Part 12 (1/2)
The coffee was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, and a vote of thanks taken for Lil Artha, who had first suggested making it. Resting for a short time afterwards, the boys felt refreshed when once more the task was taken up.
Lil Artha looked at Landy tumbling contentedly into the middle of the old skiff, and seemed on the point of saying something; then he shook his head and picked up the push-pole himself.
”Not yet, but soon it's just got to be; only I hope he won't upset us all,” Mark heard the tall scout mutter to himself, nor did he need a further hint to know what was pa.s.sing through Lil Artha's mind; Landy was not going to evade his share of the arduous labor forever.
It, doubtless, took considerable thinking and planning on the part of Elmer to make sure they did not ”repeat.” So far, none of the boys could say as they moved along that they had ever before seen the stretch of water and scrubby sh.o.r.e, covered with trees and vines.
This spoke volumes for the smartness of the young patrol leader, though somehow his chums did not seem to consider it such a wonderful feat for Elmer. That is the penalty for being successful; others expect great things from such a comrade, so that he is constantly put to his best efforts to satisfy them.
It must have been quite some time, perhaps as much as two hours after they had stopped to eat their lunch when without warning the swamp explorers met with a surprise that gave them a new thrill.
At the time, Lil Artha happened to have pa.s.sed a little in the lead, though he would soon be dropping back again, especially when there came a chance to make a mistake in direction, for he wanted Elmer to decide such puzzles.
The tall scout must have forgotten his warning from Elmer, for he cried out:
”Hey! everybody look what we're up against! A bear, Elmer, that's what it is!”
CHAPTER IX
THE PERILS OF THE WATER LABYRINTH
”Silence, everybody!” hissed Elmer, who knew it would be just like Toby, and perhaps some of the other fellows, to burst into a shout as soon as they could get command of their voices.
It was certainly a bear, a small one to be sure, but genuine enough, and not such as can be seen with wandering foreigners, taught to dance, or wield a pole as a soldier would his musket.
Just when the scouts glimpsed the hairy denizen of Sa.s.safras Swamp, he was engaged in sitting on his haunches and gathering in the bushes with his st.u.r.dy forelegs. To Lil Artha, it looked as though Bruin might be making a lunch from the luscious, big blueberries that grew in such abundance here and there through the swamp.
Up to the moment when Lil Artha thus called attention to the presence of the black native, the bear must have been in ignorance of their being so near at hand. When he did notice them, he simply gave a disgusted grunt, and ambled away through the brush. Lil Artha always declared the bear glanced back at them as he ran, and even put out his tongue, just as if he knew it was the close season, and that a kind game law protected him from all harm.
”Say, let me tell you this old Sa.s.sy swamp isn't such a bad place for a game preserve after all,” said Toby; ”I think some of us could enjoy having a week up here, after the law on bears and all such was up. But it's too far from home during the school session, for us to come.”
”Oh! I don't know about that,” remarked the tall scout, meditatively; ”we could borrow a car, and start in the middle of the night when there was a moon. That'd give us a whole day up here. Take it at Thanksgiving and we could make it three, with Friday and Sat.u.r.day thrown in. Elmer, think it over, won't you?”
”Plenty of time for that,” he was a.s.sured; ”We've got our hands full as it is, without borrowing trouble.”
”And perwaps before we're done with it,” Ted croaked, ”you'll be that tired of seeing nothing but thwamp all around, that you'll vow never again for yourth.”
”I'm going to make a proposition, Elmer,” said Landy; ”and I hope you'll agree. Suppose we go ash.o.r.e and tackle some of those elegant blueberries ourselves? It's a shame that bears should be the only ones to enjoy such a feast. And it's tough sitting here so long!”
At that Lil Artha grunted, and looking almost savagely at the speaker nodded his head while he muttered:
”That settles it, my boy; I see your finish. You're going to earn your salt after this, no matter what happens!”
Elmer seemed to consider for a few seconds.
”I see no reason why we shouldn't pull up for a little while, just as you say, Landy,” he observed, to the delight of the rest; ”and everyone of us is fond of a mess of good ripe blueberries. So pitch in while the supply lasts.”
The berries were thicker and larger than any they had ever seen before; and Lil Artha declared he considered the judgment of the little black bear ”prime.”
”He sure knew a good thing when he found it, and so do we,” he told those who were working fingers and jaws near him.