they reached the first little lake and the worst part of the struggle would be over; after that the going must prove much easier.
At first the scouts considered the rowing a picnic. That lasted less than ten minutes. Then, as the strain of the current started to tell upon them, grunts began to be heard, and these were followed by heavy sighs and glum faces.
Blisters began to appear on palms that were quite unused to labor of this severe kind. True, Mr. Garrabrant in one boat, and Elmer in the other, tried to show the greenhorns how they could save themselves much of this pain by proper handling of the oars; but like everything else, experience after all was bound to be the best guide.
A number of the lads, however, were more or less familiar with rowing, even though there was no body of water close to the town on the railroad known as Hickory Ridge. Of course Elmer himself took an oar, and kept up his part of the drudgery from start to finish; and his chum Mark also did his share with credit.
There were places where the river widened, and the current was less savage. Here those who tugged at the oars managed to rest up a bit for the next hard pull.
So the morning passed with frequent rests, for Mr. Garrabrant knew better than utterly to weary his command in the beginning. They were, after all, out for sport; and it would have been an unwise move on his part to have sickened the tenderfeet scouts before they had had a fair chance to get hardened to it.
Just before noon the boy in the bow of the leading boat gave a yell.
"What is it?" asked the scout master.
"I just had a squint at a body of water, sir; and I think it must have been a lake," replied Jack Armitage, who was in the boat with the Wolf Patrol, Ginger working one of the oars in the other craft.
"That must be the first lake, Jupiter they call it," Mr. Garrabrant went on.
"Hurrah! that means a rest, and lunch, fellows!" cried Lil Artha, who had been resting after his turn at rowing.
"Don't crow too soon," barked Toby, mysteriously. "The worst is yet to come. Remember that these two lakes are joined by Paradise Creek. I've heard that stream is worse than the river here to pull against."
"That's where you're mistaken, Toby," remarked Elmer. "I talked with a lumberman, and also a sportsman who comes up here every fall to shoot wild ducks on the lake they call Solitude. Both of them assured me that once we got to this point our troubles would be over. So cheer up, my hearties, the pulling will be a picnic after this."
Then they passed out from the head of the romantic Sweetwater. The lake was a pretty little sheet of water, with shores that, as a rule, were wooded; though in several places it looked as though farms ran down to the water's edge.
The boys soon clamored to get ashore and stretch their weary legs; nor was Mr. Garrabrant in the least averse to such a change himself. It is always inducive to cramp to sit in a boat several hours.
Lunch was eaten under a patch of friendly trees that grew on the bank. Then the troop was allowed half an hour to lounge around, ere once more embarking for the afternoon row.
Just where they had landed it was very wild. Rocks jutted up out of the sides of the hills, and the trees grew in every crevice where earth had gathered.
Toby was lying on his back, looking longingly up at the bald top of a neighboring elevation that might almost be called a mountain.
"Say," he said to Red, who happened to be sprawled out near him, "did you ever in all your days see such a splendid place as that for a starter? Just think what a jolly good thing it would be to stand there on the edge of that cliff and just give one big spring off, flapping your wings as you jumped. Wow! I can see myself sailing through space, and coming down as gently as a thistle ball. But how could a fellow ever get up there in the first place? – that's what's bothering me."
"Look here, Toby, you don't really mean to say that if you had those silly old wings along with you, anything'd ever tempt you to take such chances as to jump off that high place? Why, it'd be your finish sure, if you ever did. You'd come down with an awful jar. And ten to one we'd have to gather your poor remains up with a shovel. I'm glad Mr. Garrabrant refused to let you fetch along all that stuff you had laid out to bring."
"He near broke my heart when he said that, Red," sighed Toby. "But we're going to be up here some time, you know, and perhaps I might get a chance to rig up some sort of flying machine. I'll never be happy till I'm sailing through the clouds, and that's a fact."
"Your heart, could stand it better than your blessed neck," retorted Red. "And that's what would have happened to you, sure, if he'd let you try to play your game of being aviator to the troop."
"Sit still, fellows!" sang out the photographer just then; "I've got you in just a dandy picture, the entire bunch! There, done with a click, and thank you."
Mr. Garrabrant sat up and looked at his watch.
"About time we were moving, boys," he remarked, at which there were numerous uplifted eyebrows, and not a few groans, as the unfortunate tenderfeet looked at the red spots in the palms of their hands, unused to hard work.
Of course, as there was little to pack, it would be a matter of only a few minutes ere they could be on the move again, and speeding up Jupiter Lake toward the link that connected with the other sheet of water.
"All here?" asked Mr. Garrabrant, as a precautionary measure; since some of the scouts had shown a weakness for wandering whenever half a chance arose.
Elmer had just been in the act of counting heads.
"We seem to be one shy, sir," he remarked.
"It's Ginger," declared one of the scouts. "I noticed him walking off some little time ago, sir. He told me somebody said there was gold up in these mountains, and the poor old silly was lookin' for signs of it, I guess."
"Give him a call on the bugle, Mark!" said Elmer, looking annoyed; for it would be too bad if, after all their plans, Ginger should take it into his head to delay them now by getting lost.
So the bugler let out a blast that could easily be heard a mile away. Then they one and all listened to discover if any answer came floating back.
"I heahs yuh, suh," came the voice of Ginger from the neighboring woods. "I'se jes' be'n havin' heaps o' fun wid dis leetle snake hyah. Glory be, but he am de maddest critter yuh eber see, a shaking ob his tail; an' de locust asingin' in de tree."
"Keep away from him, Ginger!" shouted Elmer, jumping up; "keep away from him, I tell you! My stars! that must be a rattlesnake he's been playing with!"
CHAPTER IV.
A NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN SUPPER
And a rattlesnake it proved to be, sure enough!
When Elmer, followed helter-skelter by every one of the others, drew near the spot where Ginger stood, with a short stick in his hand, and now looking very much frightened after hearing what a narrow escape he had had, they discovered the angry poisonous reptile coiled, and buzzing away at a great rate.
Locusts had been singing near by during the drowsy noon hour, and that accounted not only for the common mistake of the black man, but why none of the others had paid any attention to the sound. Several remembered having heard it, when their memory was jogged later.
Elmer quickly found a longer
