead, and caught a grinning glance from the latter that deepened his suspicion.

"I'll bet they're up to some trick," he said to himself.

Uneasily, he kept a sharp lookout, determined that they should not catch him napping. But oddly enough, the joke, whatever it was, seemed to subside, and for all his watchfulness Vedder failed to detect any more suspicious confabs during the evening.

Nevertheless, he remained on guard, especially after dark. He did not stray far from headquarters without peering about for such pitfalls as taut ropes, water-pails, and the like. At the council-fire he selected his place with especial care, and saw that no one approached from behind without his knowing it. But the evening pa.s.sed uneventfully, and when he had reached the tent in safety and was undressing by the light of the single lantern, he decided he must have been worrying to no purpose.

"Guess I was wrong after all," he thought, tying the pajama-strings about his ample waist. "My, but bed's going to feel good!"

If there was one thing Vedder took pains about, it was in the arrangement of his blankets. To avoid the unpleasant exposure of toes he had worked out an elaborate system of folds and safety-pins until the combination resembled a sleeping-bag more than anything else. It was his habit to attend to this immediately after supper so that at bedtime there need be no shivery delay in getting fixed for the night. This evening he climbed ponderously to his perch, inwardly congratulating himself on his forethought, for the others, chattering busily on the day's doings, were only beginning to spread out their blankets.

"It pays to be systematic," he thought complacently, and thrust his legs between the warm folds with a luxurious sigh of content.

An instant later a howl of terror resounded through the camp, followed by a convulsive movement of Vedder's legs and body which disrupted the neat arrangement in a flash. Dale Tompkins, sitting on the edge of the lower bunk, had no time even to roll aside before the fat boy, still gurgling with fright, landed on him with a crash that shook the tent.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MISSING SCOUT

"What the mischief is the matter with you?" demanded Tompkins, rubbing his head where it had come into violent contact with the floor.

"A snake!" palpitated Vedder, from the entrance of the tent, to which he had fled. "There's a snake in my bed!"

"You're crazy with the heat, Puffy!" exclaimed Ranny Phelps, forcibly.

"How could a snake get into your bunk?"

"It's there, just the same," panted Vedder, his eyes bulging. "When I put my feet down they hit against something cold and--and slimy that squirmed about. Ugh! If I hadn't got out so quick, it would have bit me sure as anything. You look and see, if you don't believe me."

By this time the camp was astir. As Ranny took the lantern and went over to Vedder's bunk, several boys from neighboring tents crowded in to see what was up. When they learned the nature of the rumpus they were vastly more excited than the other occupants of Tent Three, who seemed strangely unaffected by the situation.

"Hanged if there isn't something here!" said Ranny, in a puzzled tone, looking down on the blankets. "Get a couple of sticks, fellows, and some of you hold down the edges of the blankets so it can't get out."

Court Parker turned his back suddenly and choked oddly; Tompkins's face was flushed and twitching. But the new-comers obeyed the order with enthusiasm, and two of them, darting out, returned in a few moments with a couple of crab-nets and the heavy b.u.t.t of a fishing-rod. Meanwhile, Ranny and several others had drawn the blankets taut across the bunk, revealing an irregular bulge down near the foot that certainly moved slightly.

"Everybody hit together when I give the word," said Ranny. "One, two--three!"

The sticks descended with vigor, and there was a violent wriggling and thrashing about beneath the blankets. But the blows came thick and fast, and in a moment or two all movement ceased.

"I guess it's dead, whatever it is," said Ranny, just as Mr. Reed and Mr. Curtis appeared behind Vedder, still standing prudently in the background. "Let's open it up and have a look."

As he turned down the blankets, the boys gripped their sticks tighter, ready for instant action in case the reptile were not quite dead. But when a final twitch exposed the cause of the commotion, there was a moment's silence, followed by a united exclamation of surprise and disappointment.

"Why, it's nothing but an eel!"