Roy Blakely, Pathfinder

This story is all about a hike. It starts on Bridge Street and ends on Bridge Street. Maybe you'll think it's just a street story. But that's where you'll get left. It starts at the soda fountain in Warner's Drug Store on Bridge Street in Catskill, New York, and it ends at the soda fountain in Bennett's Candy Store on Bridge Street in Bridgeboro, New Jersey. That's where I live; not in Bennett's, but in Bridgeboro. But I'm in Bennett's a lot.

Believe me, that hike was over a hundred miles long. If you rolled it up in a circle it would go around Black Lake twenty times. Black Lake would be just a spool-good night! In one place it was tied in a bowline knot, but we didn't count that. It was a good thing Westy Martin knew all about bowline knots or we'd have been lost..

Harry Donnelle said it would be all right for, me to say that we hiked all the way, except in one place where we were carried away by the scenery. Gee, that fellow had us laughing all the time. I told him that if the story wasn't about anything except just a hike, maybe it would be slow, but he said it couldn't be slow if we went a hundred miles in one book. He said more likely the book would be arrested for speeding. I should worry. "Forty miles are as many as it's safe to go in one book," he said, "and here we are rolling up a hundred. We'll bunk right into the back cover of the book, that's what we'll do." Oh boy, you would laugh if you heard that fellow talk. He's a big fellow; he's about twenty-five years old, I guess.

"Believe me, I hope the book will have a good strong cover," I told him.

Then Will Dawson (he's the only one of us that has any sense), he said, "If there are two hundred pages in the book, that means you've got to go two miles on every page."

"Suppose a fellow should skip," I told him.

"Then that wouldn't be hiking, would it?" he said.

I said, "Maybe I'll write it scout pace."

"I often skip when I read a book, but I never go scout pace," Charlie Seabury said.

"Well," I told him, "this is a different kind of a book."

"I often heard about how a story runs," Harry Donnelle said, "but I never heard of one going scout pace."

"You leave it to me," I said, "this story is going to have action."

Then Will Dawson had to start shouting again. Cracky, that fellow's a fiend on arithmetic. He said, "If there are two hundred pages and thirty lines on a page, that means we've got to go more than one-sixteenth of a mile for every line."

"Righto," I told him, "action in every word. The only place a fellow can get a chance to rest, is at the illustrations."

Dorry Benton said, "I wish you luck."

"The pleasure is mine," I told him.

"Anyway, who ever told you, you could write a book?" he asked me.

"Nobody had to tell me; I admit I can," I said.

"How about a plot?" he began shouting.

"There's going to be a plot forty-eight by a hundred feet," I came back at him, "with a twenty foot frontage. I should worry about plots."

Harry Donnelle said he guessed maybe it would be better not to have any plot at all, because a plot would be kind of heavy to carry on a hundred mile hike.

"Couldn't we carry it in a wheelbarrow?" Will wanted to know.

"We'd look nice," I told him, "hiking through a book with the plot in a wheelbarrow."

"Yes, and it would get heavier too," Westy Martin said, "because plots grow thicker all the time."

"Let's not bother with a plot," I said; "there's lots of books without plots."

"Sure, look at the dictionary," Harry Donnelle said.

"And the telephone book," I told him, "It's popular too; everybody reads it."

"We should worry about a plot," I said.

By now I guess you can see that we're all crazy in our patrol. Even Harry Donnelle, he's crazy, and he isn't in our patrol at all. I guess its catching, hey? And, oh boy, the worst is yet to come.

So now I guess I'd better begin and tell you how it all happened. The story will unfold itself or unwrap itself or untie itself or whatever you call it. This is going to be the worst story I ever wrote and it's going to be the best, too. This chapter isn't a part of the hike, so really the story doesn't begin till you get to Warner's Drug Store. You'll know it by the red sign. This chapter is just about our past lives. When I say, "go" then you'll know the story has started. And when I finish the pineapple soda in Bennett's, you'll know that's the end. So don't stop reading till I get to the end of the soda. The story ends way down in the bottom of the glass.

Maybe you don't know who Harry Donnelle is, so I'll tell you. He was a lieutenant, but he's mustered out now. He got a wound on his arm. His hair is kind of red, too. That's how he got the wound-having red hair. The Germans shot at the fellow with red hair, but one good thing, they didn't hit him in the head.

He came up to Temple Camp where our troop was staying and paid us a visit and if you want to know why he came, it's in another story. But, anyway, I'll tell you this much. Our three patrols went up to camp in his father's house-boat. His father told us we could use the house-boat for the summer. Those patrols are the Ravens and the Elks and the Solid Silver Foxes. I'm head of the Silver Foxes.

The reason he came to camp was to get something belonging to him that was in one of the lockers of the house-boat. I wrote to him and told him about it being there and so he came up. He liked me and he called me Skeezeks. Most everybody that's grown up calls me by a nickname. As long as he was there he decided to stay a few days, because he was stuck on Temple Camp. All the fellows were crazy about him. At camp-fire he told us about his adventures in France. He said you can't get gum drops in France.

Gee, I wouldn't want to live there.

After he'd been at camp three or four days, Harry Donnelle said to me, "Skeezeks, are you game for a real hike-you and your patrol?"

I said, "Real hikes are our specialties-we eat'em alive."

"I don't mean just a little stroll down to the village or even over as far as the Hudson," he said; "but a hike that is a hike. Do you think you could roll up a hundred miles?"

"As easy as rolling up my sleeves," I told him. "We're so game that a ball game isn't anything compared with us. Speak out and tell us the worst."

He said, "Well, I was thinking of a little jaunt back home."

"Good night," I told him, "I thought maybe you meant as far as Kingston or Poughkeepsie. But Bridgeboro! Oh boy!"

"Of course, we wouldn't get very far from the Hudson," he said, "and we could jump on a West Shore train most anywhere, if you kids got tired."

"The only thing we'll jump on will be you-if you talk like that," I said; "Silver Foxes don't jump on trains. But how about the other fellows-the Elks and the raving Ravens? United we stand, divided we sprawl."

He said, "Let them rave; I'm not going to head a whole kindergarten. Eight of you are enough. Who do you think I am, General Pershing?" And then he ruffled up my beautiful curly hair and he gave me a shove-same way as he always did. "This is not a grand drive," he said, "it's a hike. Just a few shock troops will do."

"We'll shock you all right," I said, "but first you'd better speak to Mr. Ellsworth (he's our scoutmaster), and get the first shock out of the way."

"I think I have Mr. Ellsworth eating out of my hand," he said; "you leave that to me. I just wanted to sound you and find out if you were game or whether you're just tin horn scouts-parlor scouts."

"Well, do I sound all right?" I said. "Believe me, there are only two things that keep us from hiking around the world, and those are the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean."

"Think you could climb over the Equator?" he said, laughing all the while. And he gave me another one of those shoves-you know.

Then he said, "Well then, Skeezeks, I'll tell you what you do. You call a meeting of the Foxes and lay this matter on the table-"

"Why should I lay it on the table?" I said; "you'd think it was a plate of soup. I'll stand on the table and address them, that's what I'll do."

He said, "All right, you just picture the hardships to them. Tell them that for whole hours at a time, we may have to go without ice cream sodas. Tell them that we'll have to penetrate a wilderness where there is no peanut brittle. Tell them that we'll have to enter a jungle where gum drops are unknown. Tell them that we may have to live on grasshoppers. Tell them about the vast morass near Kingston, where you can't even get a piece of chocolate cake; miles and miles of barren waste where the foot of white man has never trod upon a marshmallow-"

"Sure you can find marshmallows in the marshes," I said. "We should worry."

"You ask Willie and Tommy and Dorrie and the others if they are prepared to make the sacrifice-and I'll do the rest. I'll speak to Mr. Ellsworth. But remember about the heartless desert with its burning sands just above Newburgh. Now go chase yourself and round them up. I guess you know how to do it."

So I got all the Silver Foxes into our patrol cabin and gave them a spooch. I guess I might as well tell you who they all are. First there's me-I mean I. Correct, be seated. You learn that in the primary grade. I'm patrol leader and it's some job. Then comes Westy Martin; he's my special chum. My sister says he has dandy hair. Then comes Dorry Benton-he's got a wart on his wrist. Then comes Huntley Manners-Badleigh, that's his middle name. Sometimes we call him Bad Manners. Then comes Charlie Seabury and then comes Will Dawson and then come Tom Warner and Ralph Warner-they're twins. They're both better looking than each other-that's what Pee-wee Harris said. He's a scream-he's in the raving Raven patrol. Thank goodness he isn't in this story-not much anyway. Ralph says Tom is crazy and Tom says Ralph is crazy and Will Dawson says they're both right. I guess we're all crazy. Anyway, Ralph and Tom came from Maine, so they're both maniacs, hey?

This is the speech I spooched:

Fellow Foxes:

Shut up and give me a chance to talk. Sit down, Bad Manners. I've got something to tell you and don't all shout at once-

Good night! They all began shouting separately. Then I said:

Harry Donnelle says he's going to hike it all the way home to Bridgeboro. He says we can go with him if we want to. Our time is up Saturday, but we'll have to start three or four days sooner.

He said for me to sound you fellows, but believe me, there's so much sound that I can't. I suppose the other patrols will go back down the Hudson in the house-boat. Every fellow that's in favor of hiking it home with Mr. Harry Donnelle, will say aye-but don't say it yet. He said to tell you that we take our lives in our hands-

"Why can't we put them in our duffel bags?" Westy shouted.

"Did you think we'd take them in our feet?" Dorry yelled.

Then they all began shouting, "Aye, aye, aye!" even before I told them about the forests and morasses and jungles and deserts and things. Honest, you can't do anything with that bunch.

One thing about Harry Donnelle, he was a dandy fixer. When he fixed the camouflage for us so we could watch a chipmunk, I knew he was a good fixer. He said he learned how in France. He fixed the chimney on the cooking shack, too. That fellow could fix anything.

But a scoutmaster isn't so easy to fix. Lots of times I tried to fix it with Mr. Ellsworth and I just couldn't. He'd make me think that I wanted to do his way. He's awful funny, he can just make you think that there's more fun doing things his way. And I was trembling in my shoes-I mean I was trembling in my bare feet-for fear Harry Donnelle wouldn't be able to fix it with him. But that fellow could fix it with the sun to shine-that's what Mr. Burroughs said.

Pretty soon he came strolling down to the spring-board where a lot of us were having a dip in the lake.

"All right," he said, "how about you?"

"Did you fix it?" I asked him.

"All cut and dried," he said; "are you ready for the big adventure?"

That afternoon we had a special troop meeting, to find out how the fellows felt about splitting the troop for the journey home. Because you see our three patrols always hung together. Mr. Ellsworth made a speech and said how Harry Donnelle had offered to lead the fierce and fiery Silver Foxes through the perilous wilds of New York State. He said that the journey would be filled with interest and data of scientific value (that's just the way he talked) and how we hoped to cross the Ashokan Reservoir and visit other wild places. He said that we planned to enter the heart of the Artists Colony at Woodstock and see the artists in their native state and stalk some authors and poets, maybe, and study their habits.

Oh boy, you ought to have seen Harry Donnelle. He just sat there on the edge of Council Rock (that's where we have important meetings at Temple Camp) and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Mr. Ellsworth said, "It is hoped that these brave scouts may succeed in capturing a poet and bringing him home as a specimen, and that they may find other fossils of interest. Meanwhile, the Ravens and the Elks and myself will drift down in our house-boat and endeavor to find someone to tow us from Poughkeepsie to New York and up our own dear river to Bridgeboro. The Ravens and the Elks wish me to offer the brave explorer, Mr. Harry Donnelle, a vote of thinks for taking the Silver Foxes away. They appreciate that he does this for the sake, not of the Silver Foxes, but as a good turn to the Ravens and the Elks. The Ravens and the Elks hope to have a little peace meanwhile. They thank him. In the familiar words of one of our famous patrol leaders, 'we should worry.' And we wish you all good luck in your daring enterprise."

I could see that he winked at Harry Donnelle and Harry Donnelle was laughing so hard that he couldn't make a speech. So I climbed up on Council Rock and shouted, "Hear, hear" Then I made a speech and this is it, because afterwards I wrote it out in our troop book.

The Silver Foxes thank the Ravens and the Elks for their kind wishes. I bequeath all my extra helpings of dessert to Pee-wee Harris of the Ravens-up to three helpings. After that it reverts to Vic Norris of the Elks. Reverts means goes to. Who ever reaches Bridgeboro, New Jersey, first will send out a searching part for the others. The searching party will bring their own eats. If we're never heard of again, that's a sign you won't hear from us. If we get to Bridgeboro and don't find you, that'll be a sign that you're not there. If you are there it won't be our fault. We should worry. We go forth for the sake of prosperity-I mean posterity. So please tell posterity in case we don't reach home safely. If our friends and parents are anxious, tell them to wait at Bennett's on Bridge Street, because that'll be the first place we go to.

The next day was Wednesday and we started early in the morning. The others were going to start down in the house-boat on Saturday. I think the Ravens and the Elks must have sat up all night making crazy signs on cardboard just so as to guy us. And Mr. Ellsworth helped them, too. They had the whole camp with them-even Uncle Jeb; he's manager. He used to be a trapper.

When we got out onto the main road, we saw signs tacked up on all the trees and I guess even scout in camp was there. One of the signs read, Olive oil, but not good-bye. Another one read Day-day to the brave explorers. Another one read, Don't forget to wear rubbers going through the Newburgh morass. Another one read, Beware of the treacherous Ashokan Reservoir. A lot we cared. Didn't people even make fun of Christopher Columbus?