Chapter XXIII Girl Visitors - The Rover Boys under Canvas by Edward Stratemeyer
After the target practice the cadets of Colby Hall settled down to the usual routine of the camp. The Rovers and their chums were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the girls from Clearwater Hall, and they made arrangements with Captain Dale so that the visitors might be appropriately entertained.
The girls came in two large touring cars, which had been hired at the Haven Point garage. The Rovers and their chums were on the lookout for them, and set up a cheer as soon as they appeared.
"Oh, what a lovely spot for a camp!" exclaimed Ruth Stevenson, as she leaped to the ground and shook hands with Jack.
The visitors were escorted by Captain Jack to Captain Dale's quarters.
He knew some of the young ladies already, and soon made all of the crowd feel perfectly at home.
"Your friends will show you around our camp, and if you care to do so you may have regular mess with our cadets," said the old West Pointer, smiling.
"Oh, let's have a regular mess dinner by all means!" cried Mary. "I've always wanted to know how it tasted."
"Grandest soup you ever struck, Mary," said Gif.
"Especially if a pinching bug or a worm chances to drop into it," came from Andy.
"You horrid boy!" cried Martha. "Jack, you ought to box his ears for that."
The girls were shown over the camp, and even taken down to the rifle ranges, in the meantime being told about the very excellent scores Jack and Fred had made.
It had been arranged that the girls were to be away from Clearwater Hall for two days. They were to spend one day with the boys at Camp Barlight and the following day near Camp Huxwell, where Alice Strobell had an aunt living who had promised to take them all in for the night.
"We'll come over here early in the morning for you boys," said Martha, "and then all of us can visit Camp Huxwell together. I've already sent word to dad, and Mary has sent word to Uncle Sam, so they will be on the lookout for us."
"That will be fine!" cried Jack. "I've been wanting to see that camp ever since we got here, but, somehow, I couldn't get away to do it."
"And I want to see my dad, too," added Fred enthusiastically.
The twins were likewise eager to see the government camp and their uncles, but they were somewhat depressed, and could not help but show it.
"I know what's the matter," whispered Martha to her brother. "They are thinking about their father. Poor Uncle Tom! What a shame it is that he couldn't join father and Uncle Sam."
"Well, you know how they arranged it," answered the young captain.
"Somebody had to stay at home to manage the business."
While the Rovers and their chums were showing the girls around the camp, Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts eyed them enviously.
"I don't see why they are permitted to have girls come here and visit them," growled the ex-lieutenant.
"Girls are all out of place in a camp like this," added the wholesale butcher's son. "You can't have the same amount of freedom with those skirts around."
"I just heard something," put in Codfish, who had come up a moment before. "The Rovers and those other fellows are going to take the girls out into the woods for a picnic."
"Where did you get that news?" asked Glutts quickly.
"I heard the cook telling one of his helpers. They are fixing up a great big bunch of grub for them."
"Huh! some folks have nerve," grumbled Werner. "I suppose he'll let 'em have all the best things there are in camp and we can take what's left."
"Chopped-up onions, for instance," and Glutts grinned.
"I'll onion them, you see if I don't!" cried Gabe Werner. And then he suddenly caught his crony by the arm. "Say, I've got an idea! If we can get away and follow those fellows maybe we can spoil their old picnic for 'em."
"I get you!" cried Glutts quickly.
"What are you going to do?" questioned Codfish.
"Will you keep your mouth shut if we take you in on this?" demanded the ex-lieutenant.
"Of course I'll keep my mouth shut."
"All right then, you can come in, Henry. But remember, if you open your trap on us we'll come down on you like a ton of bricks," added Gabe.
The matter was talked over for several minutes by Werner and Glutts, and then Codfish was dispatched to the cook's quarters on an errand.
The girls enjoyed eating the regular mess lunch immensely. Each was provided by the boys with a new mess kit and instructed into the art of using the same. They sat at the main table in the mess hall, a table presided over by Captain Dale himself.
"This is quite an honor, ladies," said the old West Pointer politely.
"It's the first time we have had so many of the opposite sex in any of our camps."
"It is very lovely of you, Captain Dale, to permit us to come," said Ruth. "I am sure we all thank you very much for all the courtesies you have shown us."
"Indeed we do!" came from the others.
"I'm afraid this meal will put a little damper on our picnic,"
remarked Fred. "We should have eaten our lunch out in the woods."
"Don't you worry about that," retorted Andy. "We'll be ready for another meal after we've tramped about over the rocks and among the trees for several hours."
The food to be taken along had been placed in three old knapsacks with which the camp was provided, and these the twins and Spouter placed on their back when they set off for the woods. All were in high spirits, and Andy and Randy whistled gaily as they trudged along.
"Let us go up on top of one of the cliffs," suggested Jack, after they had been tramping for the best part of an hour. "We ought to be able to get a splendid view of the bay from there."
The others were willing, and about the middle of the afternoon they reached a high, rocky point, overlooking Barlight Bay and the rolling Atlantic. It was a clear, sunshiny day, and consequently they could see for miles in several directions.
"I see a big steamer coming up the coast!" cried Gif presently. "See the trail of smoke she is leaving behind her?"
"I wonder if those big coastwise steamers are in any danger of the German submarines?" remarked Martha.
"Oh, I don't believe there are any submarines around here," said Randy.
"Don't be too sure about that," put in Jack. "Don't forget that the Huns sent over several of their U-boats before we even got into the war."
"There may be more German submarines lurking in these waters than we have any idea of," remarked Spouter. "It is a well-known fact that the Central Powers have an enormous number of submarines, and that they have been sent to all the important lanes of travel in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea. They have got the science of building U-boats down exceedingly fine, and they evidently know exactly how to handle such craft. And not only that, but they have invented some exceedingly destructive torpedoes, and likewise some devices----"
"Say, Spouter, have you started to deliver a lecture on German submarines?" demanded Randy.
"Please remember that we came to camp for the sole purpose of escaping lectures," added his twin.
"I'm not delivering a lecture," returned Spouter coldly. "I was only trying to pound into your somewhat bonelike heads a few important facts. But, of course, the task is rather a useless one, because you wouldn't be able to assimilate such knowledge even if----"
Spouter's oratory was cut short by a wad of wet leaves which Randy picked up and hurled at him. Then Andy poked him with a long tree branch he had picked up, and for a few minutes there was quite a good-natured pitched battle, the girls looking on with much interest.
"Avast and heave to!" roared Andy, melodramatically. "Over the top and at 'em! Chew 'em up alive! Don't let 'em cry '_Kamerad_'! Make 'em yell, 'Have you used Brickbat's Soap!'" And at this there was a shriek of laughter from the girls.
When the horseplay had finally come to an end, the young folks walked out on the rocks where they might get a better view of the bay and the ocean beyond. As was quite natural, the boys and the girls paired off together, and Jack saw to it that Ruth obtained a seat that was comfortable. Fred did the same for May, while Spouter and Gif walked on a short distance further with the two Rover girls.
The knapsacks containing the food had been left on some flat rocks a short distance to the rear. So that they might not get too warm, the boys had placed some brushwood over them, along with some wraps which the girls had brought along.
Although the Rovers and their chums did not know it, they had been followed into the woods by Werner, Glutts and Stowell, who had obtained a brief leave of absence from the officer of the day. The trio had watched the girls and their cadet friends closely, and viewed the disposal of the knapsacks and the wraps with satisfaction.
"Here is where we get square with them," muttered Gabe. "We'll fix 'em for putting chopped-up onions in our mess kits!"
"What are you going to do with those onions I got for you?" questioned Codfish.
"We'll doctor up every bit of their food with 'em," answered Glutts.
"They can have onion sandwiches and onion cake and onion pie galore.
My, but that lunch will be one sweet mess when we get through with it!" he added gleefully.
"Yes, and I'll tell you another thing we can do," pursued Gabe Werner maliciously. "We can put some of the chopped-up onions into the pockets of those girls' coats. That will make 'em all smell fine!"
"Oh, say! do you think you ought to touch the girls' things?"
questioned Codfish timidly.
"Sure! That will give those fellows a job cleaning the mess up,"
answered Gabe heartlessly.
"But we don't want to get caught." Now that the time had arrived to play the joke on the Rovers and their friends, the sneak of the school was beginning to tremble.
"Oh, we won't get caught," said Werner. "Come on. They are all out of sight, and it will be dead easy to turn the trick."