Captain Sam: The Boy Scouts of 1814 - George Cary Eggleston

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hint of the dawn he received was from the loud calling of the boys for Jake Elliott. Fortunately Jake had not yet nerved himself up to the point of answering and calling for assistance, and so Sam had still a chance to execute his plan.

      "Never mind calling Jake," he cried, as he rose from his couch of bushes, "but run down to the spring and bring some water. I have Jake engaged elsewhere."

      The boys suspected at once that Sam and Jake had arranged a private battle to be fought somewhere in the woods beyond camp lines, a battle with fists for the mastery, and they were strongly disposed to follow their captain as he started up the river.

      "Stop," cried Sam. "I have business with Jake, which will not interest you. Besides, I think it best that you shall remain here. Go to the spring, as I tell you, and then go back to the fire, and get breakfast. Jake and I will be there in time to help you eat it. If one of you follows me a foot of the way, I—never mind; I tell you you must not follow me, and you shall not."

      There were some symptoms of a turbulent, but good-natured revolt, but Sam's earnestness quieted it, and the boys reluctantly drew back.

      Passing around to the further side of the drift-pile, more than a hundred yards away from the nearest point of the camp, Sam called in a low tone:—

      "Jake! Jake!"

      "What is it?" asked Jake presently, trembling in voice as he trembled in limb, for he was now thoroughly broken and frightened. He dreaded the meeting with Sam nearly as much as he dreaded the terrible fate which seemed to him the only alternative, namely, that of remaining in the drift-pile to starve.

      "Come down this way," said Sam.

      "Well," answered Jake when he had moved a little way toward Sam.

      "Do you see a hole in the top, just above your head?" asked Sam.

      "Yes, but I can't see the sky through it."

      "Never mind, get a stick to boost you, and climb up into it."

      Jake did as he was told to do, and upon climbing up found that there was a sort of passage way running laterally through the upper part of the timber, crooked and so narrow that he could scarcely force his way through it. Whither it led, he had no idea, but he obeyed Sam's injunction to follow it, though he did so with great difficulty, as in many places sticks were in the way, which it required his utmost strength to remove. The passage through which he was crawling so painfully, was one which Sam and his companions had made by dint of great labor, during their residence in the tree root cavern a year before. It led from the main alley way to their post of observation on top of the pile, their look-out, from which they had been accustomed to examine the country around, to see if there were Indians about, when they had occasion to expose themselves outside of their place of refuge. As the only way into this passage was through a "blind" hole in the roof of the main alley way, no one would ever have suspected its existence.

      After awhile Jake's head emerged from the very top of the drift pile, and he saw Sam lying flat down, just before him. He instinctively shrank back.

      "Come on," said Sam; "but don't rise up or the boys will see us. Crawl out of the hole and then follow me on your hands and knees."

      Jake obeyed, and the two presently jumped down to the ground on the side of the hummock furthest from camp.

      Jake's first glance revealed Sam fully dressed, and standing firmly in his boots. There could be no mistake about it, and yet a moment before he would have made oath that those very boots were hidden hopelessly within the deepest recesses of the drift-pile. He could not restrain the exclamation which rose to his lips:—

      "Where DID you get them boots?"

      "Never mind where, or how. I have a word or two to say to you. You took my boots and were on the point of throwing them into the river. If you think such an act by way of revenge was manly and worthy of a soldier, I will not dispute the point. You must determine that for yourself."

      "Let me tell you about it, Sam," began Jake in an apologetic voice.

      "No, it isn't necessary," replied Sam. "I know all about it, and it will not help the matter to lie about it. Listen to me. You were about to throw the boots into the river; but you changed your mind. You know why, of course, while I can only guess; but it doesn't matter. You took them into the drift pile and put them into a hole there. The next thing you know of them I have them on my feet, and I assure you I haven't been inside the drift pile since you entered it. Solve that riddle in any way you choose. I blocked up the entrance, and this morning I have let you out. Not one of the boys knows anything about this affair, and not one of them shall know, unless you choose to tell them, which you won't, of course. Now come on to camp and get ready for breakfast."

      With that Sam led the way. Presently Jake halted.

      "Sam," he said.

      "Well."

      "My eye's all bunged up. What'll the boys say?"

      "I don't know."

      "What must I tell 'em?"

      "Anything you choose. It is not my affair."

      "They'll think you've whipped me?" exclaimed Jake in alarm.

      "Well, I have, haven't I?"

      "No, we hain't fit at all."

      "Yes we have—not with our fists, but with our characters, and I have whipped you fairly. Never mind that. You can say you did it by accident in the dark, which will be true."

      "But Sam!" said Jake, again halting.

      "Well, what is it now?"

      "What made you let me out an' keep the secret from the boys?"

      "Because I thought it would be mean, unmanly and wrong in me to take such a revenge."

      "Is that the only reason?"

      "Yes, that is the only reason."

      "You didn't do it 'cause you was afraid?" he asked, incredulously.

      "No, of course not. I'm not in the least afraid of you, Jake."

      "Why not? I'm bigger'n you."

      "Yes, but you're an awful coward, Jake, and nobody knows it better than I do, except you. You wouldn't dare to lay a finger on me. I could make you lie down before me and—Pshaw! you know you're a coward and that's enough about it."

      "Why didn't you leave me for the boys to find, then, and tell the whole story?"

      "Because I'm not a coward or a sneak. I've told you once, but of course you can't understand it; come along. I'm hungry."

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