The Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island Part 6

"And so is our job done," saying this Thad I gave the crank a quick turn, upon which there was a quick response; for the merry popping of the engine greeted the anxious ears of the young cruisers.

"Hurrah!" shouted b.u.mpus, who was feeling fine, now that he had given Giraffe a return jab, after having it rubbed in so hard by the tall scout.

The Chippeway Belle was already moving rapidly through the water, rising and falling on the waves that came out of the southwest; and as the six lads gathered around to do justice to the spread that was to serve as their first meal afloat, they once more saw things in a cheery light, for all seemed going well with them.

CHAPTER VI

THE RIVAL FISHERMEN

As the afternoon crept on, and the boat continued to keep up a merry pace, the boys began to feel their confidence return. As Thad a.s.sured them he did not expect to have any further trouble with the engine, they no longer kept an anxious eye on the working part of the craft, while at the least unusual sound every fellow's heart seemed ready to jump into his throat with wild alarm.

It was not the purpose of the cruisers to try and cross the vast body of water upon which their little craft was launched, and which is so immense that for two whole days they might be out of sight of land.

Thad knew the danger that lay in such a thing, and had promised the folks at home in Cranford that he would be very careful. Indeed, only for the presence of Dr. Hobbs, some of the parents of the scouts might have felt like revoking their promise to allow their boys to be of the party.

Accordingly their course was now laid in such a quarter that they could keep the land in sight upon their port quarter most of the time.

Of course, while the scouts had not been at sea, and really knew very little of navigation, they were ambitious to learn. And as b.u.mpus had before hand written down all sorts of phrases used long ago on board the s.h.i.+ps that sailed the seas in such white-winged flocks before the advent of steam gave them such a backset, he read these all out to his mates; and after that, whenever they could think of the nautical name for anything they insisted on using it, because, as Giraffe declared, it gave such a realistic effect to things.

"But let me tell you there's a rumpus in the navy these days," said Step Hen, as Giraffe asked him to "step aft, and hand me that pair of binoculars, so I can take an observation."

"What about?" asked Thad.

"Why, they want to abolish some of these old terms that are just a part of sea-faring life. For instance they say that when the man at the wheel is told to 'port your helm,' it takes just the fraction of a second for it to pa.s.s through his mind that that means 'turn your helm to the left.' And so they say in our navy after this the officer will callout: 'Turn your helm to the left, Jack!' Whew! that must rile every old jack tar, though. It's like taking the seasoning out of the mince meat."

"Don't you believe it'll ever pa.s.s," a.s.serted b.u.mpus, indignantly; "and just after I've made up my mind to learn every one of this list so I can rattle it off like I can already box the compa.s.s. No siree, every true sailorman will rise up in arms against it. You can count on my vote in favor of sticking to the old way. Nothing like the old things, say!"

"'Cepting engines," interposed Step Hen, maliciously.

"Oh! well, I draw the line there, that's true," b.u.mpus admitted, with a shrug of his fat shoulders, as his eyes unconsciously dropped, so that he looked down into the depths of the lake, "a full mile deep," as he always said to himself.

"Oh! I saw a fish then!" he suddenly shouted, showing new excitement.

"Get your hook and line, b.u.mpus, and mebbe we'll have fried speckled trout or white fish for supper!" remarked Giraffe, with what he meant to be satire in his speech.

"Huh! I ain't that green about fis.h.i.+ng, and you know it," remarked the other, as he gave the tall scout a look of scorn. "Anyhow, I can beat you a mile fis.h.i.+ng any day in the week, Giraffe, and I don't care who hears me say it."

"Is that a challenge, b.u.mpus?" demanded Thad, seeing a chance for some fun to enliven their cruise.

"If he chooses to take me up, you can call it that," responded the fat boy, with a belligerent look at his rival.

"Oh! I'm ready to meet you half way, b.u.mpus; anything to oblige,"

Giraffe went on to say, st.u.r.dily. "I'd just like a good chance to show you up for a fish fakir. We've heard a heap about how you used to haul 'em in; now's your chance to prove that you're the big gun of this trip."

"All right, just as you say, and we'll leave it to Thad to lay down the terms of the contest, the loser to treat the crowd to a dinner when we get back home," b.u.mpus went on to say, with the took of one who would die sooner than give up.

"No need of that last," Allan a.s.serted, with a shake of his head. "We expect to have a spread anyhow when we arrive back in Cranford, because there's plenty of money in the treasury of the Silver Fox Patrol; but the loser must do the drudgery that always goes with a dinner, and be the waiter for the other seven fellows. Do you both agree to that?"

"I do!" said b.u.mpus, holding up his right hand, just as thought he might be before Squire Jasper, and about to give his evidence in court.

"Ditto here; I agree, Thad," Giraffe hastened to say, not wis.h.i.+ng to have it appear that he lagged behind his compet.i.tor a particle.

"Now, about the terms; what sort of fish are we to grab?" b.u.mpus wanted to know.

"You don't grab any, b.u.mpus," Giraffe warned him; "every one must be fairly caught with hook and line, and no seines or nets or guns used.

Ain't that right, judge?"

Thad immediately declared he understood that, it was to be a genuine sportsmanlike proceeding, and that no underhand tactics would be tolerated.

"First the number will count," he went on to explain; "after that variety will stand for a second point. Then the heaviest fish will be a third claim, and we might as well make it interesting, so let's call the smallest fish caught a fourth point."

"That's four in all; can't you think up another, so's to have it five; and then three points will be a majority, and wins out?" suggested Davy Jones.

"A good idea, Davy," Thad a.s.sured him; "suppose, then, we also say the longest fish when measured by inches; that would make five points, all right."

"Yes," interrupted Giraffe, "but ain't that already covered when you say the biggest fish?"

"Not necessarily," Thad told him, "though in some cases the two would go together, I suppose. But sometimes you'll catch a ba.s.s that measures two inches longer than the one the other fellow got, but when you use the scales his weighs more by six ounces. How does that come--well, we've got an ill.u.s.tration right here in you and b.u.mpus; you call yourself the larger by nearly a foot, but when it comes--"

Giraffe threw up his hands in token of surrender.

"That's right, Thad," declared b.u.mpus, "the longest ain't always high notch. They do say the best goods come in the smallest packages. But write the conditions down, Thad, while they're fresh in our minds, and read 'em out. When I come in under the wire first, as I surely will, it'd grieve me to hear any squealing from our tall friend here, and have any dispute about not understanding the rules of the game."

Giraffe sniffed scornfully, but did not say anything. However, for a long time after that both boys busied themselves sorting out the greatest lot of fis.h.i.+ng tackle their chums had seen for an age; showing that they were in deadly earnest about trying to win the wager.

b.u.mpus even managed to attach a phantom minnow to the end of a line, which he slyly dropped overboard when he thought no one was looking, in hopes of being fortunate enough to get first blood in the compet.i.tion.

And the others knew that if this thing kept up they were bound to have plenty of fun in watching the desperate efforts of the rival fishermen.

Thad was looking up at the sky occasionally.

"Seem to be some clouds gathering?" remarked Allan, noticing this action on the part of the pilot of the expedition.

"Yes, but then they may not mean anything; though I've been told that storms do come up very suddenly around here. May be something about this big body of fresh water that brings that about, for the sun must draw heaps up from Old Superior every hot day."

"I reckon, now, you're aiming to get to that cove you marked on the chart, so's to have a snug harbor for the night," Allan went on to say.

"Just what I am," the other admitted; "this lake is a bit too big for us to think of anchoring out, and taking chances. A storm is bad enough in daytime when you can see around you; but it must be terrible in the pitch darkness."

"Excuse me, if you please," spoke up Step Hen, who had been listening to all the others said. "I hope there are aplenty of them same snug harbors; for a boat the size of ours to drop in and stay overnight."

"That's just the trouble about cruising on Superior," said Thad, "and especially along the American sh.o.r.e, because there are few rivers that empty into the lake. Up along the Canadian side it's different, because there are some fine trout streams that extend from White Fish Bay along toward old Fort William."

"I'd like to see that last place," spoke up Davy, "because I've heard about it ever since I was knee high to a gra.s.shopper. You see, my great grandfather used to live in Montreal in the days when the Northwest Fur Company was in compet.i.tion with the Hudson Bay Company, and my ancestor was employed each Spring to set out from Montreal with some, big batteaus manned by French Canadian voyageurs, who would row and sail all the way through most of the Great Lakes to Fort William, where the agent had collected heaps of valuable pelts from the trappers and the Injuns after the season was done. These he'd fetch all the way back to Montreal again, the flat bottom boats being loaded down with the bales.

And let me tell you that was taking risks some; but they raised men in them days, I reckon, men that never allowed themselves to think of such a thing as danger, because they were always facing some sort of perils."