William Theophilus Nichols

“ Then the fire came over the ridge, which formed the lip of the cup-like depression. Sam had realized that this soon must happen, and that it had not happened earlier was due to some lucky combination of circumstances, including a greater degree of moisture near the pool than on higher ground. Now, though, a fierce gust caught the flames and swept them along. Little trails of yellow gleamed on the trunk of the tree nearest him, as the bark caught and blazed up. A heap of woodsy debris burst into flame. The heat grew intense. Hagle, in new panic, let go of the brush and clutched wildly at Sam. ”

“ The Shark was hard on Sam’s heels. On they went, recklessly and almost blindly; for the chase led through dense growth and kept well away from the fire for a time. It bore toward the lake; turned back; sought the deeper woods. Once their course skirted the forefront of flames, and in the glare the boys had glimpses of the fugitive. Then it drove straight through thickets they might have thought impenetrable at any other time. The country grew more irregular in surface. ”

“ I figured I could whip any fellow in school, if I had to. Well, Sam Parker whips me—and down plump all my play-things! I can’t be the all-round top-notcher; for I’ve met a better man. The whole school gets the story; the crowd quit me. There you have it! First in everything, or first in nothing. That’s the game, as I’ve played it. I’m down and out.”
“So—so am I—but I’m glad of it!” cried Jack Hagle. ”

“ Poke had spent two hours in bringing stones from the lake shore and building a fireplace to his satisfaction. Orkney had cleared a path from the glade to the beach. The Trojan and Herman Boyd had stacked a noble pile of fire-wood. Indeed, everybody had been remarkably busy through the afternoon, and had brought a wonderful appetite to supper, when lunch baskets were unpacked, and a coffee-pot sent forth delicious [165] odors to mingle with those others which come only from bacon frying to a turn in skilful open air cookery. And then there had been the trout! ”

“ Thorns raked Poke’s arms and tore his clothes, just as branches ripped the planes to ribbons and saplings, bending before the machine’s charge, yet contrived to check it. The broken roar of the motor ceased; the whir of the propeller died away. In a second or two the monster of the road was stripped of all terrors, and lay in the midst of a tangled heap of debris, half contributed by its own parts and half by the brush and vines it had uprooted. ”

“ Keep your head. Try to work one leg free at a time, and we’ll wiggle out, somehow,” he encouraged.
Hagle yielded obedience. Whatever he might have feared from Sam was a trifle compared with his new, and wholly reasonable, fear of the bog and the fire. He did his best to carry out orders; of that there could be no question. But it was no slight task which was to be accomplished. Left to himself, Jack must steadily have sunk deeper in the ooze, and even with Sam’s assistance he could do little more at first than check the sinking. He caught desperately at roots and brush within reach. ”

“ Then, in hot haste, he did anything and everything he could in a desperate, last chance effort. But the engine roared as violently and rapidly as ever; indeed, he seemed to have contrived to rouse the ancient mechanism to a frenzy of energy. The planes dipped and rose with the swaying of the monster. There was a queer, sidewise lunge; then, swiftly, a bewildering change. A thrill ran through Poke. Of a sudden, the motion of the craft had become smooth, buoyant, marvelously exhilarating. The vibration of the motor remained, but there was no longer the jar of wheels on uneven ground. ”

“ They made mistakes—lots of mistakes. They formed their judgments not on great knowledge but on such knowledge as they had—and when a blunder was made, they tried not to repeat it. And they strove to play the game fairly. Doubtless you know a dozen boys like these, and fancy them not the less because you find them very human.
Sam Parker had put into effect the guiding rule of the club in averting hostilities between Orkney and Edward Zorn, but he had by no means avoided the complications growing out of the affair of Trojan Walker’s Cicero. ”

“ Still smarting under the sense of essentially unfair treatment, the Trojan would have been glad to quit the school. Again and again he rebelled at appearing at the recitations he was permitted to attend, and it required all of Sam’s tact and firmness and Orkney’s encouragement to hold him to his work under the existing conditions. Herman Boyd also lent a hand occasionally, although he was not of much help as a tutor. As for the Shark, he went his way imperturbably. Give him a sufficiency of his beloved mathematics, and he cared not a straw for the opinion of the multitude. ”

“ Left again!... Hold her there!... Now a bit on the right—as you are, as you are! Steady, steady—no hurry!... Right again! You fellows have got too much power on one side.... That’s the ticket, and here you are! ’Vast rowing!”
Somebody caught the bow of the boat. Step and Poke turned on their seats to behold Orkney, knee deep in the water, grinning at them. There was a decided increase in the glare from the big fire, and they could make out his face plainly. Back of him, on the sand, were the Trojan and Herman Boyd, their arms full of blankets and other camping paraphernalia. ”

“ Sam’s plan was simple, but held promise. It was a rough and ready adaptation of the method often used by farmers in fighting grass and brush fires by plowing furrows across the track of the approaching flames, the freshly turned ground, of course, offering no fuel for them. The boys had no plow, but with the spades, plied desperately, it was possible to dig a shallow trench, which served a double purpose, in that it not only broke the continuity of the carpet of rubbish, but gave chance to widen the safety band by throwing dirt from the excavation over the dead leaves and branches beside it. ”

“ For one thing, there was small need of explanation of the alarm; for from the neighborhood of the pavilion there was an unobstructed view of the opposite shore of the lake and the extent of the fire’s spread. Already the flames were making a wonderful spectacular display, which served as most effective warning to the cottagers of the need of haste in forming their fire brigade. It was almost like a warship’s crew obeying the call to quarters, so hurriedly did every able-bodied man turn out for service. ”

“ Mr. Zorn studied the opposite shore and the fiery picture it presented. The trees close to the water made a dark fringe, through which he had glimpses of the glare of flames, even where the fire itself had not burned its way into clear view. And, as a matter of fact, it was now showing in places which had been dark when the alarm roused the settlement. He tried to gauge the rapidity of its spread; he made note of the stiff breeze; he knew the tinder-like condition of the woods.
“Boy, you’re right,” he said curtly. “Man-size job this is going to be—big enough for all the men we can raise.” ”

“ But the Trojan shook his head. “Sam,” he said slowly, “Sam, I leave it to you and the crowd. You know, all along I’ve felt I didn’t have a fair deal—it’s been that that cut me worst. Whatever’s done now, I want to be the square thing—no more, no less. And what’s fair and square I’m not the one to say—I’ve been hit too hard. I leave it to you, Sam—you and the club.”
“And so do I!” cried Jack Hagle.
Sam’s glance went to Orkney, to the Shark, to Step and Poke, and to Herman Boyd. But it was Zorn who put their verdict into words.
“It’s up to Hagle and me to undo the harm, [335] so far as we can. ”

“ Lon shouted a warning to the boys to stand aside, threw on his power, and steered his car far into the ditch. As he did so, it was as if a roaring cyclone swept past. The noise of it deafened the club, the dust it sent swirling in clouds choked them, its velocity dazed them. That the cause of the commotion was an automobile they realized, but none of them had an idea what manner of car it might be, or, indeed, how many passengers it carried.
Lon steered back into the road.
“All aboard, everybody!” he called. “There’s a feller that’s findin’ the goin’ too [80] good to last. ”

“ This isn’t your row, unless you’re the telltale—understand?”
Zorn wriggled free. He retreated a pace or two; for Orkney’s hand had been heavy.
“You’re a nice crowd!” he sneered. “They say you call yourselves the Safety First Club. Good name, that! Sure it is! Just fits in with the speed Sam Parker made in saving himself and giving Walker away. Safety First! You bet that’s the rule with every one of you, and the rest can go hang, for all you care!” ”

“ There was light enough to see the red come into Zorn’s cheeks.
“Well, hasn’t a fellow got to have some interest [332] in life?” he demanded. “And if I have heard how things are worked, why shouldn’t I make use of the hints? Politics? Why, yes—if you want to call it that.”
“But there’s such a thing as straight politics, honest politics,” said Sam.
“Certainly! If there wasn’t the right kind, the country’d go to smash,” the Shark contributed. “Just like mathematics! You may make mistakes, but if you stick to it and keep to the rules, you’ll get the right answer in the end. ”

“ Sam interrupted, incredulously.
“Best ever!”
“Well, it’s all in the way you look at it. And—er—er—one man’s meat is another man’s poison.”
“Course!” the Shark shrugged. “And if I didn’t find the game worth the candle, you don’t think, do you, that I’d be fussing with this scheme of Poke’s? There’d be a deal easier way to answer the question whether or not his machine would fly—the empirical way.” ”

“ Oddly enough, the only one to succeed had been of these open enemies. In his day Tom Orkney had opposed the club bitterly, and so had borne his full share in bringing about complications, from which, as it chanced, nobody suffered so grievously as Tom himself. But the experience had enabled the club to put Orkney to the test. He had not been found wanting, and in the end had gained his place in the clan by the very excellent process of earning it, which, after all, is perhaps the most satisfactory process in the long run. ”

“ It was plain that somebody was shrewdly taking advantage of the situation to work harm for the Safety Firsts, and he had no doubt of the identity of the schemer. Why Zorn should have been moved to this pernicious activity Sam did not know: mere lack of friendliness hardly explained it. Zorn had spread the story of the Trojan’s disaster, and had added a most unfavorable version of Sam’s participation. He had worked on popular prejudice against both a cheat and a telltale. ”

“ Sam asked.
“Of course not!” cried the Shark; then he grinned. “I did tell Poke one thing, though. I showed him he’d made his first design of a plane so wide he couldn’t get the contraption through the barn door, no matter how he turned it.”
Poke’s face grew a rosy red. “Oh, that! Well, I guess we did make a little miscalculation. But it didn’t matter. All we’ve got to do is to make up for reduced plane area by increasing the speed of the machine—speeding up the propeller and engine, you know.” ”

“ A few small boys were playing on the high school grounds, but he didn’t halt to observe them; they were younger than the club and not likely to be involved in its affairs. At street corners he noticed two or three groups of high school pupils, and marked that they were talking earnestly. Then he came to the field where the baseball diamond was laid out, and where a scrub game was in progress. There was a fringe of spectators about the field, and half a dozen cars and wagons were lined at the curb. Lon drew up behind a truck, whose driver was killing a spare quarter of an hour. ”

“ He’s been busy, making mischief. Some day I’ll try to attend to him, but there’s somebody else to think of first, and that’s the Trojan. What’s to be done about him, and for him? He’s agreed not to make a bolt without letting us know, but it seems to me it’s up to us to fix things so he’ll be willing to stay.”
“Say, that’s going to be a contract!” Step exclaimed.
The others nodded agreement.
“It’s the Latin that’s the facer—outside of his feelings,” said Herman Boyd gravely. “He’ll be flunked, if he can’t go to recitations, especially with a zero mark for the test to pull down his term stand.” ”

“ But I say, Sam!” Mr. Haskins was limping toward the Parker car. “Sam, I can’t let him go till I find out if the thing can be worked. But, if you haven’t any money, who in the crowd has?”
“Lon might have some. He generally——”
Poke waited to hear no more. He sprang to Lon, caught his sleeve, began to plead with all his eloquence:
“Do me the biggest favor a fellow ever asked you to do! Lend me some money. I’ll pay you back, sure, and I’ll be your friend all my days. Oh, but I’m in dead earnest, ’deed I am!”
“Does look that way,” Lon admitted. “But what do you want money for, out here? ”

“ Sam had wondered a bit that Lon, instead of aiding in the work, disappeared soon after the party reached its destination. And Lon was gone for hours. He came back, with a rod (cut from a thicket) over his shoulder and a string of trout, at sight of which the boys raised a shout. They rained inquiries upon him. How many had he caught? Where had he found them? Would he show them the brooks? Trout, be it understood, were much sought by anglers thereabouts, and such a “mess” as Lon had caught was a rarity. But Lon, though much importuned, merely shook his head and laughed. ”

“ Sam contented himself with shaking his head and saying, “It’s queer, all the same.”
The fire, in spite of its leisurely progress, had extended over perhaps two acres, nearly all of which would class as swamp land, though in many places it was now as dry as any hill. [253] Still, even where the mire had hardened there were hummocks which made walking difficult, to say nothing of the thick undergrowth on which the flames had fed. Anybody, strolling through the woods, would be more likely to make a detour about the hollow than to tramp across it. ”

“ Orkney’s battle with Scrub Payne made a great stir in the school. There were some evidences of a change in the popular temper, which might be taken to bear out Poke’s view that the luck had turned. Sam and his chums noted more signs of good will; they had reason to believe that some of the boys who had voted with them at the election of a class secretary were now ready to ally themselves openly with the club. On the other hand, though, there was nothing to indicate that Zorn was losing his hold upon the majority of the class, between whom and the club the line continued to be sharply drawn. ”

“ He was gratified to find in each case strong approval of this decision, and just as strong desire to do anything possible to uphold the good name of the club and all its members.
“You tell us what’s the program, Sam, and we’ll stand by you”—that was the way Orkney put it, and the speech fairly represented the spirit of all the party.
A seven-mile tramp, of a fine day, is really play for healthy schoolboys. The club thought nothing of it. Sam felt his spirits rising, and began to be glad that he had accepted Lon’s counsel. ”

“ Are we?”
“You are. The whole school believes you’re a crowd of cheats and tattletales.”
Sam kept his temper, and that he did so was proof of the discipline he had had in self-mastery. Moreover, it had flashed upon him that it was his business to learn, so far as he might, the purpose of Zorn in the campaign he had waged against the club. Purely as a matter of preference he would have chosen to resort then and there to violence, but a fight would cut short the explanation he so greatly desired. So he said, quietly enough:
“There’s no truth in it. Nobody knows that better than you do.” ”

“ Poke retorted with a touch of dignity. “We’re going about this whole thing right. We’re going to look mathematically before we leap—understand?”
Sam interpreted this as meaning that the Shark had not yet completed his computations; and the Shark, on inquiry, admitted that this was the case.
“I’m not going to make any mistakes, if I can help it,” he declared. “Too serious business.”
“It surely is,” Sam agreed. “Broken bones are no joke.”
“Huh! It’s worse to find you’re wrong in your calculations!”
Sam surveyed the mathematician sternly. “Confound it, Shark! Can’t you be human?” ”