Chapter XX First Days under Canvas - The Rover Boys under Canvas by Edward Stratemeyer
"Gee, but I'm tired!" Andy and Randy heard Glutts grumble. "I'll bet I'll be stiff all over to-morrow morning."
"It was too much of a hike over those hills," answered Werner, yawning and stretching himself. "I'll bet I'm getting a blister on my left heel."
"Huh! I'll bet your left heel isn't any worse than my right shoulder from carrying that gun," growled the wholesale butcher's son. "That old piece of iron weighs about a ton."
"Say, will you fellows shut up and get to bed?" grumbled one of the other cadets in the tent.
"That's it!" came from the fourth occupant. "Do your visiting in the morning. With your monkeyshines last night, I'm all tired out now."
Werner and Glutts wished to remonstrate, but did not dare, fearing that more might be said concerning the escapade of the night before.
They undressed as quickly as possible, blew out the light, and then each threw himself on his cot.
"Cats and dogs! what in thunder is this?"
"Say! who put these rocks in my bed?"
"Something stuck me right through the back!"
"And I got stuck, too! Gee, this is the worst yet!"
Such were some of the exclamations from Werner and Glutts as they sat up and then bounced off of their cots. Then, in a rage, the ex-lieutenant and his crony began to accuse the others in the tent of having played a trick on them.
"We didn't do anything of the sort," growled one of the cadets.
"You fellows make me tired," howled the other. "If you don't shut up and settle down I'm going to ask to be put in another tent."
"I'm going to light up and see what that confounded thing in my cot is," growled Bill Glutts.
Something had stuck him in several places on his back, and he felt anything but comfortable. Werner was rubbing himself and saying things under his breath that were far from complimentary. The lantern was lit, and both made an inspection of their cots. Each found a bundle tied up in a thin, dirty towel.
"Rocks and sticks!" cried Gabe Werner, in deep disgust. "Hang the luck, anyway!" He took up the bundle and gazed at it closer. "Well, what do you know about this?"
"What is it?" questioned his crony.
"Here is a card! What do you know about this?" and he looked at a bit of pasteboard on which had been scrawled:
"_Returned with the compliments of the Rovers._"
"You might know they'd try to get back at us," remarked Glutts.
"I'll fix 'em--you see if I don't!" and, in a rage, Gabe took up the bundle which had been placed on his cot and threw it with all his force to the back of the tent It struck a pole, and from inside came a crash.
"Hello, you've broken something!" cried Glutts. "Maybe it's a bottle.
I wouldn't put it past 'em to put one in there, thinking you might get cut with it."
To this Werner did not reply. A sudden thought had come to his mind, and hastily he picked up the bundle, now somewhat torn, and opened it.
In the midst of the sticks and stones lay his flashlight, bent and with the glass broken.
"Huh! that's a fine way to treat your own property," remarked Glutts, with malicious humor. "Why didn't you examine the bundle before you threw it away?"
"Aw, you shut up! You make me tired! Go on and look in your own bundle."
The wholesale butcher's son did so, and there found another card from the Rovers. This was pinned fast to the silk handkerchief, which was neatly folded.
"Well, anyhow the handkerchief is all right," said Glutts consolingly, as he passed it over.
"I ought to make 'em pay for that broken flashlight," grumbled Werner.
"I think I see you doing it," came with a laugh from the other.
"You'll pocket your loss and say nothing about it."
"We've got to get square with the Rovers for this."
"I agree with you there. But now I guess we had better go to bed and try to get some sleep;" and then the two turned in once more.
Andy and Randy, crouching low at the side of the tent, had, of course, taken in all that was said and done. Each was on a broad grin as they stole back to their own quarters.
"Wasn't it rich?" chuckled Andy. "I had the greatest desire in the world to burst out laughing."
"I could hardly keep still," returned his twin. "When Gabe threw his own flashlight away and busted it I nearly exploded."
"But wait until to-morrow--oh, boy!" cried Andy.
Both of the fun-loving youths slept soundly that night, but each was up early, and they lost no time in acquainting their cousins and Spouter and Gif and a few of the others with what was likely to happen next.
As was usual with them, Werner and Gabe were late in getting up, so they had to hustle in order not to be late at roll call. Then they hurried back to their tents to get their mess kits, for this camp was conducted on real military lines when it came to eating. Each cadet had been provided with his own kit, including a big covered cup, plate, and knife, fork and spoon.
"Now watch!" cried Randy to his chums. "I think you'll see something."
"And maybe you'll smell something," added Andy, slyly.
The cadets formed in a long line to be served by the cook and his helpers. Glutts was behind Werner, and the Rovers and their friends got close by, but not too close, being warned by the twins to keep a respectable distance.
As they came up to receive their food, both Werner and Glutts opened their kits, and as they did this a powerful, penetrating smell filled the air around them.
"Hello! what in blazes have you got in your kits?" cried one of the cook's helpers, who was ready to serve them.
"Why, I ain't got----" began Werner, and then stopped short. The smell coming from his mess kit was sickening, and it made his eyes water until the tears ran down his cheeks.
"It's onions!" yelled Glutts. "It's chopped-up onions!"
"Gee, what a smell!" came from another cadet.
"Say, who opened up the onion factory?"
"Somebody shut the cover down before we faint!"
Such were some of the cries that arose as the odor of the chopped-up onions floated out on the morning air. In the meanwhile Werner and Glutts stood there in helpless fashion, holding their mess kits at arm's length. Both were red-eyed, and looked as if they were weeping copiously.
"Say, if this is a joke, it's a mighty poor one!" stormed the cook, stepping forward with a big ladle in his hand. "You chase yourselves and get out of here!" And he flourished the ladle so threateningly at the pair that Werner and Glutts ran as if for their lives. They did not look where they were going, and so dashed headlong into Professor Grawson, who was coming forward to get his own breakfast, for he had decided to rough it with the students.
"Here, here! What is this?" exclaimed the professor, as some of the chopped-up onions flew over his clothing. "My, what an awful smell!
What are you young gentlemen eating?"
"We're not eatin' this stuff!" exclaimed Glutts. "Somebody played a joke on us. They filled our mess kits with onions."
"Ah, I see." Professor Grawson held his nose and stepped back several feet. "Please do not come any closer. Raw onions are very healthful, so I understand, but I never cared for them."
"We don't want 'em either. I hate 'em!" roared Werner. "Come on--let's go over to the water tank and wash up," he added to his crony; and then rushed away.
By the end of three days the cadets felt quite settled at Camp Barlight. Everything had been put in the best of order, and drills and other exercises had been held daily. Captain Dale was teaching the cadets a new bayonet exercise, and one afternoon he had an officer come over from Camp Huxwell to show the students some of the fine points in handling a bayonet. This was decidedly interesting, especially to Jack, and he did his best to imitate what the regular military instructor had done.
"No use of talking, when it comes to fighting the Huns our men have got to be pretty quick," was the young captain's comment.
"I hope we see some of those exercises when we get over to Camp Huxwell," returned Fred.
During those first days in camp the boys did not forget to write long letters to the folks at home, and also to the girls at Clearwater Hall, telling of how they were settled down. They invited the girls to call at the camp before going home, and a couple of days later came back word that the girls would do this, paying the visit in a touring car.
"It will be mighty nice to have all of them here for a day," said Jack. "We can show them all around the camp and let them look at our exercises. And maybe we can have a little picnic in the woods, too."
"That would suit me right down to the ground," answered Fred.
To give the camp a truly military aspect, Captain Dale instituted a regular guard, both night and day. The cadets were given a password, and it was understood that no one could get into the camp without giving this.
"Well, it's my turn to go on guard to-night," announced Randy one evening at supper time. "And I must say, I don't like the outlook much. It looks to me as if it was going to rain."
"Well, you'll have only four hours of it, Randy," answered Jack. "That isn't so very long. What time do you go on?"
"Twelve o'clock. Then I am to relieve Ned Lowe."
Randy retired early, and was awakened about half past eleven o'clock.
Then he dressed, got a cup of the hot chocolate that one of the cook's helpers had ready for the sentries, and then went out to join the detail which was to go on guard from midnight until four o'clock in the morning.
The post which Ned Lowe had covered, and which was turned over to Randy, lay on the far side of the camp, not a great distance from where the cliffs overlooked the bay. It was a lonely spot, particularly on a night like this, when the sky was overcast and a rising wind was moaning through the branches of the trees.
"See any ghosts to-night, Ned?" said Randy to Ned Lowe jokingly, as he relieved that sentry.
"Well, I saw something, Randy," was the unexpected reply. "I've been trying to make up my mind for the last half hour what it was."
"Saw something! What do you mean?"
"I think I saw somebody sneaking through the woods over yonder," said Ned Lowe, pointing into the forest. "I shouted out, but no one answered, and then the figure--or whatever it was--vanished."
"Oh, say! you must be seeing things," returned Randy lightly. "Just the same, I'll keep my weather eye open," he added. "Maybe some of the other cadets were out, and tried to play a trick on you."
"No, I don't think it was one of our cadets," said Ned Lowe. "I think it was a stranger. But what he was doing around here at this time of night is a mystery to me."
"Maybe he was a tramp, and thought he could get a chance to steal something," ventured the fun-loving Rover, sobering down.
"Maybe. I guess you had better keep your eyes wide open," said Ned Lowe, and then turned away and left Randy alone on the post.