Troop One of the Labrador by Dillon Wallace

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"We'll start to camp on Monday marnin' of that week," suggested David.
"Come over to The Jug on Sunday. 'Twill be fine to have us all go to
camp together."

"Aye," agreed Micah, "'twill be now, and we'll come, and have a fine
time."

"And we'll all study about the scout things whilst we're in camp,"
piped up Jamie enthusiastically.

"That we will now," David assured.

"Lige, you and Peter bring a tent and stove, and all you need for
setting up camp," Doctor Joe directed. "Can you bring one, too, Seth?"

"Aye," said Seth, "I'll bring un, but we have no tent stove. Pop took
un to the huntin'."

"Obadiah or Micah may bring a stove. You have one, haven't you?"
Doctor Joe asked.

"Aye," said Obadiah, "I has one. I'll bring un along."

"You three fix up an outfit amongst you. There'll be three in a tent,"
Doctor Joe explained. "Andy can go in with Peter and Lige, and I'll
tent with Davy and Jamie."

There was little else than the proposed camping expedition talked
about on the return to The Jug, and in the days that followed David,
Andy and Jamie devoted every spare moment to the study of first aid
and signalling. Doctor Joe, with no end of patience, drilled them so
thoroughly in first aid that they were soon really expert in applying
bandages. He even instructed them in improvising splints and reducing
fractures. In this secluded land, where for three hundred miles up and
down the coast there was no other surgeon than Doctor Joe, it was not
unlikely that some day they would be called upon to set a leg or an
arm.

Doctor Joe was as ignorant, however, of the art of signalling as were
the lads, and he must needs take it up from the very beginning and
study with them. It was decided that they should learn both the
semaphore and Morse codes, and Doctor Joe insisted that neither he nor
the lads should consider the Second Class test satisfactorily passed
until they had not only learned the codes but could send and receive
messages at the rate of speed designated in the handbook as required
for the First Class test.

"It wouldn't be fair to the scouts in the big cities," he declared.
"They have to learn a great many things that we already know how to
do, like building fires, using the axe and knife, and tracking. Those
are things we've been doing all our lives and won't have to practise.
We must make it just as hard for ourselves to become Second Class
Scouts as it is for the city lads. So we'll make the signalling test
that much more difficult."

"I'm thinkin' that's fine now," enthused David, "and when we learn un
we'll know that much more."

"That's the idea!" said Doctor Joe. "And we'll not only learn the
sixteen principal points of the compass, but we'll learn to box the
compass to the quarter point as navigators do."

"I can box un now," grinned David.

"So can I box un!" Andy exclaimed. "Dad told me how, same as he told
Davy."

"And I can learn to box un easy," promised Jamie.

Margaret joined them one fine day in the forest behind the cabin when
they took their Second Class cooking test, and a jolly day they made
of it. It was easy enough to roast a spruce grouse on the end of a
stick. Even Jamie had done that many times. But Doctor Joe was called
upon to solve the problem of cooking potatoes without cooking
utensils, and he did it so satisfactorily that the lads practised it
every day afterward for a week.

He resorted to a simple and ordinary method. He dug a narrow trench
about six inches deep. Upon this he built a fire, which he permitted
to burn until there was a good accumulation of ashes. Then he pushed
the fire back and raked the ashes out of the trench. The potatoes
were now placed in a row at the bottom of the trench and covered with
a good layer of hot ashes. The fire was now drawn back over the ashes
that covered the potatoes and permitted to burn briskly.

At the end of an hour he brushed the fire back at one end sufficiently
to allow a long slender splinter to be pushed down through the ashes
and through a potato. The splinter did not penetrate the potato easily
and the fire was drawn in again to burn for another quarter of an
hour. Then it was raked out and the potatoes removed, to find that,
while the skins were not in the least burned or even scorched, the
potatoes were done to a turn.

"You couldn't have baked them better in your oven, Margaret," laughed
Doctor Joe.

"I never could have baked un half as well," admitted Margaret, adding,
"'tis a wonderful way of cookin'."

"Doctor Joe's fine cookin' everything," declared Andy. "I always likes
his cookin' wonderful well."

"Thank you, Andy. That's high praise," acknowledged Doctor Joe, "but I
could learn a great deal about cooking from Margaret."

"I just does plain cookin'," Margaret deprecated, but flushed with
pleasure at the compliment.

On the last day of September, which was a Friday, David and Doctor Joe
crossed over to the Hudson's Bay Post and took Margaret with them for
a visit to Kate Huddy, the Post servant's daughter, where she was to
remain while the Scouts were enjoying their camp at Hollow Cove.

David and Doctor Joe returned to The Jug on Saturday, and when the
other members of the troop arrived in a boat on Sunday, had their own
tent equipment and food packed and ready for the little expedition on
Monday morning.

It was a jolly meeting. The evening was cold, and when supper was
eaten they gathered around the big box stove which crackled
cheerfully, and Doctor Joe announced that as this was the first
meeting of the troop they must organize and elect leaders, just as
troops were organized everywhere else in the world.

When he had thoroughly explained the necessary steps he read to them a
brief constitution and by-laws which he had previously prepared. These
he had them adopt in due form, and then asked some one to nominate a
patrol leader.

Every one, with one accord, nominated David, and he was duly,
solemnly, and unanimously elected.

"Now," suggested Doctor Joe, "we must have an assistant patrol leader.
Who shall it be?"

"Andy," said Seth Muggs. "Andy's been to the trails and he knows more
about un than anybody exceptin' Davy."

"'Twouldn't be fair," objected Andy. "Davy's patrol leader. 'Tis but
right we put in one of you that comes from across the Bay. I'm saying
Peter Sparks, now."

Doctor Joe agreed with Andy, and Peter Sparks was declared elected.
Then Seth nominated Andy for scribe.

"Because," Seth explained, "Andy'll be right handy to Doctor Joe all
the time and Doctor Joe can help he to do the writin', and he needs
help."

When the election was completed Doctor Joe explained the duties of the
officers and the necessity of obedience to them in the performance of
scout duties.

"Our troop is a team," said Doctor Joe.

"We must pull together. We are like a team of dogs hauling a komatik.
If the dogs all follow the leader and pull together the best that ever
they can they get somewhere. If they don't follow the leader, and one
pulls in one direction and another pulls in a different direction and
some don't pull at all, they never get anywhere and aren't of much
use. Our troop is going to be the best we can make it, by all pulling
together and doing the very best we know how.

"We must always be ready to help other people at all times, as we
promise to do in our oath. If we live up to that we'll do a great deal
of good, first and last, up and down the Bay. If some one's life is in
danger and we can help them even at the risk of our own we must help
them. Everybody wants to be happy. There's nothing that will make us
so happy as to do some fine thing every day that will make someone
else happy.

"We must train our brains and our hands so that we shall always be
prepared to do the right thing and do it quickly. We must learn to
keep our temper and not get angry. Let us take the hard knocks that
come to us with a smile."

The remainder of the evening was spent in playing some rollicking
games that the lads had never heard of before, and which Doctor Joe
taught them. There was the one-legged chicken fight, and one or two
others, as well as hand wrestling, though that they had seen the
Indians play and had practised themselves. They all declared that they
had never in their lives had so much fun.

An early start the following morning brought them to Hollow Cove at
ten o'clock. Hollow Cove was a fine natural harbour. A brook poured
down through a gulch to empty into the Bay, and near its mouth was an
excellent landing-place. Not far from the brook, and a hundred feet
back from the shore, they pitched their tents in the shelter of the
spruce forest where the camp would be well protected from winds and
storms.

While the others set up the sheet-iron stoves in the three tents and
broke spruce boughs and laid the bough beds, David, Micah, and Lige
volunteered to cut wood.

"There's some fine dry wood just to the east'ard and close to shore,"
suggested David, as they picked up their axes. "It's right handy."

A dozen yards from the camp David suddenly stopped and exclaimed:

"What's that now?"

On a great sloping rock close to the shore, but hidden by a jutting
point from the place where they had landed, was a recently made cairn
of boulders capped by a large flat stone.

"Somebody's been here!" said David as they hurried forward to examine
the cairn.

"'Tis wonderful strange to pile stones that way," said Micah. "'Tis
new made, too."

"Maybe it's a cache," suggested Lige, "but it's a rare small un. Look
and see. 'Tis a strange place for a cache!"

David lifted the flat stone from the top and discovered beneath it a
small tin can. In the can was a folded paper. He removed the paper and
unfolding it discovered a message written in a cramped, scrawling
hand.

"Read un, Davy! Read un out loud! You reads writin' good!" said Lige,
and David read:

"i cum and stayed 2 hour, and wood not stay no longer for i
hed to go and did not see you comin any were. Then i gos to
the rock were We Was the day We was hunting Wen We come here
ferst time. Then i done this way. i Pases 20 Pases up To a
Hackmatack Tree. it was north. then i Pases 40 Pases west
To a round rock, Then i Pases 60 Pases south To a wite berch
i use cumpus. Then i climes a spruce Tree and hangs it and
it is out of site in the Branches. if You plays me Crookid
look out, i wont Stand for no Crooked work and You know what
i will do to anybody plays me Crooked. You no Were to put my
haf of the Swag. So i can get it Wen i go to get it."

There was no signature.

"That's a strange un--wonderful strange," said David.

"Stranger'n anything I ever sees," declared Lige.

"Whatever is un all about?" asked Micah.

"That's the strangeness of un," said Lige.

"Let's show un to Doctor Joe," suggested David.

But Doctor Joe, when they broke in upon him a moment later, was as
mystified as they.

"It looks," said he, "as though something had been cached and here are
the directions for finding the cache. There's a threat in the letter,
too, and that looks bad. It's a mystery, lads, we'll try to search
out. It doesn't look right. Perhaps it's the clue to some crime."

"How can we search un out?" asked David excitedly. "We're not knowin'
the rock, and there's plenty of rocks hereabouts."

"That's true," admitted Doctor Joe. "Go and put the paper back as you
found it, and we'll see what we can make out of it later."

The whole camp was excited and every one followed David back to the
cairn when he returned to restore the letter to its place in the can.

"'Tis something somebody's tryin' to hide," suggested Peter.

"There's no doubtin' that," said David. "I'm thinkin' 'tis not right
whatever 'tis."

"We'll get camp in shape and have our dinner and then try to solve the
mystery," said Doctor Joe. "It is a real mystery, for no one would
make an ordinary cache in this way, and if it was an honest matter
there would be no threat."

CHAPTER XII

THE HIDDEN CACHE

When camp was made snug and dinner disposed of, Doctor Joe followed
the boys down to the cairn. A careful examination was made of the soil
surrounding the rock upon which the cairn was built, and in loose
gravel close to the shore were found the imprints of feet. It was
evident, however, that rain had fallen since the tracks were made, for
they were so nearly washed away that there could be no certainty
whether they were made by moccasins or nailed boots.

"'Twere a week ago they were here whatever," observed David, rising
upon his feet after a close scrutiny upon hands and knees. "I'm
thinkin' we'll see no sign of un now to help us trail un to the rock
the writin' tells about."

"The ground was hard froze a week ago just as 'tis now," said Lige.
"They'd be leavin' no tracks on froze ground."

"They makes the tracks that shows here whether the ground were froze
or not," observed Seth.

"The gravel were loose and dry so 'tweren't froze," explained Lige,
"but away from the dry gravel 'twere all froze, and they'd make no
tracks to show. Leastways that's how I thinks about un."

"That's good logic," said Doctor Joe. "I'm afraid we'll have to find
the rock without the assistance of any tracks to guide us. There will
surely be other signs, however, and we'll look for them while we look
for the rock."

"Suppose now we scatters and looks up along the brook and along the
ridge for the rock the pacin' were done from," suggested Andy. "'Tis
like to be a different lookin' rock from most of un around here or
they wouldn't have picked un."

"And 'tis like to be a big un too," volunteered Micah. "They'd be
pickin' no little rock for that, whatever. I'm thinkin' 'twill be easy
to know un if we sees un."

"Yes," agreed Doctor Joe, "the rock is probably larger or in some
other way noticeably different from the others. It may be along the
brook, or it may not. They were hunting. It may be a rock where they
camped, or where they agreed to meet after their hunt, and probably
where they boiled their kettle."

"They weren't Bay folk, whatever," asserted David. "The writin' ain't
like any of the Bay folkses writin'. None of un here could write so
fine."

"None of the Bay folk would be hidin' things that way either," said
Andy. "If 'twere anything small enough to hide in a tree they'd been
takin' un with un and not leavin' un behind. If 'twere too big to
carry, they'd just left un in a cache and come back for un when they
gets ready and not do any writin' about un."

"I think you are right, Andy," agreed Doctor Joe. "For the reasons you
give and for still other reasons I feel very certain strangers to the
Bay left the cache."

"What were they meanin' by 'swag,' Doctor Joe?" asked Andy. "I never
hears that word before. 'Tis a wonderful strange word."

"It usually means," explained Doctor Joe, "something that has been
stolen. The use of that word is one of the reasons that leads me to
conclude that it was not written by any of our people of the Bay. I am
quite sure none of them knows what the word means, and like you I
doubt if any of them ever heard it. There seems no doubt, indeed, that
strangers to these parts wrote it, and as there are no other strangers
in the Bay than the lumbermen, we are safe in concluding that the
cairn was built and the note written by someone from the lumber camp
at Grampus River."

"'Swag' is a wonderful strange soundin' word, now," said David. "I
never hears un before."

"I'm thinkin' I knows what 'tis they hid now!" exclaimed Andy
suddenly. "'Tis _Lem Horn's silver_! 'Tis the men hid un that shot Lem
and stole the silver! 'Tweren't Indian Jake shot Lem at all! 'Twere
men from the lumber camp! What they calls 'swag' is Lem's silver!"

"That's what 'tis, now! 'Tis sure Lem Horn's silver!" David exploded
excitedly. "I never would have thought of un bein' that! Andy's
wonderful spry thinkin' things out, and he's mostly always right,
too!"

"And Indian Jake never stole un! He never stole un!" Jamie burst out
joyfully. "I were knowin' all the time he wouldn't steal un! Indian
Jake wouldn't go shootin' folk and stealin' from un!"

"It may be," said Doctor Joe. "At any rate it seems extremely probable
the 'swag' as they call it is stolen property that has been hidden.
That word and the threat together with the other circumstances make it
quite certain, indeed, that whatever it is they refer to was stolen.
That's a safe conclusion to begin with. We have decided that we may be
quite sure, also, that the men that hid the cache so carefully were
none of our own Bay people, but men from the lumber camp. We have
heard of nothing else than Lem Horn's silver fox having been stolen in
the Bay. We have some ground, therefore, to suppose that the 'swag' is
Lem Horn's silver fox. It will be a fine piece of work to search out
the cache, and if it proves to contain Lem's silver fox, recover it
for him. We will be doing a good turn to Lem and at the same time will
lift suspicion from Indian Jake. If we find the cache and there is
nothing in it that should not be there, we will not interfere with it.
Now how shall we go about it to trace it? Let's hear what you chaps
think is the best plan."

"We'll separate and look for the rock they tells about," suggested
David. "There's like to be some signs so we'll know un when we sees
un. If we finds the rock 'twill not be hard to pace off the way they
says in the paper."

"And we'll be lookin' out for other signs," added Peter. "'Tis likely
they've been cuttin' wood or breakin' twigs or makin' a fire."

"The brook ain't froze, and I'm thinkin' now they been walkin' there
and leavin' tracks, if they were going' for water, and 'tis likely
they were gettin' water to boil the kettle," reasoned Seth.

"Suppose," suggested Doctor Joe, "two of you follow up the brook, one
on each side, and the rest of us will spread out on each side of the
two following the brook, and look for the rock and other signs that
will guide us."

"We better make a writin' for each of us just like the writin' in the
can with what it says about how to find the cache if we finds the
rock," suggested Andy. "I for one'll never be rememberin' all of un
without a writin' to look at whatever."

"That's true, Andy," agreed Doctor Joe, "and none of us would."

"Andy always thinks of things like that!" exclaimed David admiringly.

"Get the paper from the can and bring it up to camp," directed Doctor
Joe. "We'll make several copies of the directions. I have paper and
pencil there in the tent."

David lifted the flat stone from the top of the cairn, and removing
the paper he and the others followed Doctor Joe to his tent, where
Doctor Joe made nine copies of the explicit directions, one for
himself and one for each of the lads.

"You had better return this now to the can," said Doctor Joe, handing
the paper back to David, "for if it should prove after all that we
have been mistaken, and that the cache does not contain Lem's silver
fox or other stolen property, it would be wrong, and we would not
wish, to interfere with the man for whom this paper was left here
finding the cache."

"'Twould be fair wicked to do that," agreed David. "I'll put un back."

When the paper had again been returned to its hiding-place Doctor Joe
detailed the boys to their different positions. David and Peter were
to follow the brook, David on the left side and Peter on the right
side as they ascended. Seth Muggs, Obadiah Button, Andy and Jamie were
to spread out at intervals on the left from David, and Lige Sparks,
Micah Dunk and Doctor Joe on the right side of the brook from Peter.
All were to ascend through the woods at the same time, keeping a sharp
look-out to right and to left for any unusual rock or other possible
signs that might lead to a clue.

"Now we had better keep close enough together to keep in sight the man
nearest us on the side toward the brook," directed Doctor Joe. "If we
spread farther apart than that we shall be too far apart to see any
rock that may be between us."

"Aye, and we'll keep lookin' both ways," said Andy. "That way we can't
miss un."

"It's now," Doctor Joe consulted his watch, "one-thirty o'clock. It's
cloudy and it will be dark by half-past four. I'll call to Micah at
half-past three and he will pass the word along to the next man and he
to the next and so on until all have been notified. Then we will
immediately come together and return to camp, that is, of course, if
we have not already found the cache. If before that time anyone finds
what he thinks may be the rock he will pass the word to his neighbour,
and we'll close in and make our search together. If it begins to snow,
and the snow is too thick for us to see our next neighbour, we'll
close in, for in that case we would miss the rock anyway. Do you all
understand?"

Every one understood, as the chorus of "Yes, sir," testified.

"Jamie," said Doctor Joe, "you're the youngest one, and you haven't
had much experience tramping through the woods. If you get tired, or
find it hard, just come over to the brook and follow it down to camp.
If you get there ahead of us you might start a fire in our tent stove
and put the kettle over."

"I've got plenty o' grit, sir," Jamie boasted. "I can stand un."

"I think you can," agreed Doctor Joe, "but your legs are short. If you
get tired don't keep going. Perhaps you had better take the outside
place, and if you do get tired and fall out it won't break the line."

Full of eagerness and excitement, the boys took their positions. On
the left bank of the brook was David, next him to the left Obadiah
Button, then Andy, beyond him Seth Muggs, and finally Jamie. This
placed Jamie on the extreme left flank, in accordance with Doctor
Joe's suggestion, and the farthest from David and the brook.

On the right bank of the brook were Peter Sparks, Doctor Joe, Lige
Sparks and Micah Dunk in the order named, with Micah on the extreme
right flank.

It was a great and thrilling adventure for all the boys, but
particularly for Jamie. There was a mystery to be solved, and in the
attempt to solve it there was not merely curiosity but a worthy object
in view. If the cache proved to contain Lem Horn's silver fox skin Lem
and his whole family would be made happy.

Jamie, in his unwavering loyalty, was anxious to lift from Indian Jake
all suspicion of the crime. At present every one in the Bay, save only
the Angus boys, believed Indian Jake guilty of it. Even Doctor Joe was
not satisfied of his innocence, and, indeed, everything pointed to
Indian Jake's guilt. Doctor Joe believed that the Angus boys were
prejudiced in their loyalty to Indian Jake because of the fact that he
had done them kindnesses.

Jamie was sure that if they found this cache there would be proof that
he and David and Andy were right and everybody else wrong. Not only
did this feature of the adventure appeal to him, but also the fact
that he was for the first time in his life trailing in the wilderness
and taking part in an undertaking that seemed to him one of vast
importance.

Jamie had never slept in a tent. His only acquaintance with the great
wilderness had been confined to the woods surrounding The Jug, and
always when in company with David or Andy or his father or Doctor Joe.
Now he was determined to do as well as any of them, and, no matter how
tired he became, to stick to the trail until Doctor Joe gave the
signal to return to camp.

As they ascended the slope Jamie kept a sharp look-out to right and
left. Now and again Seth Muggs on his right was hidden by a clump of
thick spruce trees or would disappear behind a wooded rise, presently
to appear again through the trees.

Jamie was happy. He was keeping pace with the others without the least
difficulty. Doctor Joe had hinted that his short legs might not permit
him to do this. He would prove that he was as able as Seth Muggs or
any of them!

Nothing happened for nearly an hour, and Jamie was beginning to think
that the search was to end in disappointment, when suddenly his heart
gave a leap of joy. Far to the left and just visible through the trees
rose the outlines of a great grey rock.

"That's the rock!" exclaimed Jamie. "That's sure he! I'll look at un
for signs, and then if there's any signs to be seen about un I'll call
Seth!"

Jamie ran through the trees and brush to the rock, which proved,
indeed, to be a landmark. It stood alone, and was twice as high as
Jamie's head.

Here he was treated to another thrill. On the west side of the rock
was the charred wood of a recent camp fire. A tent had been pitched
near at hand, as was evidenced by the still unwithered boughs that had
formed a bed, and discarded tent pegs, and there were many axe
cuttings.

"'Twere white men and not Injuns that camped here," reasoned Jamie.
"All the Injun fires I ever heard tell about were made smaller than
this un. And these folk were pilin' up stones on the side. No Injuns
or Bay folk does that, whatever!"

Jamie continued to investigate.

"'Twere not Bay folk did the axe cuttin' either," he decided. "All the
Bay folk and Injuns uses small axes when they travels, and this
cuttin' were done with big uns!"

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