Roy Blakeley: His Story, Page 5

  I had to turn away my face on account of the smoke. I pulled off myscout scarf and tied it over my mouth, so that it covered my ears too.Then I looked in and down low, because I knew that the smoke wouldn't beso thick near the floor. And I saw Wig Weigand lying there right underthe stove pipe and his hand was reaching up holding the damper, and hishand was all white like and his eyes were wide open and staring. Then Ishouted for all I was worth.

  "Doc! Come down--hurry! Send Doc Carson down, Wig Weigand is dead--he'ssuffocated."

  CHAPTER X

  THE RAVENS

  Doc Carson is a Raven and he's our First Aid Scout. He always has somethings with him, because that's our rule. But you can bet I didn't waitfor him. And I didn't care if I was killed or not, I didn't, if WigWeigand was killed.

  So I jumped right through the window and the smoke got into my eyes andmade my ears ring, but I didn't care. I could taste it all thick, too,but I didn't care. That was the smoke that had to do what Wigley Weigandtold it to, and he scribbled all over the sky with it, that's what hedid, and now it had turned around and killed him.

  I knew that up to six or seven inches from the floor there is never muchsmoke and I knew he must have lain down low when he was almostunconscious and worked that damper. And those fellows up there had beenlaughing and cheering all the while, when he was lying there like that.

  I didn't see Artie anywhere and there wasn't any sound. I lay down flatand crawled over to Wig and you bet I worked quick. I tied his handstogether with my scout scarf--it was the Silver Fox scarf--and I tiedthe scarf around my neck.

  "Wig," I said, but he didn't speak and his legs and his neck hung loose,sort of, and it kind of scared me. Then I crawled to the window, becauseI couldn't see the door, dragging him after me. Then I did something Inever thought I could do, but maybe you've noticed you can do mostanything when you have to. I just stood up, then fell down again,coughing and choking, and my ears were buzzing all the time. But Ididn't care, I just stood up again with him hanging to me, and I grabbedthe window sill and dragged him half way across it and with his headoutside, and then I staggered and tried to grab something and my eyeswere stinging and, oh, I don't know, all of a sudden my head knockedand I didn't know any more.

  Mr. Ellsworth says that Doc ought to write the rest of this chapter, buthe wouldn't, and it's just like him. The next thing I knew I was sittingon the lowest step and Connie Bennet was holding my head. "You're allright," he said, "but you got a good bump. You were only there a fewseconds."

  "Did you pull me out?" I said. "Where's, Wig?"

  "Doc brought him around," he said, "he got him breathing, then it waseasy. We couldn't find Artie."

  Maybe it was funny, but just then I didn't seem to be thinking aboutArtie. I felt my head and found I had a big bump on it.

  "I should worry about that," I said. "Where's Wig?"

  Then I got up and went around the cabin to the forward deck and therewere all the fellows and Wig sitting up and Doc Carson holding himand moving: him, so as to keep him breathing--scout fashion.

  "All righto, kid," Doc said, kind of pleasant, "you're a brick."

  I always thought; that I was as big as he was, but he called me kid,and I didn't care. Anyways I couldn't see him very good, I admit that.Because--oh, well, maybe you can understand.

  "Artie's missing," he said. "You didn't see anything of him in there?"

  "I couldn't see at all, hardly," I told him.

  Then Wig turned his head and looked at me and he was all white and weaklooking, especially when he smiled. And he had the remains of my SilverFox scarf, all torn, around his neck.

  "All right?" he said very low.

  But I just couldn't speak to him. I don't know what made me do it, butI went up to him and he looked at the bump on my forehead and said,"Hurt?"

  "You should worry about that," I told him.

  Then I kind of fixed the Silver Fox scarf better, so that it was aroundhis neck and I tied it in the Silver Fox knot. "Your fellows won't mindif you wear it a little while," I said, and then I unfastened his ownscarf, yellow and brown, and tied it around my neck. "There's no fellowcan get this away from me to-night," I said, "I'm going to wear theRaven scarf--I am."

  Then, all of a sudden, I noticed that Doc had gone away and I was holdinghis head up alone. So I let it down on the cushion very easy and I saw wewere all alone. Maybe you won't understand and it's hard to tell you. ButI didn't say anything; I just stayed there and rubbed his forehead.

  "We told her," he said, kind of as if he was weak and tired.

  "Yup," I said, "you told her"

  "Somebody'll get it--maybe," he said.

  "I ain't thinking about that," I said, "I'm only thinking about how youdid it, I--I don't want the signalling badge in my patrol now, honest Idon't, Wig. I want it to stay where it belongs. And I want there to beonly just the one in the troop. I got mad first. That's because I'malways getting mad, I guess. But there will never be any signalling badgein my patrol, Wig. That's going to be the rule."

  "There'll be a Gold Cross though," he said. And then he shut his eyes.

  But I stayed right there--just because--oh, I don't know, just becauseI wanted to stay right there. You can't always tell why you want to doa thing.

  CHAPTER XI

  LOST

  Now when Wig said that about the Gold Cross I thought it was justbecause he was weak and didn't know what he was saying. Because, maybeyou know as well as I do, that the Gold Cross isn't so easy to get.Only one fellow in our troop ever got it, and that was Tom Slade. MaybeI took a chance when I went into all that smoke, I'm not saying Ididn't, but if I got anything at all, it would be the Bronze Medal, Iguess, but nix on the Gold Cross. You don't find gold crosses growingaround on every bush, you can bet. Anyway, I didn't want any honor medalbecause I knew Wig wouldn't get one (because they're only forlifesaving) and gee, if he didn't deserve one, I'm sure I didn't.

  Anyway this wasn't any time to be thinking about medals, because ArtieVan Arlan was missing and that was the principal thing we had to thinkabout. He wasn't on the house--boat, that was one sure thing, becausewe looked everywhere and couldn't find him. Wig said he rememberedsomebody speaking to him when he was lying there, and he guessed itmust have been Artie. He didn't know what he said though.

  The fellows were all excited about it, especially because the boat wasjust beginning to float, and we didn't know whether we'd better anchorthere and wait to see if he turned up. Two of the fellows climbed downand swam around and the rest kept caning. It wasn't very deep yet andthey could even feel around the flats, but they couldn't find himanywhere.

  I went around and looked at the window and even then the cabin wasfilled with smoke, but not so thick. Believe me, I wished that TomSlade was there then, because he's great on deducing and findingclues and all like that. That's why we always called him SherlockNobody Holmes. Anyway, I couldn't make out what happened. Artie mighthave staggered up against the window to get air, but I didn't see howhe could fall out, and if he was able to climb out then why didn't hecome up where the rest of us were?

  I couldn't make anything out of it; all I knew was he was gone. I knewhe must have been drowned and his body been carried up by the tide,which was running up strong now.

  Well, you can bet we didn't have any fun drifting up. Nobody saidanything much; we just sat around the edge of the deck with our staffsand pushed her off, whenever she ran against the shore.

  Charlie Seabury sat next to me and after a while he said, "Who's goingto tell his people?"

  "I am," I told him, "because I'm to blame for the whole business."

  "Nobody's to blame," he said.

  "Yes, I am," I said, "they just did it on account of me."

  "That's because all the fellows like you," he said, "and they like todo anything for you."

  Anyway, it wasn't so necessary, I see that now, and it's just the sameas if I killed him. Gee, I wish it was I that got killed, I know that.Cracky, I deserved to after being suc
h a fool.

  After that, nobody spoke for a long time, then Hunt Ward, who's in theElk Patrol, said, "It's the first fellow in our troop that died. Iguess we won't go up to camp now."

  "Not in this boat, anyway," I said.

  Then after a while I said, "We'll send his name in and they'll print itin Boys' Life."

  "I know," Hunt said, "with a black line around it."

  Yet we kind of kept hoping all the time, even though we knew therewasn't any sense in it. "You thought you were a goner," Hunt said,"and you came back all right."

  Now I was a big fool that it didn't put a certain idea in my head whenhe said that, but I only said, "Yes, but that was different."

  Then Dorry Benton, who was two or three fellows away from me, said,"One thing is sure, he went through the window and into the water.Maybe he was half conscious and didn't remember there was only anarrow strip of deck there. And he must have tumbled right off it."

  "I don't know," I said, "only if he isn't in the boat then he must be inthe water and if he fell in the water and couldn't swim or shout either,then he must be drowned."

  Then nobody said anything and we just sat there keeping her off shoreand watching her drift up. When we got around Bentley's turn we couldsee the lights in Bridgeboro and then was when I began to realize andI hated to get home. I wished the tide wouldn't take us so fast. Someof the fellows walked around on the roof, but none of them saidanything. I wished it was me instead of Artie, I know that. I ought tohave been satisfied to escape without getting the Ravens to do that--Imean send that message for me. Anyway, I made up my mind I'd be the oneto tell Mr. Ellsworth about it, and Artie's people too, and I'd take allthe blame.

  I guess nobody said anything more all the way up, until we came near theField Club landing. The shore is like low cliffs here and after we gother over against it, a couple of the fellows got out and towed her alongwith ropes, till we came to the long float.

  "Are we going to tie her at the float?" Connie Bennett asked, very soberlike. Gee, it sounded funny to hear someone speak. Doc Carson said,"Yes." He was kind of like head of the three patrols now, because hehas the most sense of all of us, I guess, and Tom Slade, who is headof the Elks, is away and I decided, all of a sudden, that I wasn't muchof a patrol leader, and Artie--he was--he wasn't there.

  "Look out for that canoe," somebody said, just as we were comingalongside the float. "They shouldn't have left it there," Connie said;"that's no place for a canoe." I guess we were all kind of nervous andcranky like. Then I saw that there was a black figure sitting on thelowest step of the boathouse. I was just going to call "Who's there?"when Doc said, "Pull that canoe out of the way before we smash it in."

  So I jumped off onto the float and grabbed the canoe, and g-o-o-d night!it was my Indian dugout.

  CHAPTER XII

  ARTIE'S ADVENTURE

  Then I heard one of the fellows shouting "Look who's here!" and I sawthe fellow who had been sitting on the steps coming toward the floatand I could tell it was Artie Van Arlen. Then I could hear Pee-weedancing on the cabin roof and screaming, "The plot grows thicker! Theplot grows thicker!"--good night, the kid was almost having a fit.

  "If it wouldn't be too much trouble," I said to Artie, "would youplease relate your adventures, I see that you're not dead."

  "Well, not so you'd notice it," he said, "but I guess I came prettynear it."

  Then I could see he was all in and must have had a pretty hard time ofit, but I couldn't help kidding him, because I was feeling so good toknow he was safe. Believe me, that fellow had some adventure.

  "It was lucky for me," he said, "that you tied this crazy canoe orwhatever you call it-"

  "That is an Indian dugout, if anyone should ask you," I said, "and if Iwanted to sell it to an antiquary--"

  "A what?" Pee-wee shouted down from the cabin roof.

  "An antiquary," I said; "comes from the Latin word aunt and the Chineseword query, meaning to ask questions--otherwise the same as Pee-wee. As Iwas saying, if I wanted to sell it to an antiquary I could get a largecheck for it."

  "How large?" Pee-wee shouted.

  "About eight inches by two and a half inches; now, shut up!" I said.

  Cracky, you should have heard those fellows laugh.

  "Well, whatever it is," said Artie, "it's lucky for me that you tied itjust under the cabin window, because I fell into it--I fell in good andhard."

  "I think you fell in soft," I said; "it shows how thoughtful I am. Ascout is foresighted--"

  "You make me sick!" Pee-wee shouted.

  "Tell Doc Carson to give you some medicine," I answered.

  Laugh! Because, you see, we were all feeling so good about Artie beingsaved that we'd laugh at nothing, like a lot of girls. But girls areall right, I have to admit that.

  Let's see, where was I? Oh, yes, I was telling you about Artie. You seewhen I first arrived with that canoe I tied it just under the cabinwindow and then scrambled up through the window. So there it was allthe time. Lucky thing, too. Only the funny thing was we never missedit--we were punk scouts, that's sure.

  Then Artie told us how it was. "After the smoke got so thick that Iwas dizzy and couldn't see, I got scared and groped around for Wig. Icouldn't find him anywhere and he didn't answer. I didn't know whetherall of the signal had been sent or not, but anyway I knew I couldn'tstand it in there any longer. I thought Wig must have climbed out ofthe window. So I decided I would do the same thing. Oh, but didn't Ihave some job finding it! I lay down flat, I knew enough to do thatanyway, and then I crawled around with one hand up feeling for thewindow sill. When I found it I was so dizzy I just hung to it and Ithought I was a goner sure."

  "I know how you felt," I said, "because I was in the same troublemyself."

  Then he said how he dragged himself up to the window sill and triedto shout, but couldn't. Then he fell across it and kind of wriggledout. He didn't have his senses, but he knew enough to know thatthere was a narrow part of the deck, just a passageway sort of,outside, and he thought he'd fall on that. But it was lucky hedidn't. He fell past it right into the water and that brought himto his senses, kind of. So he sputtered and groped around till hehappened to clutch the Indian dugout and it rolled over with himand the anchor that we had laid in it with a rope to hold it fastto the houseboat, the anchor rolled out, and the first thing he knewhe was drifting up the river, hanging onto the dugout for dear life.

  He was feeling so weak and sputtering so on account of his lungs beingall filled with smoke, that he couldn't shout and after a while hedrifted up on the bar near Second Bend. Then he got the dugout setright side up on the mud while he bailed it out by splashing in itwith his hands and afterwards making them into a cup.

  After that it was easy drifting up stream and when he got to about aquarter of a mile below the boathouse, he managed to paddle over to theshore and then he pulled himself along by holding on to the weeds andthings.

  "You had a pretty narrow escape," Pee-wee said.

  "It was a narrow boat, why shouldn't he have a narrow escape," I said;"I had a good wide escape, anyway."

  "Didn't you have your hat with you to bail with?" somebody asked Artie.

  "All I had was my copy of Initiation Drill," he said.

  "Why didn't you drill a hole in the boat then," I said.

  "What for?", Pee-wee shouted.

  "So the water could get out as fast as it came in".

  "What are you talking about? You're crazy!" he yelled.

  "There should be two holes in every boat," Connie Bennet said, in thatslow way he has; "one for the water to come in and the other so it canget out."

  Gee-williger! You should have seen Pee-wee.

  Anyway, I suppose you think by this time that we're all crazy. I shouldworry.

  CHAPTER XIII

  TRACKING

  Anyway, you can bet I didn't stay there long, because I wanted to findout if Wig's signal had been received. Maybe you won't understand, butdown the river it seemed all right and I was sure
somebody must havecaught it. But after we landed and I started up home, it seemed as ifit was just kind of playing, after all, because that's the way somepeople think about the scouts, so I hurried as fast as I could so thatmy mother and father wouldn't be worrying. I felt awfully funny, kindof, as I went up the lawn because I knew that if no one had come andtold them about the signal, they'd think I was dead.

  They were sitting on the porch waiting for me and I knew from the waymy mother put her arms around me that they had been worrying. She askedwe what had kept me so late and my father said that I ought to sendthem some word when I was going to stay out as late as midnight. I haveto admit he was right, too.

  But anyway, I knew that they hadn't received any word about me fromanybody, and I was all up in the air about that. I could see that JakeHolden hadn't been there at all and that nobody had come and told themabout the signal, either. I didn't exactly ask them, but I could tellit all the same. So I told them all about everything that happened,about how I got caught in the marsh and all that, and especially aboutWig being such a hero. Then she cried a little, kind of, and I saidthere was no use crying because I was home all right. But anyway, shecried just the same, and hugged me awful tight just as if everythinghadn't ended all right. That's a funny thing about mothers.

  So then I went to bed and I lay awake thinking about everything thathappened. What I thought about most was why Jake Holden hadn't comeand told my mother and father like I heard him say he was going todo. You remember how I heard him say that. So that was a mystery--that'swhat Pee-wee would call it. And I was wondering why he hadn't come tothe house to give them that note he had found. Because I knew Jake Holden(he always called me "Scouty") and he liked me, too, and I knew hewould sure have come to the house if something hadn't happened.