Harry Castlemon

“ In a twinkling the little crafts were going toward the beach with greatly increased speed, and in a remarkably short space of time six young athletes, clad only in flesh-colored tights, were prancing around their canoes, busily engaged in wrapping their clothing in their water-proof blankets, and lashing their rods and minnow buckets fast so that they would not be thrown out into the water by a heavy lurch, or even by a capsize. Tom Bigden was the first to shove his canoe away from the shore, but there he had to stop. ”

“ In fact, I became a regular shuttle-cock of fortune, and was so roughly knocked about from pillar to post, that it is a wonder to me that I am as good a rod as I am.
After a few minutes’ walk along a quiet street shaded on each side by grand old trees, Joe and his companion turned into a wide carriage-way which led them by a circuitous route through a little grove of evergreens to the house in which Joe lived—a fine brick mansion, with stone facings, a carriage-porch at the side door, and a croquet ground and lawn tennis court in front. ”

“ Then there was the upset race, which Ralph was almost sure he could win, and the greasy pole walk, with Miss Arden’s silk flag to go to the best man—must they give up all these things just because Tom had been ruled out?
“What’s the reason I am ruled out?” exclaimed Tom, who was as mad as a boy ever gets to be. “Isn’t it because I tried my best to help Loren win the paddle race? I tell you that you don’t stand the least show of winning any thing; but stay if you want to.” ”

“ You let Hastings alone for shoving in a good word for himself as often as the opportunity offers. He never won the first prize in his life. Joe Wayring walks away with it every time. Suppose you fellows come in and see if you can’t make Joe lower his broad pennant for a while. If you find that you can’t beat him—and, although I am no friend of his, I tell you plainly that it will be the hardest piece of work you ever undertook—you might get in his way and let him foul you, you know. ”

“ THE SQUATTER TURNS UP AGAIN. ONE fishing excursion is much like another, and any boy who has handled a nicely-balanced bait-rod when the black bass, perch, and yellow pike were hungry and full of fight, as they were on the morning of which we write, will have a clearer idea of the sport Tom Bigden and the rest enjoyed there on the pond than we could possibly give him. We did not follow them through the rapids to tell how they played their fish and how many they caught, and so we shall have but little to say about it. ”

“ Joe Wayring was on the right, nearest the shore, and Arthur Hastings on the extreme left, near the middle of the lake.
“It’s a bad outlook for us,” whispered Loren, after he had run his eye up and down the line. “Joe and Arthur are so far away that you can’t touch them.”
“Never mind,” replied Tom, in the same cautious whisper. “They will have to come closer together when we get to the stake-boat, and then, perhaps, we can do something. Keep your weather eye peeled for Noble. He’ll spoil your chances if he can. He’s bound to win or kick up a row.” ”

“ Arthur laughed heartily.
“Joe’s timing the fish,” was his reply. “When they smell so good that he can’t wait any longer, he will know they are done; and then dinner will be ready. It’s rather a novel way, I confess, but Joe hits it every pop.”
This was the first time that Tom and his cousins had ever sat down to a meal that was composed of nothing but fish and meat, but it tasted much better than they thought it would. Perhaps the reason was because they were hungry. ”

“ During the winter Tom Bigden and his cousins, who grew more vindictive and unreasonable in their hatred as time progressed, waged a secret but incessant warfare upon Joe Wayring and his two chums. They coaxed Mars from the post-office to the drug-store, and sent him home with a tin can tied to his tail. They practiced with their long bows at Roy Sheldon’s fan-tail and tumbler pigeons as often as the birds ventured over to their side of the lake. They went across on their skates one night, and overturned the Young Republic, which Joe had hauled out on the beach and housed for the winter ”

“ I like the canoe better, because she was the first thing in the shape of a boat I ever owned. She has carried me a good many hundred miles, first and last, and although she has often got contrary and spilled me out into the water when I wasn’t expecting it, I have had any amount of fun with her exploring creeks and ponds that I could not otherwise have reached. She is fourteen feet long, weighs fifty pounds fully equipped, and packs in that little chest you see there. I know she isn’t very good-looking, but when it comes to running the rapids she is there, every time. ”

“ Noble, who is a plucky fellow and a splendid swimmer, didn’t know that the pig was greased, and he tried for a long time to tow him ashore by one of his hind legs, but, of course, he couldn’t do it. At last he began to suspect something, and the way he larruped that pig over the head with the bag to make him turn toward the shore, was a caution. He finally succeeded in his object, and the instant the pig’s feet touched the beach, Noble sprung up, threw the bag over his head and secured him easy enough. Whatever you do, you mustn’t miss the greasy pole walk. ”

“ Their three companions of the previous day were there, and their attention was concentrated upon a beautiful blue silk flag, trimmed with gold fringe and bearing in its center the monogram of the Mount Airy canoe club, which occupied a conspicuous position among the prizes.
“That’s some of Miss Arden’s handiwork,” said Joe Wayring, after he had cordially greeted Tom and his cousins. “It is to go to the first one who walks the greasy pole.” ”

“ After the spectators had gone back to their hotels and all the members of the club had set out for home, the three chums sat down in the boat-house to compare notes.
“I am glad it’s over,” said Roy, giving expression to the thoughts that were passing through the minds of his companions. “It was the meanest meet I ever heard of. I wouldn’t have had that affair at the stake-boat happen for any thing. Those visitors from New London will say that we are as bad as the professional oarsmen who saw their boats, and capsize themselves on purpose.” ”

“ It’s the rule of the company.”
“That you shall work during vacation?” cried Tom.
“That we shall keep busy at something—yes. We are told that an idle brain is the workshop of a certain old chap who shall be nameless, but we go further, and hold that there is no such thing as an idle brain. It is at work all the time during our waking hours, and sometimes when we are asleep—dreams, you know—and if it is not busy with good things, it is ready to take in bad ones. ”

“ Are you sorry that you didn’t smash your canoe in the rapids?” asked Roy.
206“Or didn’t you catch fish enough to suit you?” chimed in Ralph.
“Perhaps he is disgusted because he didn’t shoot that bear,” said Joe.
“It’s hard work,” repeated Arthur. “The fun of running the rapids, catching a nice string of bass and seeing a bear, does not repay one for the horrors of this fifteen mile carry. It is worse for me to-day than it ever was before, because we have been so very unlucky. We have used our rods for the last time, and Joe will never see his canvas canoe again.” ”

“ On the morning of July 4, 18—, a large party of newly-arrived visitors were seated on the wide veranda of the Mount Airy House, enjoying the refreshing breeze that came to them from over the lake, and congratulating themselves on having left the city, with all its dust, heat and noise, behind them for one good long month at least. ”

“ Money doesn’t rule the world up here as it does down in New London. I am informed that some of the boys in that company are so poor that the others had to help them buy their uniforms.”
“Humph!” said Tom. “Well, if that’s the sort of trash they take into their company, I don’t know that I care to belong to it, do you, boys? We don’t have any thing to do with such fellows in the city.”
“Couldn’t we gradually weed them out?” asked Loren. “That’s the way we did with our ball club, you know.” ”

“ I only wish you had a little more muscle.”
“But I haven’t got it and can’t get it between this time and the race, and so you fellows will have to help me.”
“Trust us for that,” answered Tom. “Then we’ll turn to and foul the best contestant in the hurry-scurry race, so that Loren can win that; and if you will lend me your Rob Roy, I’ll take my chances on carrying off the honors in the portage race.”
“That is just the way I had planned it,” exclaimed Ralph. “We’ll show these fellows who think themselves so smart, that there are others in the world who are quite as smart as they are.” ”

“ I don’t suppose I am much to look 35at—indeed, I know I am not, because I can see my reflection in the mirror over the mantle—but I am the boss boat on the rapids, and am worth more on a ‘carry’ than all the cedar and birch-bark canoes in America. I am the historian of the Wayring family, or, rather, of the youngest branch of it,” he added, with no little pride in his tones. “I carry secrets enough to sink any ordinary craft, and if I only had the power to communicate some of them to my master, perhaps he wouldn’t open his eyes! I am a canvas canoe, at your service.” ”

“ I had already learned to like my new friend, who had shown himself to be so good-natured and so ready to tell me any thing I wanted to know, and I thought I would rather have him for company than any body else. ”

“ They left them standing in the park, as they did scores of others who had been talking to them, and that was a slight that Tom said he would not soon forget.
“You are altogether too touchy,” said Loren, with some impatience in his tones. “You appear to think that every boy who lives outside the city limits must, of necessity, be a greenhorn. These fellows know as much about New London as we do.” ”

“ Indian Lake was a favorite place of resort for the Mount Airy sportsmen, and for these three boys in particular. They went there regularly every summer. The country about the village was not wild enough to suit them, and besides the trout streams were so constantly fished by the New London anglers, that they were beginning to show signs of giving out. Joe and his friends were so well acquainted with the lake that they never thought of taking a guide when they went there for recreation. They went everywhere that a guide could take them, and with no fear of being lost. ”

“ Let’s get up a club of our own and manage it as we see proper.”
“I am in favor of that,” replied Tom. 92“We’ll have no fines and drills, for one thing, and neither will we admit any girls who stick up their noses at a good cigar. But there is one thing we must not forget to do when we meet those fellows at the store to-morrow. If we decide upon any thing, we must be careful how we carry it out. If we are foolish enough to let Joe and the rest know that we are down on them, and that we intend to do them all the injury we can, they will make things very unpleasant for us. ”

“ Joe Wayring at once set off to hunt up a couple of suitable boards, another started a fire, two more fell to work upon the fish and squirrels, and the rest found employment in gathering a supply of fuel, and providing birch-bark plates and platters. Although Tom and 201his cousins did their full share of the work, they did not neglect to keep an eye on their more experienced companions; and they were astonished to see how easily one can get on without a good many things which the majority of people seem to think necessary to their very existence. ”

“ He’s a big heavy fellow, and strong enough to jerk a four pound 304black bass from the water without any nonsense. You can’t do that, and Joe isn’t certain that he can handle you. He doesn’t distrust you any more than he distrusts himself. There’s one thing I forgot to tell you,” added the canoe, “and that is, if any misfortune befalls you, you can lay it to Tom Bigden. I heard enough during my short captivity to satisfy me that he was the chap who put it into Matt’s head to steal Joe’s property. Matt is bad enough, goodness knows; but the advice Tom Bigden gave him made him worse. ”

“ Look here,” said Tom, suddenly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and facing his cousins. “We’ve got our choice between two cliques, both of which have showed a disposition to make us do as they say. Now which one shall we take up with? I prefer Joe’s. He and his friends are in the majority, and they are not one bit more overbearing than Prime and his friends. Besides, they will let us win a race if we can do it fairly, but the crowd we have just left want all the honors themselves.”
“If you try to carry water on both shoulders you will be sure to spill some of it,” observed Loren. ”

“ If we find that we have no show, and that the prizes must go to Wayring and his friends, or to Prime and his followers, we’ll stand by Wayring every time. We’ll teach that drug-store crowd that the next time they make up a slate they had better put our names on it if they expect us to help them. ”

“ Now take those two boys, for example,” added Arthur, directing Loren’s attention to the master bowman and his bugler. “It isn’t every rifle shot who can break as many glass balls in the air as they can.”
“Who are they?” inquired Tom. “We noticed them particularly during the drill.”
“They are Wayring and Sheldon. Would you like to know them? They’re good fellows.”
Arthur looked at Tom as he said this, but Tom didn’t act as though he heard him. He wasn’t anxious to make the acquaintance of boys who could beat him at any thing, but his cousins were not so mean spirited. ”

“ It looked as though Ralph and Loren would have to do the very thing against which they had cautioned their vindictive relative, that is, try to carry water on both shoulders and take their chances of spilling some of it.
“Now we’ll take Joe’s skiff back and put it where we found it, provided the boat-house is open,” said Tom. “If there is any boy in the world who ought to be supremely happy, he is the fellow. He has every thing he can ask for, including a rich and good-natured uncle, who takes him off on hunting and fishing trips nearly every year. ”