shall visit Quogue if I have to go alone,” he said.
What to take with them was a question which occasioned almost as much discussion. Tommy had brought his trunk and wanted to take most of its contents along. In the end Mr. Speede’s counsel prevailed and each boy limited his luggage to the barest necessities. Light rubber ponchos – squares with a hole cut in the middle which could be slipped over the head when it rained – were purchased, and these were to be used as knapsacks, the other articles being rolled up inside. The other articles included a towel, bathing trunks, brush and comb, toothbrush, extra shoe laces, a light-weight flannel shirt, three pairs of stockings, and handkerchiefs. Each boy carried a collapsible drinking cup in his pocket, Bob took charge of the map, and Tom was the proud possessor of a compass. Tom also carried a folding camera, having at length been prevailed upon to leave a choice library of fiction, a single-barreled shotgun, and two suits of clothing behind him.
Old clothes, stout shoes, cloth caps, and light flannel shirts with collars was the general attire. And so clothed, each with his pack in hand, the four said good-by to Mr. and Mrs. Speede on Monday morning, took car to the ferry, crossed the river, and boarded an early train for Locust Park, at which point their journey on foot was to begin. And so we find them, Dan a trifle pale of face but as merry and happy as any, trudging along the road toward Jericho, each prepared for a good time and eager for adventures.
And adventures were awaiting them.
CHAPTER II
IN WHICH TOMMY DELAYS PROGRESS AND THEY LOSE THEIR WAY
It was a fresh, cool morning, with a southerly breeze blowing up from the ocean and rustling the leaves of the willows and maples along the meadow walls. Big fleecy clouds sailed slowly across a blue September sky, hundreds of birds flitted about the way and made the journey musical, and life was well worth living. Not until they had turned into the country road, a level, well-kept thoroughfare, did they catch a glimpse of any habitation. Then a comfortable-looking farmhouse with its accompanying barns and stables came into view.
“Let’s go in and get a drink of water,” suggested Tom.
No one else, however, was thirsty, and so Tom passed in through the big gate alone while the others made themselves comfortable on the top of the wall. Tom was gone a long time, but finally, just when Dan was starting off to find him, he came into sight.
“What’s he got?” asked Nelson.
“Looks as though he was eating something,” answered Dan. “By Jupiter, it’s pie!”
“You fellows missed it,” called Tom, smiling broadly. “She gave me a piece of apple pie and it was great.”
“Doesn’t look like apple,” said Bob.
“Oh, this is squash. The first piece was apple,” was the cheerful reply.
“Well, of all pigs!” said Nelson. “How many pieces did you have?”
“Only two,” was the unruffled response. “And a glass of milk.”
Nelson looked his disgust, but Dan, reaching forward, sent the half-consumed wedge of pastry into the dust.
“Hope you ch-ch-choke!” said Tommy warmly, viewing his prize ruefully. “It was gu-gu-gu-good pie, too!”
But he got no sympathy from his laughing companions. Bob declared that it served him jolly well right.
“He’ll wish he hadn’t eaten any before he gets to the end of the day’s journey,” said Dan. “We’ve got six miles and more to Jericho, and I guess we’d better be doing ’em.”
So they took up the march again. Everyone was in high feather. Side excursions into adjoining fields were made, Dan went a hundred yards out of his way to shy a stone at a noisy frog, and Nelson climbed a cedar tree to its topmost branches merely because Bob hazarded the opinion that cedar trees were hard to shin up. Only Tommy seemed to experience none of the intoxication of the highway and the morning air. Tommy appeared a bit sluggish, and kept dropping back, necessitating frequent halts.
“Look here, Tommy,” said Dan presently, “we’re awfully fond of you, but we love honor more; also dinner. If you really want to spend the day around here studying nature, why just say so; we’ll wait for you at Jericho.”
Whereupon Tom gave a grunt and moved faster. But at the end of half an hour the truth was out; Tommy didn’t feel just right.
“Where do you hurt?” asked Bob skeptically.
“I – I have a beast of a pain in my chest,” said Tom, leaning against a fence and laying one hand pathetically halfway down the front of his flannel shirt. The others howled gleefully.
“On his chest!” shrieked Dan.
“Sure it isn’t a headache?” laughed Nelson.
Tom looked aggrieved.
“I gu-gu-gu-guess if you fu-fu-fu-fellows had it you wu-wu-wu-wu-wu – ”
“Look here, Tommy,” said Bob, “you haven’t got a pain; you’ve just swallowed an alarm clock!”
“That’s what you get for eating all that pie and making a hog of yourself,” said Dan sternly.
“It’s Tommy’s tummy,” murmured Nelson.
Whatever it was, it undoubtedly hurt, for Tommy was soon doubled up on the grass groaning dolefully. The others, exchanging comical glances, made themselves comfortable alongside.
“Got anything in your medicine chest that will help him, Dan?” asked Nelson. Dan shook his head. The medicine chest consisted of a two-ounce bottle of camphor liniment and a similar sized flask of witch-hazel.
“How you feeling now, Tommy?” asked Bob gravely.
“Better,” muttered Tom. “I’d ju-ju-ju-just like to know what that woman put in her pu-pu-pu-pie!”
“You don’t suppose it was poison, do you?” asked Dan, with a wink at the others.
Tom’s head came up like a shot and he stared wildly about him.
“I bu-bu-bu-bet it wa-wa-wa-was!” he shrieked. “It fu-fu-feels like it! A-a-a-a-arsenic!”
“That’s mean, Dan,” said Bob. “He’s only fooling, Tommy. You have just got a plain, everyday tummyache. Lie still a bit and you’ll be all right.”
Tom looked from one to the other in deep mistrust.
“If I du-du-du-die,” he wailed, “I – I – ”
He broke off to groan and wriggle uneasily.
“What, Tommy?” asked Dan with a grin.
“I – I hope you all ch-ch-ch-ch-choke!”
Tom’s pain in his “chest” kept them there the better part of two hours, and it was past eleven when the invalid pronounced himself able to continue the journey. There was still some four miles to go in order to reach Jericho, which hamlet they had settled upon as their dinner stop, and they struck out briskly.
“What was that chap’s name?” asked Dan. “The one we were
