Part 31 (2/2)

CHAPTER XVIII--Joe Gets Good News From the Doctor, And The Scouts Name Their Camp, ”Camp Kent”

The next morning Dr. Kent arrived, rather cross, at the boys' camp, for the hikers had waked him up early, and he told Joe nothing but a good breakfast would set the world right. Joe did his best, and then put up some lunch for him, and he went off presently in better spirits, to spend the day, as he put it, ”loafing with the wild flowers and inviting my soul.” Joe also cooked his dinner when he returned at night. The next day, he said, would be his last, and he insisted that Tom go with him up on Grinnell Glacier.

”We'll have a little more practice with the rope,” he said, ”and you can see if you can tumble into a creva.s.se the way your friend Joe did.”

So Joe, for a second time, took charge of the camp, and Tom left with the doctor, bright and early. It wasn't a hard climb up to the glacier, and they crossed it, using Tom's scout axe for cutting steps when necessary, and the doctor sent Tom ahead a little way up a cliff, and then reversed positions on the rope, and let Tom take number two position. They climbed far enough up on the great gray shoulder of Gould Mountain to look down on the glacier, on the lake far below that, on the green meadow, and then returned leisurely to camp.

On the way back Tom got up courage to ask Dr. Kent what he had been longing to ask him ever since he learned of his profession. That was, to examine Joe. He told his new friend of Joe's condition, and why they were in the Park, and how he was responsible for him, and did not want him to go on trips and do hard work if it wasn't safe.

”I'll see if I can borrow a stethoscope from the hotel,” Dr. Kent said.

”There must be a house physician there. Then I'll give him the once over, gladly. Anybody who can make coffee like his mustn't be allowed to die! But he doesn't look like a sick boy to me.”

True to his word, he got the instrument, and before dinner took Joe into the scouts' tent, stripped him, and examined him very carefully.

”Who told you you had tuberculosis?” he finally said.

”Dr. Meyer,” Joe replied.

”What Dr. Meyer--not Julius Meyer?”

”Yes, sir, in Southmead.”

”Well, if _he_ said you had, then I suppose you did have,” Dr. Kent replied. ”But, frankly, I can't find any trace of it in your lungs now.”

”But ought he to do hard work?” Tom asked.

”I wouldn't let him over-strain,” the doctor said, ”and if he climbs, make him climb rather slowly. But out here in this wonderful land I don't believe he need worry much any more. If you can keep him here for a few months more, living this outdoor life, and then if he is careful when he gets back, I think he'll be a well man by the time he gets his full growth.”

”But we have to get back to go to school,” Joe said. ”I couldn't let old Spider lose out on school, even if I did.”

”What are you planning to become? What are you studying to be?” the man asked.

”We want to go into the forest service,” both scouts answered.

”Oh, fine! That's a coming job, boys, but one that Joe can't take, if he isn't cured thoroughly. Think of this--your life out here is the best training you could have for the forest service. You can afford to miss six months of school to learn how to live in the big woods and the wild places. If you should camp with Mills till Christmas, say, you'd really be going to school, and Joe would be taking tonic twenty-four hours a day. Think it over, boys.”

That night, after dinner, which he again ate at the scouts' camp, the tepee camp being again filled up with hikers, he paid Joe at the regular rate of three dollars a day for cooking his meals, and paid for the food, all except the dinner Joe had got ready the night of the first climb, which the scouts declared was their treat. Then he picked up his Alpine rope and handed it to Tom.

”How'd you like this for a souvenir?” he asked.

Tom gasped. ”For _me_!” he exclaimed. ”Oh, Dr. Kent, I--I--why, what'll you do?”

”I'm taking the bus out in the morning,” the doctor said. ”I've other ropes at home. You boys might like to do a little climbing. But promise me you'll pick easy grades to learn on, unless Mills is with you.”

”Thank you!” Tom cried. ”I--I never guessed I'd own a real Alpine rope.

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